Agile Leadership for Agile Transformation or Fail!
Organizational change will be difficult at best without proper leadership. There are four leadership concepts that can double the chances that your agile transformation will be effective and stay that way! These four concepts are not new, but they require a degree of passion and constancy of purpose that are often missing. The idea of constancy of purpose was the first point in W. Edward Deming's 14 points for management (Out of The Crisis - 1982 MIT Press) that has rewritten management and leadership philosophy across the globe. Deming's philosophies form the bedrock for the Agile and lean revolution in which we are currently engulfed, so we ignore Deming at our own peril. Agile delivers great benefits, but those benefits require leadership and vision to provide motivation and constancy of purpose. The four cornerstones that define agile leadership are:
- A focus on behavior,
- Setting the bar high,
- Developing self-awareness, and
- Deploying measurement.
Mr. Cagley is DCG's Vice President of Consulting. Tom leads DCG's Agile, Software Estimation and Measurement practices. He is experienced in transforming complex organization based on culturally relevant practices ranging from Agile, Lean or CMMI. His wide range of experience in the estimation space ranges from participating in the development and support commercial products to aiding clients in the development internal proprietary tools is a unique qualification in the market. He is also highly experienced in counting and using function points (IFPUG 4.3) and is currently serving on the Board of Directors of the International Function Point Users Group (IFPUG) as vice president and is a Past President IFPUG.
