Govern Agility

It's the Age of Agile, but many are now asking why they aren't getting the promised results. You can spend millions training teams in agile approaches, but without changes to the structuring governance of broader management, success is elusive because the new way of working clashes with the old.

In "Govern Agility" we tackle this challenge within our Five Stanchions: Conductive Leadership, Sensible Transparency, Patterns of Work, Data-Driven Reasoning, and Humanity. We do this from a combined nearly 40 years of agile experience; and using the lens of learnings across different industries

If this sounds like a problem you would like to solve, then we invite you to come on our journey with us !

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What people are saying about
Govern agility

"Having watched people's reactions after reading this book, I recommend it for repeated reading by leaders everywhere. Dr Alistair Cockburn , Founding Co-Author of the Agile Manifesto

"The missing link for shaping governance practices in the digital age."
Evan Leybourn Co-Founder, Business Agility Institute

"This book will amplify the wins you get from your agile transformations."
Craig Brown, CEO Everest Engineering

"Govern Agility was a game-changer for us. Hawkeye has an increased sense of us and less me.” Carolyn Martinez, Director, Hawkeye Publishing

Effectively govern any modern system of work

The 5 Stanchions that Govern with Agility

After twenty years of working in agile, non-agile and transitional organisations, we have distilled what agile governance is into five "Stanchions" we believe are needed to effectively govern any modern system of work - whether we use agile methods in the work or not. In fact the normal scenario is hybrid - we have agile, we have fixed planned waterfall, and everything in between. The Stanchions are the connectors that allow us to combine all these methods and give us clarity.

‍Phil and Tony

Is about moving away from a mechanistic approach..

" where people are cogs in a machine, to a humanistic approach where creativity and individualism can flourish. To be conductive means to operate like a conductor in an orchestra: guiding, strengthening, providing a tempo and synchronization, without directly controlling the hands of your performers. In short, if you can’t change the way you lead, you can’tchange the way you govern."

The speed of information flow is key to agility..

"namely the speed at which information flows around the organization. Without information, you can’t make decisions. Without transparency of information, you can’t build trust. Creating Sensible Transparency requires purposeful design which enables true collaborative connective tissues, which in turn gives you the speed and flow required for success."

How we work , how we organize, how we ..

" how we complete work. This encompasses processes and tools, as well as the mindsets we employ, and the systems that support and enable those mindsets. Whether it’s continuous delivery, project-based thinking, charts, plans, compliance methodologies, and so on, we need to ensure our patterns of work are designed with the intention of optimizing productivity, maximizing learning, and evolving for continuous learning. "

What we measure, how we measure it and..

“how we use that information to make decisions.You’re probably familiar with the classic metrics: time, cost, scope, and quality. What about customer satisfaction or team happiness?Are these truly the measures we need to succeed in a VUCA world?What about lead time, cycle time, and flow efficiency? And once we’ve decided on what data we need, how can we gather and understand it fast enough to keep up with the pace of change?. “

Humanity is the Cornerstone to good ..

"Agile Governance. This means putting people in the work instead of bringing work to the people. It means making workers the true custodians of good governance. An end to mechanistic controls, and a return to trust and ownership.."

Why do we need Agility in Governance?

The evolution of agile caused a paradigm change from agile for software, to agile management, and finally evolved to agility for the organisation and the entire system of work which requires a change in how we govern the system as a whole.
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Copyright (C) Phil Gadzinski and Tony Ponton, 2024 Govern Agility