As Scrum Masters, we are frequently put in a common position: to convince a successful (and stubborn) business owner, who manages his company and people through “traditional” ways, that it would be beneficial to switch to Agile.

Below is an imagined, condensed dialogue of what I consider would make them consider a change:

SM: You are undoubtedly doing so many things right today, it’s proven by your success. The fact that you are asking me this question means you are in search of doing even better.

BO: How is Agile going to make things better?

SM: Well, already defining what better means can be a challenge. Let’s consider the word “value” to describe this. Value can be profit, impact, growth, or something else you choose. The aim is to increase value. How do you define value?

BO: Things are already great, I just want us to go to the next level.

SM: It seems you can’t describe what the next level means, or what is preventing you from getting there, I propose to organize a workshop (ex. event storming) with you and your employees and find out. No one knows better than you and your employees.

BO: So agile means doing workshops?

SM: Agile is often a misunderstood concept. Let’s look at it as if it was a lens, a filter to use when analysing and making decisions. That’s all there is, a set of values and principles to consider when making decisions. And it is powerful because it was born from experience. It is also difficult to put in place because it requires a mindset shift. I will also tell you, your company is already agile to a certain degree. There is no such thing as 0% agile or 100% agile. You can’t switch to agile, just consider increasingly more in your context it’s values and principles. Train your organization to do this.

BO: I am yet to understand how it will make my company more "value"?

SM: As I mentioned, it is rooted in learnings that have been widely proven in many industries. Following these principles allow better resource management (financial and human), waste reduction, rapid value delivery, and adapt to the market rapidly.

BO: We are already the best in our sector.

SM: That’s great, being Agile can help you stay in front of your competition, and even more, continue to increase the satisfaction of your customers. By continuing to listen to customer feedback, responding quickly, proposing new things continuously, your competition will have a hard time. You need to keep learning faster than the others, and Agile helps with that.

BO: How much will it cost me to do this, and how much will it make me?

SM: The investment you will make is in the mindset change, and that is a long term process. The good part is that you can have quick wins early in the transformation.

Let’s start by mapping the process that produces you the most value. We invite all those that are involved in the process to optimize their actions and interactions. We will discover together those small changes that can have a great impact in the overal cycle time.

Not only can we have gains now, but they can be empowered to monitor the cycle times and collaborate for further improvement.

BO: My processes are already efficient. I made sure of myself.

SM: And may I (kindly) ask when it was the last time this happened. You see, there is value in continuous improvement, and as long as it depends on one particular person, it is suboptimal. I would also challenge to know how many people were involved in the process review, how long it took. Agile fosters collective intelligence and talent, you want to take advantage of all the knowledge and experience of the people involved to run the processes.

It is particularly interesting to catalyse the collective intelligence to increase quality and reduce risks.

When the people are empowered not only in the execution, but in the design of the process, self-organized, you potentially unveil superior solutions, innovation, breakthroughs and overall market advantage.

The learning never stops: discovery, experimentation, feedback to thrive in ever more complex environments and markets, it’s a team game.

BO: What makes you believe the people in my company will want to work this way?

SM: As I mentioned, the mindset change takes time. And like any change, it causes resistance unless the actors see the benefits of the change. It is my role to organize the transformation. I will use a coaching approach, starting with aligning expectations, design the transformation alliance together, design the actions in all transparency and collaboration. 

I have yet to witness a group of people that refuse to define the improvements of their work when genuinely invited to do so by the "traditional" management, and they can hold accountable all those involved. 

If you desire an organisation where you see better results, more trust, engagement and consciousness it has to start with you.

The important question is "Are you ready to empower, trust and support your collaborators build the best company they can?"

BO: ...

#kaikaku before #kaizen

Is this SM lying or exagerating? What is he not considering?

P.S. I am yet to imagine how different would this dialogue be if the business owner is having big issues with his company.