Be an Enterprise Agility Rock Star: Shift from Doing Agile to Being Agile

7 Ways to be an Enterprise Agile Rock Star

Talent Triangle

What does it mean to ‘rock’ at Agile Project Management? Aligning with the three areas of the Talent Triangle takes agile beyond the mediocrity of ‘just doing agile’ and to the next level, the Rock Star enterprise level.

Below are our Senior Vice President, Jim Blizzard’s Top 7 ways to be an Enterprise Agile Rock Star.

1. Make a promise: Know what promises your organization makes to its customers
2. Be strategic: Shed the “governance” mindset and embrace the “strategy mindset”
3. Always have a “plane on the runway”: Architectural and Process runways are key to keeping the Agile engine running
4. Align to your capabilities: Organizing to provide end-to-end delivery of your capabilities increases collaboration, transparency, and moving the needle for your customers
5. Put your head in the cloud: Increase nimble response for internal and external forces by moving to the cloud to make scaling easier and increase resiliency for your customers
6. Adaptation: Increase technical versatility and create an adaptive mind-set that is open to innovation
7. Let the data guide you: Turn your corporate data into an asset and apply analytics and cognitive processes that will allow your business to know when to bob and weave to market forces

What does it mean to be Agile?

Jim Blizzard, Speaker and Impact Makers’ SVP, Consulting Services

Many companies are on some sort of agile journey and undergoing an “Agile Transformation.” What does that really mean to be Agile? What is the desired end state of an Agile transformation? Is it an organization full of release trains, scrum teams, and Kanban boards? Does that bring the organization Enterprise Agility?

Enterprise Agility is much more than rolling out Agile or Scaled Agile (SAFe) frameworks into your organization. While the cadence and ceremonies of SAFe are an important part of DOING Agile, it usually does not, by itself, drive the organization into BEING Agile. Agility is required to react nimbly to the diverse, and sometimes, turbulent forces that impact your business including market changes, technology changes, compliance constraints, and industry expectations. Enterprise Agility encompasses your whole company – IT, HR, Marketing, and the primary business operations. It impacts strategy and accelerates the delivery of your brand to your customers.

Doing Agile: An Interactive Discussion on Enterprise Agility

Jim Blizzard was an invited guest speaker at the Project Management Institute – Central Virginia’s 2019 Symposium where he lead an interactive two-part discussion to learn and discuss what to look for as you help drive your company into an age of Enterprise Agility and move from “doing Agile” into “being Agile.” Check out the presentation below and on Slideshare.

Connect and Tell Us What Makes an Agile Rock Star

We want to hear from you. What do you think is most important for Enterprise Rock Star Agility? Tweet us @Impact_Makers or #HowToBeAgile.