Business transformation: Types of agile consultants

A few years ago, proposing an “agile transformation” to almost any company generated high interest, opening the doors for consultants of all types to contribute to these transformations.

Today, more than 20 years after the Agile manifesto, enthusiasm has given way to growing skepticism.

What happened?

The experiences throughout these years have not met what companies expected.

Although practically 100% of organizations have adopted agility in one form or another, success has not been uniform.

The reality is that agility has not always delivered what it promised. And it is common to see how terms, roles, and practices have been absorbed, but frequently adapted to a traditional mindset, without substantial changes.

Agile Consultants: Solution or Part of the Problem?

Examples of poor application of agility are common:

With the roles: Managers converted into product owners, Project Managers renamed as Scrum masters, teams that maintain their practices under agile labels, and agilists with little experience renamed Agile coaches.

With structures: Groups of teams renamed as ART, Value streams, or tribes but that do not adequately evolve to be more than a group of teams.

With organizational scaling. Selective application of escalation frameworks that function barely to maintain a quarterly work pace

With the transformation process: Focus on training and use of practices without a real impact on the company’s strategy.

And who is largely responsible?

Us. The agilists. In some cases, we have promoted these superficial changes because it is easier to adopt the terminology and practices than to transform an organization resistant to change.

Towards a Solution

An agilist who aims to transform a team or an organization must master three key aspects:

• Business impact
• Theoretical agility
• Agile Mindset

“Colors” of consultants

Each agilist varies in their efficiency and mastery in each of these aspects.

Let’s review each consultant’s “color” separately and possible combinations, understanding that these categories simplify a more complex reality.

Let’s hope that the analysis helps us understand that reality.

Red – Business Strategist

Let’s imagine consultants with only the red part (Business Impact) developed. And who has no blue or green at all (or very little)

Traditional consultants.

Of course, if they are inefficient they will not generate any impact. And if they are experts they will be able to achieve a change in the organization or the teams they work with.

They will not speak or apply agile concepts. They won’t try to get a team to implement Kanban or get managers to become SAFe certified.

However, it is likely that, if they are good, they will apply similar practices that have been used since the last century. If they are experienced, they will talk with teams about improving quality, response times, efficiency, and effectiveness. And they will seek for the organization to improve its communication, alignment, focus, operating models, etc.

The important thing here is that these consultants can be valued by companies if they obtain results.

Today there are few “red” consultants left that are highly efficient in the medium and long term. The problem is not them but the dizzying pace in the industry and in society that now demands precisely what in 2001 led to the spread of “lightweight” or agile frameworks and methods.

Blue – Master of Theory

Let’s now imagine purely blue consultants (Theoretical Agility). With no red or green (or very little).

A by-the-book agilist.

If they are very bad, they will know little about practices, frameworks, methodologies, and roles. But if they are good they will be agile walking encyclopedias. They could even repeat entire paragraphs from the Scrum guide, name the 17 signatories of the manifesto, discuss the latest changes in SAFe, and recite from memory the differences between LeSS and Nexus.

If they are also good instructors, they will be able to transfer knowledge to other agilists and to the teams and organizations with which they work.

With a little luck, they will be able to make a positive impact. Many agile practices can be beneficial even if they are not applied optimally or if teams do not understand the purpose for which they were defined.

But they will not be able to transform a company in the long term.

Over the past two decades, I have met many such consultants, with varying intensities of “blue.” They are likely the agile consultants that many companies know and have had their approach to agility with.

Green – Agile Visionary

The last one-color consultants would be purely green (Agile Mindset). Without a hint of red or blue (or very little).

Philosophical agilists.

If they are not good, preaching about the benefits of agility and its values, will have close to zero impact. And if they are good, will motivate people to carry agile values and principles into their daily lives… but still will not have much impact in most cases either. Values and principles need something tangible to have any impact.

They may pontificate by continually reciting “people and interactions over processes and tools” or insist that leadership must be shared or that the focus must be continually delivering value to customers. However, they will be unable to get teams and organizations to apply those values and principles.

Although I have met a few, these consultants exist. Generally working as part of a team with some “other colors” consultants.

Purple  – Pragmatic Strategist

This is an interesting amalgamation of colors. In my experience with companies that have achieved an impact using agility, these are the most common consultants.

The business acumen of the red consultants is combined with the blue’s knowledge of agile practices, methods, and frameworks that can be used to respond to business needs.

They can achieve tangible results by applying these frameworks and practices transversally, allowing the company to improve its processes and adequately scale collaboration and communication.

With this, thay can ensure that the business and technical parts are understood and aligned with the strategy and its objectives.

Of course, by lacking growth in the green “color” there is a risk that agile principles and values will be left aside by focusing mainly on results and the correct application of practices.

Yellow – Culture Changer

It fuses the strategic business perspective with the understanding and commitment to an agile mindset and the application of values and principles. Although without the necessary foundation of agile skills or practices.

In my experience, I have seen a few yellow consultants. Fortunately, those I have seen have been surrounded by other consultants with knowledge of practices and frameworks, which has allowed their focus on mindset to complement the rest.

Their focus is on improving the organization, prioritizing cultural change, the value generated, and people. This should be a good boost for the organization to better achieve its objectives. But the lack of agility knowledge can mean that long-term change does not have the necessary support for a real transformation.

Turquoise  – Agility Guru

They focus on the practical application of agility and adhering to an agile mindset. However, they find it difficult to connect with the results and objectives of the business.

In my experience with failed transformations, this combination is quite common and these consultants are validated as “good agilists” due to their extensive knowledge and focus on values. principles, people, and delivery of value.

They can achieve interesting results in the short term. A good adoption of agility and an understanding of the objective of the practices. Even changes in the culture of the organization. But lacking a strong focus on business impact they may struggle to achieve tangible business results in the medium and long term.

They are trainers, mentors, and a bit of agile philosophers.

If they find that the business on its own manages to connect agile practices and culture to the organizational strategy they can be successful, but it is a risky bet.

White – Agility Integrator

The holy grail of agile consultants integrates all faces of agility: business impact, agile practices, and mindset.

They represent what it means to truly be an agile consultant.

Combines business strategy skills with detailed knowledge of agile practices and frameworks.

Implement effective agile practices while fostering deep cultural change aligned with business objectives.

Thay are agile transformation leaders who can guide the organization through the necessary changes in processes, structure, and culture.

In short, they have a holistic and balanced approach.

Although they are the ideal agile consultants, they face the challenge of coordinating the rest of the agile team, leadership, and stakeholders in properly balancing all aspects to maintain a balance on the path of transformation.

 

What should an organization do if it wants to use agility to impact its business?

Avoid “we are agile” label

There is no need to rush to label ourselves as agile prematurely. Agile transformation is a process that takes time. For example, we do not label ourselves as “marathon runners” if we have started jogging a little.

An experienced consultant will be an invaluable support in aligning expectations and giving an informed opinion of actual progress and remaining challenges.

See beyond practices

Understand that effective agility goes beyond training and applying practices in teams. Rely on good consultants who help you visualize the impact on the business and the client of each of the agile practices and frameworks.

Supporting consultants must be able to show that impact in a tangible way, not as a promise.

Agility is just a tool

And that any transformation takes time and that leadership and teams must be willing to embrace change.

If agile consultants measure the progress of the transformation only by adherence to practices or methodological frameworks, we can expect problems in achieving real results.

Approach of an agile change

Agility does not only seek to implement efficient practices.

The focus is to form teams and organizations that can quickly adapt to changes, that focus on delivering value and not just completing projects or initiatives, with discipline in constantly generating improvements in the processes, tools, and structures, that are enabled by the use of experimentation as an enhancer of innovation and that are looking to share leadership to have autonomous structures but aligned with strategic objectives.

If what we are looking for is only to apply best practices, go ahead with a blue or purple consultant.

It will be better than nothing, but let’s not expect a real transformation.

“Slowly, because I’m in a hurry”

In the purest agile approach, a transformation requires gradual and evolutionary changes. Any promise of instant or effortless change should be viewed with skepticism.

An experienced consultant will help to set realistic expectations and a challenging roadmap.

Leadership involvement

One of the key points within an organization and the first focus that must be addressed in a transformation.

If we do not achieve this involvement from the highest level to the entire organization, it will not matter how many and which consultants we have, the change will only come to superficial adjustments in the dynamics of the teams.

 

Incorporating a comprehensive perspective in the selection of agile consultants

The ideal should be to have highly experienced “white” Consultants.

But that is not always possible. Finding and affording these experts is a challenge.

A practical solution may be to form a team of diverse consultants who complement each other. Let’s look at the options.

To begin, the natural thing would be to discard some colors:

Reds are not a good option

They are not a good option to push a transformation for obvious reasons.

The company may have many consultants or experts internally who cover the role of focusing on the business and who would be part of the group to evolve in the transformation. But not as members of the agile consulting team.

Except if they are included in a group of agile consultants with the objective that these reds can grow in agility while contributing their knowledge of the business.

Avoid greens, blues, turquoise

Those who are purely theorists of agility or the agile mindset should be discarded. Their lack of focus on business impact can lead to implementations with no basis other than following a practice or framework.

The turquoise ones are better, of course, combining theory with mindset, but even so, they do not provide what is intended: Using agility as a tool and not as an end.

The only concession that could be made is to integrate a few blue or turquoise juniors into a group of consultants guided by consultants with greater expertise.

And then we are left with the consultants with the best contribution:

Yellow and purple

On their own, none of these separate consultants would be capable of carrying out a lasting and high-impact transformation. Or at least it would take more time and effort than necessary.

But a combined group of yellows and purples working together can complement each other nicely.

If they are guided by a type white consultant they could be the ideal team.

Towards a genuine agile transformation

In summary, agile transformation goes beyond practices and tools; It is a profound change in the mindset and organizational culture.

As leaders committed to the success of our organizations, we must critically analyze and appropriately select the agile consultants who will guide us.

True transformation begins with the conscious decision to change in a holistic and balanced way.

Let’s reflect, are we moving towards agility or simply adopting an appearance?

The key is the intelligent integration of business strategy, practices, and mindset. Together, we can achieve genuine, effective, and sustainable agile transformation.