Culture eats Agile for Breakfast

Sigi KalteneckerPeter Hundermark

Scrum Gathering, Paris, 2013

Organizational Culture...“...is both a dynamic phenomenon that surrounds us at all times, being constantly enacted and created by our interactions with others and shaped by leadership behavior, and a set of structures, routines, rules, and norms that guide and constrain behavior”.

Organizational Culture is...…the way we do things around here

…a pattern of shared basic assumptions how to behave, lead, solve problems and succeed

…seen as kind of the nature of our business

…both a mental model and a set of emotionally rooted activities

WTF is

water?

Blub

3 Levels of CultureArtifacts: Visual structures and processes

Underlying assumptions: Taken-for-granted beliefs, thoughts and feelings

Espoused values: Official strategies, goals, philosophies

?

Agile Culture

Artifacts:

Underlying assumptions:

Espoused values:

“Trust is good, control is better” “You can´t let the monkeys run the zoo”“I won´t pay anyone for slack”

Artifacts:

Underlying assumptions:

Agile Culture

Espoused values:

We are brilliant alone and idiots together

Leadership is a trait of great managersInternal efficiency comes first

People are still rewarded individually

“We believe in team work”

“We support self-organization”

Line Managers are ScrumMasters

“Our focus is on customer value”

Bureaucratic cost controlling

Why these contradictions?

Mind your blind spots

Conclusions

...detect and provide feedback on cultural dysfunctionalities

...be mindful how to introduce Agile

....increase the level of psychological safety to let go

...decrease the anxiety to learn new things

Client S

Stage 1 – “Burning Platform”

STAGE 2 – “COMPLIANCE”

Stage 3 –“Continuous

Improvement”(just starting)

Unsuccessful intervention?

1.“Controlling” culture overtook everything

2.Loss of Sponsor’s trust3.Failure to build other

support4.Tide is turning?

Client M

“Continuous Improvement”from the start

•“Pop-corn” work arrival

•No visibility or predictability

•Too much work-in-process

•Executive goal is sustainability

Progress & Challenges•Visibility and

limiting WIP

•Flow?

•PMO & portfolio board?

•Group organisational restructure?

ObservationsTrust vs fear

Support for change

Long- vs short-termism

Top-down vs bottom-up

“Controlling” vs “Cultivative” culture

Thank you!@sigikaltenecker@peterhunderm28 Mitarbeitern

www.loop-beratung.atwww.scrumsense.com