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    Disciplined Agile® Transformation Roadmap: Thrive as a Learning Organization

    The true goal of an agile transformation is not to adopt an agile method or framework. Rather, it is to become a learning organization that is able to sense what is happening in their environment and respond appropriately. Disciplined Agile® (DA™) can help with that. Figure 1 overviews the steps that organizations typically take to improve a specific business area.

    Thrive

    Figure 1. The ongoing activities for a learning organization to continue to thrive (Click for larger version).

    As you can see in Figure 1, to become aligned there are several activities that occur in parallel on an ongoing, as-needed basis:

    1. Teams work semi-autonomously. Teams are most effective when they work autonomously when they are able and reach out and collaborate with others when they need to. This extends to their improvement efforts.
    2. Improve continuously. Disciplined Agile teams strive to learn and improve over time. This is a fundamental aspect of being a learning organization, which is the goal of the thrive stage.
    3. Remove barriers to flow. The organization should continuously attempt to remove barriers to the flow of value across teams.
    4. Create and train new teams as needed. As your organization evolves, some teams will be disbanded, and some new teams will be formed. These new teams may require training in DA.
    5. Coach new teams. New teams may require coaching as they identify how they are going to work together.
    6. “Spot coach” experienced teams. Everyone needs help from time to time, perhaps to relearn WoW that they haven’t performed lately or to learn new WoW.
    7. Train as needed. There will be ongoing training of new staff as well as training existing staff in new skills.