How to transform a "simple" passion of a few, into a mission of true change of organizations? How does resilience, storytelling and assertiveness favor a constant movement towards agility? How does resistance to change translate into the journey of transformation? How to make agile roundtables, communities of practice and tribes, load-bearing structures of change?

1. AGILE ADDICTION
Patterns for changing organizations
Emiliano Soldi
@AgileTriathlete
#AgileAddictionVia Arcivescovo Calabiana, 6 - MilanoJUNE 14TH 2019

2. Addiction is a brain disorder characterized
by compulsive engagement in rewarding stimuli
despite adverse consequences.
[...]
Two properties characterize all addictive stimuli:
they are reinforcing and intrinsically rewarding.
Wikipedia
ADDICTION

3. Addiction is a brain disorder characterized
by compulsive engagement in rewarding stimuli
despite adverse consequences.
[...]
Two properties characterize all addictive stimuli:
they are reinforcing and intrinsically rewarding.
Wikipedia
ADDICTION

4. ENDORPHINS
The pain-masking chemical
Endorphins make the pain go away.
We are made for endurance, we don’t
give up because we are tired. We
persist because it also feels good.
Endorphins is addictive.

5. The feeling of accomplishment when you achieve a goal.
Dopamine helps in staying focused and clear from distraction.
Dopamine is also addictive: "get the goal, get the bonus".
DOPAMINE
The goal achieving chemical

6. YES, CLEAR.
BUT, WHAT DOES THAT HAS TO DO WITH AGILE?

7. INDIVIDUALS AND INTERACTIONS
OVER
PROCESS AND TOOLS
Isn't this also terribly addictive?

8. Our highest priority is to satisfy
the customer through early
and continuous delivery
of valuable software
Working software is the
primary measure of progress
Purpose Mastery
Continuous attention to
technical excellence and
good design enhances agility
Autonomy
The best architectures,
requirements, and designs
emerge from self-organizing
teams
Human Touch
Build projects around motivated
individuals. Give them them
environment and support
they need, and trust them
to get the job done
Agile processes promote
sustainable development
The sponsors, developers, and
users should be able to maintain
a constant pace indefinitely
At regular intervals, the team
reflects on how to become
more effective, then tunes and
adjusts its behavior accordingly
And what about these ones?

9. HOW POWERFUL WOULD IT BE
IF WE COULD PUT OUR PERSONAL ADDICTION
AT THE SERVICE OF THE AGILE ONE?

10. COOL, READY!
SHALL WE START?
CURIOSITY
PASSION

11. BUILD YOUR SELF-CONFIDENCE

12. STUDYING
A lot, actually
Mastering Agile means to know a lot in different,
adjacent areas (e.g. product vs project management,
scaling frameworks, change management, complexity
theory, system thinking, lean, etc.). Additionally,
acquiring skills like facilitating, training and coaching,
is key to Agile adoption within teams and organization.

13. EXPERIENCING
Learning by doing
Empiricism is one of the pillars of Agile
approaches. What has been learned, must be
practiced on the ground, following a safe-to-fail
approach to gain experience. There are no best
practices, just good ones, which need to be
tested and tailored according to the context.

14. PARTICIPATING
Living the Agile Community

15. GROW YOUR TEAM

16. BUILD YOUR TEAM
Creating strong bonds

17. Team Lift-Off
Fostering Alignment & Transparency
http://www.plays-in-business.com/download/team-charter-canvas-poster-a0-format/

18. IMPROVE YOUR TEAM
Driving Continuous Improvement
Continuous improvement is central to any
agile teams. Every iteration shall bring
betterments in product or process aspects
and in teams behaviors and ways of
working. Teams need guidance and support
to be develop such an important mindset.

19. PROMOTE YOUR TEAM
Showing Results & Creating Engagement
Systematically plan for quick-wins,
striving to achieve them.
Build trust and credibility by using a Data Driven
approach in measuring results and benefits
and assessing and addressing difficulties too.
Find ways to promote and communicate
results to start creating engagement
and involvement in the whole organization.

20. PREPARE FOR SCALING
STRENGTHEN YOUR RESILIENCE

21. CHANGE IS SCARING
Dancing with uncertainty
Agile radically change the way people work in
organizations. Working in small, cross-functional
teams increases transparency, collaboration,
direct communication, engagement, This can be
scary and needs to be managed accordingly.

22. Empatia
EMPATHY
Synching with others
Develop your empathy to understand others’ point
of view, acknowledging any difficulties or doubts.
You will become more aware of impacts and any
possible resistance you could encounter.

23. PEER COACHING
Exploring alternatives
Find someone who shares your passion for Agile. Develop
mutual trust. Organize regular peer-coaching sessions,
to help each other face the challenges of change

24. CLEAR.
BUT STILL, THIS IS ONLY ABOUT ME.
HOW CAN I SCALE THIS UP
INTO THE WHOLE ORGANIZATION?!
CURIOSITY
PASSION
MISSION

25. Time
Shu
Passion
Selfish
Chemicals
Selfless
Chemicals
"Agile Addiction" Shu-Ha-Ri
Bending the rules
Breaking the rules
ENDORPHINS
DOPAMINE
SEROTONIN
OXYTOCIN
2nd A-ha Moment
Endorphins and Dopamine
help us get things done
and achieve more.
Serotonin and Oxytocin
strengthen our social
bonds, creating meaningful
connections
Learning the rules
1st A-ha Moment
Curiosity
Mission
HaRi

26. LEAD THE CHANGE

27. ”Only three things happen naturally in organizations:
Friction, Confusion, and Underperformance.
Everything else requires Leadership.”
Peter Drucker

28. Pride and recognition make us feel
valuable. Serotonin is very close tied
to self recognition; it increases the
attachment and loyalty with others.
SEROTONIN
The Leadership Chemical

29. Stories drive alignment and are
catalyst which accelerate change.
Part of a leader’s job is to tell
stories of their organization: who
they were, are and will be.
STORYTELLING
Driving people focus and effort

30. Meet leaders who are skeptical about Agile
and the underlying change. Keep them close
to you; use their comments to explore ideas
on different perspectives, understanding what
barriers they perceive for a full adoption.
Improve your effort and communication, even
though you won't change their minds.
LISTEN TO SKEPTICS
Leveraging on them to improve

31. DEVELOP YOUR TRIBE

32. Feelings of enjoyment, safety and love.
Be around people we like,
creating social groups like tribes.
Human touch helps to bonds us to
each other. Shaking hands in business.
OXYTOCIN
The Chemical of Belonging

33. BUILD YOUR TRIBE
"A tribe is a group of people connected
to one another, connected to a leader,
and connected to an idea"
Seth Godin

34. Encourage, when possible, cross-
participation in communities, sharing
knowledge and experiences
ROUNDTABLES AND COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE TO TIGHT YOUR TRIBE
Facilitate the emersion ofented and
passionate people, in the hope they
volunteer to facilitate communities
A community of practice is a group of people who share a craft or an interest.
It is through the process of sharing with the group that members learn from each other,
and have an opportunity to develop personally and professionally.

35. EXECUTE THE CHANGE

36. Aspects / Criteria
Differentiation
of "Levels"
LOW MEDIUM HIGH HIGH MEDIUM MEDIUM MEDIUM
Portfolio
Level
LOW MEDIUM MEDIUM MEDIUM LOW MEDIUM MEDIUM
Program
Level
LOW MEDIUM HIGH HIGH LOW MEDIUM MEDIUM
Inter-team
Coordination
MEDIUM HIGH HIGH HIGH HIGH MEDIUM HIGH
Team
Level
MEDIUM MEDIUM HIGH HIGH HIGH HIGH MEDIUM
Technical
Practices
LOW MEDIUM MEDIUM HIGH MEDIUM MEDIUM MEDIUM
Flexibility: Prescriptive
(low) vs Emergent (high)
HIGH HIGH LOW MEDIUM HIGH MEDIUM MEDIUM
Typical Cost
to Implement
LOW LOW HIGH MEDIUM LOW N.A. N.A.
Availability of Details
& Support
LOW MEDIUM HIGH MEDIUM LOW LOW LOW
http://www.agilescaling.org AGILE SCALING FRAMEWORKS
Every Organization is different. Always relying on Agile Principles, assess your organization,
evaluate alternatives, decide which is the best fit and tailor it.

37. Technique that helps to visualize
and explore the system you want
to change. Use it to realize what
actions and experiments you
need to put in place to influence
the involved people to make your
change a success.
VISUALIZE THE SYSTEM
Assessing Impacted People
Lean Change Management Blast Radius - https://leanchange.org/resources/blastradius/

38. INFLUENCE SYSTEM
Leveraging on Experiments
People and organizations are complex,
adaptive, non-deterministic systems.
You can't control, but only guess
and assume how the system may react
and adapt to change. Lean Change
Management focuses on people's
reaction to change, rather than
manage the change. It is feedback-
driven and incorporates the latest
learnings obtained from the reactions
on the work floors.
https://leanchange.org/

39. YES, I DEFINITELY THINK THAT AGILE IS A KIND OF ADDICTION.
IT'S A MEAN TO MAKE HARD WORK COEXIST WITH HIGH LEVELS OF CREATIVITY,
COLLABORATION, ENGAGEMENT, AUTONOMY AND, WHY NOT, HAPPINESS.
AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHEN ENDORPHINS, DOPAMINE,
SEROTONIN AND OXYTOCIN ARE TRIGGERED IN UNISON,
BOOSTING THE QUALITY, EFFECTIVENESS AND VALUE OF OUR WORK.

40. Emiliano Soldi
@AgileTriathlete
https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilianosoldi/