Agility is not a method
| I am so excited to be attending the PMI Global Congress coming up September 25-27th in San Diego. As an invitee of ProjectManagement.com it is quite an honor to be chosen to represent our profession. I can't wait to see you all there! By the way as an invitee I get to be available to answer your questions in 15 minute one-on-one sessions throughout the 3 days. As my focus is on agility and the strategic level I thought I'd kick things off with my thoughts on agility. Agile (the noun) is what everyone uses - vendors and practitioners alike - to refer to a plethora of frameworks (e.g. Scrum), methods (e.g. DSDM), practices and techniques (e.g. time-boxing). But there's a problem with the using the word Agile in this way. Let me explain. Most people refer to "The Agile Manifesto" but did you know that it is actually called "The Manifesto for Agile Software Development"? The placement of the word in the name of the manifesto matters as it changes it from being a noun (a named thing) to being an adjective (a characteristic or the behavior of a thing). So why does that matter? It matters because when we think it's a noun we then think it is all about the frameworks, methods, practices and techniques. In my training courses I use the following phrase to describe the concept of agility in a module I have called "The history of Agility Thinking":: "Agility is mindset, defined by values, guided by principles, manifested through practice" While practices are how to bring the values and principles of the manifesto to ground in our actions, they aren't an agility mindset. An agility mindset means we are adaptive - we can observe what is happening, we can inspect it, make decisions based on our interpretations of what we are observing, and then adapt what we do next based on that. Being adaptable is a behavior The values and principles we apply as we inspect and adapt can be those of the manifesto or they can be those of our organization that reflect agility (see my webinar on Organizational Agility for more). The practices part is the short version of "frameworks, methods, practices and techniques" - I use the single word practices for simplicity sake. So agility really starts with us being personally adaptable. Put another way: Adaptability is the behavior. Agility is the result. Agility thinking actually spans many decades if not centuries (a topic for another day). As important as Snowbird, UT was in 2001 to bringing the agility mindset to the software development space, it did not invent the concept, nor the word agile, and it certainly did not refer to it as a noun. What do you think? If you want to discuss this and more at the PMI Global Congress from September 25-27th in San Diego I'll be there and waiting for you! See you in San Diego! Yours in Agility, Larry |
Change Management Versus Digital Transformation Demystified
| A recurrent question I receive is about what the difference between Change Management and Digital Transformation is. The simplest answer I provide is that Change Management is one part of Digital Transformation. Change Management is about leading and implementing change successfully in an organization or business toward a specific outcome. Digital Transformation is about implementing a series of changes that impact the organization, its business, the workforce, its customers and prospects, competitors and in some case a whole industry and its future, creating a transformed state. Change Management and Leadership VS Change Management First, I want to designate change management as “Change Management and Leadership” instead. Simply because if all you are doing is managing change, then your organization may not be sustainable. Change management by itself only appears to be reactive and is more of a survival approach. Unfortunately many organizations have sacrificed a large part of their ROI due to only being reactors to change. Change Management & Leadership, on the other hand, means that there is a leader who takes ownership of the situation and leading to a vision greater than the change itself. Change Management and Leadership is essential for Digital Transformation but is not itself Digital Transformation. An organization may have successfully lead and implemented many changes making it very good at Change Management & Leadership, but without achieving digital transformation. On the other hand, any organization that has achieved Digital Transformation has mastered Change Management & Leadership. Change Projects Change projects have always had a higher failure rate than what we would call familiar or less innovative projects. In technology, an industry with a fast innovation pace, most failed projects are in fact change projects. One reason I find is that at a point, we rely too much on the technology and our individual barriers challenge the projects, causing a succession of small issues that lead to bigger issues. Before the advent of Digital Transformation, there was the need to “enable organizations for change” to maintain profitability and competitiveness. With Digital Transformation, there is a need to “digitally enable organizations” to prevent organizations from dying a quick death. This occurs very quickly now, because that’s the speed at which digitalization can shift a business and organization around. The Digitally Enabled Organization The digitally enabled organization is the new organization today. We must understand that transformation is not a destination, but something that happens during the process that leads us toward the business’ transformative vision. Change is the catalyst that, combined with multiple other elements, activates the process of making the transformative vision a reality—our new transformed business a reality! As an executive, a manager, a leader, is your organization digitally enabled? Take the quiz here and find out. Attending the PMI Global congress in San Diego? You can schedule an individual session with me in the “Ask An Expert” sessions and meet me in the Solutions Center (exhibit hall). Book your session here. http://congresses.pmi.org/NorthAmerica2016/sponsors/hours-overview |
PPPM is not changing. It's transforming.
| Two days after PMI Congress in Barcelona, the information is still digesting. Future is going to be really...challenging. We will have a war of talents. Innovation, disruption, digital - will be key concepts for our lives. More details you can find in this excellent article written by my friend Laura (on this blog). I do have an objections (more like a small correction). PPPM is not changing, is transforming. A new paper on medicine or technology usually dedicates its first chapter to evolution. Considered as solid base sciences, they imposed a specific approach: in order to prepare a professional well-documented paper, the author(s) have to mention all related-to-the-subject progress. Most of the time, their demonstrations are based on previous work on the subject. This is actually what scientists call evolution. Based on different size discoveries or changes, evolution is the basic “tool” for development in traditional historical sciences. For “new comers” – like project management – situation is different. Concepts don’t have years of analysis and usage. Standards are not perfectly aligned and debates rises in many situations. Practitioners and students don’t expect spectacular discoveries, but they do expect change and (why not?) evolution. But, in my opinion, project management evolution cannot find its roots so easily in the previous work. The only way to progress in this case is transformation. Everything – methods, definitions, roles – gets new powerful meanings using this transformation. Moreover, initial concept of “project” is suffering a specific transformation related to the evolution of each field. Even during the EMEA Congress, there were people predicting that project management will disappear. We will have just continuos value delivery and no temporary organisations with unique, but static results. I don't think this is the case. But, these discussions show that a "project management" transformation is taking place. Are we ready for it? PMI Global Congress provides you an excellent forum to develop your professional and personal skills, apart from networking within an intercultural environment, learning and experiencing. |
PPPM is already Facing Exponential Changes: Let's Play?
| We are facing exponential changes in our daily lives, not only personally but in our professional daily tasks. What is today there will be no more tomorrow. Changes are taking place at a different speed compared to society acceptance, so, Are organizations prepared to absorb these changes? Do we feel we need to change? Do we want to change? Do organisations really understand the concepts of innovation and disruption? Some they do not and they are experiencing now their own fate ... Are these words overused in our daily life? I think yes, too much ... Human behavior is unpredictable in some cases but in other cases it is very predictable. When we are in our area of confort, we feel save and we are not willing to change. Why to risk this confort and go to an unexplored area? Are we enough curious? When we were children, we were naturally curious—but when we grew up that sense of wonder began to flow down. Regaining this sense of curiosity is key for the Project Manager, creativity then flows and take us to another level, where unexplored areas are not so dangerous as we thought at the very beginning. We begin traversing the bridge that seemed so dark, and oh surprise! we see us in an uncomfortable new area but we learn how to surf it. Tuesday PMI Salon session presented some of the game changers for the PPPM Professional such artificial intelligence (AI), Big data and Predictive Analysis and last but not least important, the Human connection. Will AI impact the job labour? How? In which percentage algorithms will take part of our tasks as Project Managers? What will be left? In any case this is already happening and the future seems complex ... so how to survive? How big data and predictive analysis will link with AI? Forecasting concept acquires special relevance. .. Harvard Business Review (HBR) article published in May 2016 presents an excellent piece about that new concept. The Good Judgment Project (GJP) was launched in 2011 by Philip Tetlock and Barbara Mellers and was completed in 2015. The objective of that study was to determine whether some people are naturally better than others at prediction and how this performance predicting could be enhanced. The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) organized a competition where participants were challenged to answer geopolitical and economic questions that U.S. intelligence agencies pose to their analysts normally. The GJP was the winner. [...] Most predictions made in companies, whether they concern project budgets, sales forecasts, or the performance of potential hires or acquisitions, are not the result of cold calculus. They are colored by the forecaster’s understanding of basic statistical arguments, susceptibility to cognitive biases, desire to influence others’ thinking, and concerns about reputation. Indeed, predictions are often intentionally vague to maximize wiggle room should they prove wrong. The good news is that training in reasoning and debiasing can reliably strengthen a firm’s forecasting competence. The Good Judgment Project demonstrated that as little as one hour of training improved forecasting accuracy by about 14% over the course of a year. [HBR] Training linked to AI and big data results in a powerful combination, at the same time scaring at some point. After so many changes will invade our lives/business, human connections will become more and more relevant. Compassion, humanity, understanding, communication ... The future is already here, like it or not, and it already began impacting our daily tasks and life. Connectivity is changing the game, how we work as Project Managers ... so we have two options, to play or not to play. Consequences of each action seem obvious ... Mark Stevenson, a visionary and author of the book "An Optimist's Tour of the Future", was the closing key note speaker of PMI EMEA Global Congress . He showed us how the new industrial revolution we are living is impacting us in different aspects such how we organised society, the way we educated ourselves, how we made business, technologically and our concept of work. I would resume the speech as inspiring, mind blowing, transhumanist, ... Be passionate for what you do, be a trailblazer, think big, make mistakes, adapt and overcome, learn, be ambitious in order to advance, connect the dots, don't be afraid of serendipity (General Leadership blog), be more human and never ever give up. SO LET'S PLAY? PMI Global Congress provides you an excellent forum to develop your professional and personal skills, apart from networking within an intercultural environment, learning and experiencing. |
Alerting Organizations to the Future - Mark Stevenson
| "The future is coming faster than you think", Mark said in his workshop at the PMI Global Congress-EMEA. Mark Stevenson (@Optimistontour) is a futurist, as his blog description says, and an expert on global trends and innovation. Also, he is the author of the bestseller ‘An Optimist’s tour of the future’. Continuing what Isabel Aguilera told us on the first-day keynote, Mark clearly presented various The title of the workshop is very well chosen because it blends two concepts that invite reflection: Alert and Optimism in the Future. On the one hand, he aims to give a message of alert about changes in the businesses that bring with them technological advances and innovation. On the other hand, all these innovations bring changes with them, but also new opportunities.
"Dinosaurs disappeared because they didn't have a space program."This is what happened to many companies that did not see what technological advancements supposed for their business and did not design a plan to redefine it and their services. When a company is not sure about what it produces and what consumers really need, it becomes a dinosaur with few expectations to survive over time. There are many examples caused by some disruptive technical advance that suddenly changed the consumer's needs: the almost total disappearance of discs with the emergence of the digital music market; publishers of newspapers and news companies; the industry of photography and film; the sale and rental of videos; and many others. Mark raises a number of questions about all these dinosaur companies that come to our minds:
Most of these companies in danger of extinction had a wrong conception of the reality where they were operating and the service they were providing: when someone bought a disc, they were not really buying a vinyl or a CD, however, they were buying an experience. Many of the successful companies reach the size of dinosaurs while they are taking care of operations, competitiveness and management of your business. However, they leave the service they are giving users aside: the experience of listening to music, being informed or remembering an image from the past. It only takes a technological change that enables another way to satisfy these needs and the whole company will disappear if it is not able to see it in time and change. The problem is that not all companies are able to deal with these changes, or in the majority of cases, they do not even want to see them: "It is difficult to convince someone that something is changing when their salary depends on nothing changing".
Disruptive technologyA disruptive technology is an innovation that creates a new market and value network that will eventually disrupt an already existing market and replace an existing product. Clayton Christensen’s book, "The innovator's dilemma", explains the attitude that companies should have on innovation and the dilemma that arises in the case that they want to change their services to incorporate technological advances. Christensen's book suggests that successful companies can put too much emphasis on customers' current needs, and fail to adopt new technology or business models that will meet their customers' unstated or future needs. He argues that such companies will eventually fall behind. Christensen calls the anticipation of future needs ‘disruptive innovation’, As the title states, the innovator's 'dilemma' comes from the idea that businesses or organizations will reject innovations based on the fact that customers cannot currently use them, thus allowing these ideas with a great potential to go to waste. Christensen goes into great detail about the way in which 'successful' companies adhered to customers’ needs, adopted new technologies and took rivals into consideration, but still ended up losing dominance in their market.
"Nearly every social and technical and business
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