I have heard many things that an agile transformation is not. It is not a transactional project or programme, and it should not be set up like one. It is not a side-gig that people need to do above and beyond their usual day job. And some say it is a process that never ends. (Imagine hearing that as the CFO!)
This is my take: Transformation is a product.
This is not a metaphor: transformation succeeds and fails just like a product does—as tangible changes in customer behaviour—and we should treat it like one. We should design it like a product, measure it like a product, fund it like a product, pitch it like a product, govern it like a product. We should take the time to identify the customer; involve them; understand their needs and the jobs they want to be done; and measure transformation success like a modern product manager.
In this session, Daniel confesses that Transformation-as-a-Product has been hiding in plain sight for him for at least a decade, and describes how approaching transformation in this way unlocks a whole world of modern product management tools, techniques, and learning.
Maybe successful transformation is possible after all.
Check the slidesDaniel Terhorst-North uses his deep technical and operational knowledge to help business and technology leaders to optimise digital product organisations. He puts people first and finds simple, pragmatic solutions to business and technical problems, often using lean and agile techniques. With thirty years of experience in IT, Daniel is a frequent speaker at technology and business conferences worldwide. The originator of Behaviour-Driven Development (BDD) and Deliberate Discovery, Dan has published feature articles in numerous software and business publications, and contributed to The RSpec Book: Behaviour Driven Development with RSpec, Cucumber, and Friends and 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know: Collective Wisdom from the Experts. He occasionally blogs at https://dannorth.net/blog.
