Agile Storytime

Compelling stories start with an intention – something that needs to be done – and an obstacle – something that needs to be overcome. Agile teams define their work through stories that capture intention and obstacle. The Sprint Review ceremony is where these stories come to life.

Are your employees captivated by a connection to the purpose of their efforts? Or do they feel more like captives, constrained by a lack of mission and empowerment? Insights from BCG’s survey of 11,500 workers undergoing Agile transformation demonstrate how the principles and practices of Enterprise Agility can create a captivating organization.

Some say that technology architecture in Agile organizations should be ‘emergent.’ As with all things, the key is balance. We continue our conversation with Harsha Ramalingam, former VP and CIO at Amazon, regarding how independent teams can develop and apply architecture standards while creating just the right amount of chaos.

A vision seen only by one person can’t drive change. It’s just a hallucination. A vision spreads though diligent, structured, persistent work focused on creating alignment, translating vision to outcomes, and outcomes to the work that achieves them. Some organizations have built a rigorous process around setting and achieving their vision and goals. In this episode, we learn about the practice employed by Salesforce.com from someone who lives it day-to-day.

Guest: Shad Imam, Senior Director, Solutions Engineering, Public Sector at the MuleSoft Division of Salesforce.com

“I don’t have time to change how we work. I have too many meetings!” This is an all-too-common lament from our clients. In this episode, a Chief Technology Officer radically improves his organization’s performance – and his own happiness – by re-inventing his calendar. Featuring Laurent Alt, Associate Director at BCG, formerly CTO at Lectra and Senior Architect at Dassault-Systèmes.

The founders of the Agile movement sought to express its core ideas in simple terms. Over time, however, the key principles of Agile can become lost in a cloud of off-putting jargon. Alastair Cockburn, co-author of the Agile Manifesto, founded the Heart of Agile – an approach that aims to amplify Agile culture by simplifying it into four imperatives: collaborate, deliver, reflect, and improve. One key learning from Alistair’s long experience: “If you can’t tell your boss bad news, you can’t do Agile.”

Words matter – especially words spoken by leaders. In this episode, we’ll relate stories of things senior leaders have said to their organizations that have helped – or hindered – their transformation efforts. We share a powerful, practical technique to help leaders spark effective conversations with their teams.

The much-anticipated release of the epic video game Cyberpunk 2077 in 2020 was problematic.

Some have characterized this release as a “minimum viable product”. But is this use of the term accurate, or fair? In this episode, we explore the troubling consequences of treating release targets as reliable plans, and how that applies to all businesses – not just video game publishers.

Fundamental change can take root rapidly when new ways of working are sown in an organization that’s already prepared the ground. Payam Djavdan drove ING Bank’s legendary agile transformation and shares the story behind the story. Insights will be reaped even by those who think they already know the tale of ING.

Guest: Payam Djavdan, Partner and Associate Director, BCG Amsterdam

The path to becoming a successful Product Owner echoes the classical Hero’s Journey – a call to adventure, a crisis that evokes a revelation, and in the end – the hero transformed. Becky Frederick, a BCG partner based in Seattle, tells the tale of taking on the challenging role of Product Owner in a challenging situation. 

Guest: Becky Frederick, Partner, Boston Consulting Group