The big story this week comes out of Microsoft, specifically the Visual Studio Online group in the Developer Division. The Visual Studio Online group has 35 teams of about 12-15 people each, about 450 people total and they are Agile. Not only that, the whole Developer Division, about 4,000 people, is being Agile. “There is a pervasive Agile mindset in which respecting, valuing and engaging those doing the work in response to customers’ needs is at the core.”
Particularly notice that they really focused on Agile 5 years ago, they took a test and learn approach, and that the key to the whole transformation was not learning Scrum (relatively easy) but “the shift in mindsets for all involved” which has taken a very long time.
In part 2 where they get into details, I loved this description of the new Microsoft “Microsoft is not a giant warship, but more like a flotilla of speedboats operating in sync.” This is a really important concept when thinking Agile in the large.
I also note this gem of a paragraph:
“The question addressed at Microsoft is: “How do we make the whole organization agile?” not “How do we scale Agile or Scrum?” In answering this question, the methodologies of Scrum and Agile in software development have a huge potential contribution, but they are only part of the story.”
In a related post, the author discusses when you should consider Scrum/Agile coaches. He argues that you may never need them if you work with the executives to create the right environment for Scrum.
I find myself in agreement with this approach. Change the environment to change the mindset and doing Scrum is as natural as breathing.