tech·nic·al·ly agile

When should an organisation consider a professional agile consultant?

Discover when to engage an agile consultant for your organisation. Martin Hinshelwood shares insights on navigating the shift to agile product development.

Published on
4 minute read
Image
https://nkdagility.com/resources/y0yIAIqOv-Q

When should an organisation consider a professional agile consultant?

Hello Agile enthusiasts! 🙌

Today, let’s take a deep dive into a vital question many people ask that can make a  world of difference to an organisation: “When is the right time to bring in a professional Agile consultant?

The Low Point: Failure Can Be an Opportunity

I’ll never forget what the renowned Ken Schwaber taught me: the simple yet heartbreaking answer to this question is when an organisation has almost unimaginably failed to deliver or be successful in whatever endeavour they’re trying to achieve.

Facing Unimaginable Failure: An Opportunity to Change!

From my experience as an Agile Coach, it is at this very moment, when an organisation is reeling from failure, that they are most open to change. 🚩

Suddenly, with failure staring them in the face, there is undoubtedly a collective realisation, which is the same: “We need something different.  We need to try something different and something new.” 🔄

You might find what I’m about to say interesting.  But I actually know of a company that switches to Scrum and Agile when a project is in jeopardy and then reverts to Waterfall when it’s over.

Now, don’t you find that unproductive and plain bizarre?

While this approach is highly unorthodox, the failure to deliver creates a desire and need for almost palpable change.

But here’s the kicker - the failure to deliver stirs up a potent desire for change.

So like me and the organisation, you’re probably saying that this is the best time to bring in a professional to help. 💡

Beware the Agile Sales Pitch

This is the point where I have to stress caution.   ⚠️

Organisations should always be aware of the many silver-tongued salespeople out there.  💼

At such critical junctures, when desperation for help sets in, organisations need to wait and be patient and cautious.  However, in my years, I’ve seen organisations often turn to large consulting companies who, while they might talk a good game, don’t necessarily understand Agile.

It’s a pitfall of being “won over by fast-talking PowerPoint presentation gurus that can talk a good game but can’t actually deliver.” Hence, it’s crucial to find the right Agile expertise; this is where a professional Agile consultant comes in.

Companies are often swayed by fast-talking PowerPoint gurus who, despite their eloquence, may not actually be capable of delivery.

An organisation needs to find the right Agile, which is why a professional Agile consultant is key. 🗝️

The Question That Always Matters: Can We Be Better?

As you probably know by now, my answer is a solid ‘yes’.

As an Agile Consultant, I always encourage a high point and continuous improvement, so I have another answer to this article’s question, another side to this coin, of ‘when should an organisation consider a professional Agile Consultant,’ which is “any time is the right time!”

Perhaps your organisation is achieving its goals and you wonder, “Could we be better?”

Sometimes, having an outsider review your operations and produce a “state of Agile” or “state of DevOps” report can provide a fresh perspective.  

I’ve done this a lot, interviewing people in the organisation, right up through the leadership and even the customers, to create a roadmap for the organisation’s next big thing. 💼

The Outside-in Perspective: An Agile Gamechanger

I think that there’s always so much power from an external perspective. 👀 It’s one of the main benefits of a professional Agile consultant is the “outside-in” perspective.

Often, it takes an outsider’s perspective to recognise problems or identify growth opportunities.  When we’re “in the jar looking out,” it can be tough to see what our own problems are. 👀

So, consider bringing in a professional Agile consultant whether you’re struggling or feeling under the weight of a failed project or performing well but wondering if there’s room for improvement. 🧭

Join us for our next Agile Practitioner Series course, where we’ll delve into these topics and more! 💼

Naked Agility is an #agile consultancy that specializes in #scrumtraining, #agilecoaching and #agileconsulting to help teams evolve, integrate, and continuously improve.

We recognize the positive impact that a happy AND inspired workforce can have on customer experience, and we actively help organizations to tap into the power of creative, collaborative, and high-performing teams that is unique to #agile and #scrum environments.

If you are interested in #agiletraining, visit https://nkdagility.com/training/ 

If you have identified the need for #agilecoaching and #agileconsulting, visit https://nkdagility.com/agile-consulting-coaching/ 

We would love to work with you.

#scrum #agile #scrumteam #agileprojectmanagement #agileproductdevelopment #projectmanagement #productdevelopment #agilecoach #agileconsultant #agiletraining #scrumtraining #scrumorg

Keywords:       Agile, Scrum, AgileConsultant, ContinuousImprovement

Hashtags:        **#AgileTransformation #ScrumMastery #AgileConsultancy

Hashtags:   

#Agile, #AgileCoach, #Scrum, #ScrumMaster, #AgileCentre, #ProductOwner, #BusinessAnalyst, #AgileProjectManagement, #BusinessAgility, #ScrumTraining, #AgileProductDevelopment.

When should an organization consider a professional agile consultant?

The easy answer is when they’ve just most unimaginably failed to deliver or failed to be successful and would have unfailed to be successful in whatever endeavour they’re trying to achieve.

Because I actually learned this from Ken, at that moment when an organization is reeling from that failure, they are most open to change. They are most open to doing something different. We need something different; we need to try something new.

As this has backfired on occasion, I do know of a company that only uses Scrum and Agile when a project is in jeopardy and then falls back to Waterfall. So they run all these projects Waterfall and then near the end of the project they have to switch to Scrum to actually deliver it, and then they switch back again, which is totally weird, but that’s how they do things.

That failure to deliver creates that desire and need for change, so that’s probably the best time to bring in somebody to help.

Unfortunately, there’s an unfortunately there as well, is that quite often companies turn to really large consulting companies who, although they talk a good talk, don’t necessarily actually understand standard. They don’t really understand it. Companies are won over by fast-talking PowerPoint presentation gurus that are able to talk a good game but can actually deliver.

That’s the risk at that moment, right? Because they’re desperate for help, and then they’ll take whatever’s on offer, and there’s not always the right thing. They’re going to find the right agile, which is why I guess you said professional agile consultant, right? You’ve got to get that professional one in there.

But I think that’s probably the key time to get them in. But really, the other answer is anytime. Maybe you’re being really successful and you wonder, could we be better?

Sometimes having somebody come in from the outside and look at what it is that you’re doing, and something that I’ve done a whole bunch with organizations is kind of like a, I guess I would call it a state of agile report or a state of DevOps report, where I come in and I interview a whole bunch of people in the organization, generally solo but sometimes in teams, and just ask them how they’re doing.

How do they, you know, what’s their cadence for delivery? How often do you have working products? Asking all the way up through the organization and into leadership as well, and hopefully you can get a hold of some customers too, right? Because they always have good stories to tell.

Create that, like, what’s the next big thing that this organization should tackle? I don’t think that often comes from the inside without a little bit of outside injection of knowledge or a different way of thinking or a different way of looking at the problem.

Because when we’re in the jar looking out, it’s difficult to kind of see what our own problem is.

So yeah, both when you’re totally hosed and when you’re not, right? So pretty much anytime.

Thanks for watching the video. If you enjoyed it, please like, follow, and subscribe. I always reply to comments, and if you want to have a chat about this or anything else Agile, Scrum, or DevOps, then please book a coffee with me through Naked Agility.

People and Process Pragmatic Thinking
Comments

Connect with Martin Hinshelwood

If you've made it this far, it's worth connecting with our principal consultant and coach, Martin Hinshelwood, for a 30-minute 'ask me anything' call.

Our Happy Clients​

We partner with businesses across diverse industries, including finance, insurance, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, technology, engineering, transportation, hospitality, entertainment, legal, government, and military sectors.​

Sage Logo
Workday Logo
Alignment Healthcare Logo
ProgramUtvikling Logo
Boxit Document Solutions Logo
New Signature Logo
Slicedbread Logo
Healthgrades Logo
Graham & Brown Logo
Genus Breeding Ltd Logo
Jack Links Logo
Lockheed Martin Logo
Capita Secure Information Solutions Ltd Logo
Trayport Logo
Lean SA Logo
Illumina Logo
Schlumberger Logo
Microsoft Logo
Ghana Police Service Logo
Washington Department of Transport Logo
Nottingham County Council Logo
New Hampshire Supreme Court Logo
Royal Air Force Logo
Department of Work and Pensions (UK) Logo
Alignment Healthcare Logo
Boxit Document Solutions Logo
Sage Logo
Slaughter and May Logo
MacDonald Humfrey (Automation) Ltd. Logo
ALS Life Sciences Logo