{"id":9659,"date":"2021-09-27T07:08:43","date_gmt":"2021-09-27T12:08:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/?p=9659"},"modified":"2021-11-24T10:50:51","modified_gmt":"2021-11-24T15:50:51","slug":"organizational-obstacles-to-agile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/organizational-obstacles-to-agile\/","title":{"rendered":"Organizational Obstacles to Agile"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-9662\" src=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Obstacle-2-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Obstacle-2-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Obstacle-2-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Obstacle-2-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Obstacle-2.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/>Agile is a robust approach to <a href=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/browse\/stream\/value-creation\">value creation<\/a>. \u00a0More and more organizations are adopting Agile Software Development approach.<\/p>\n<p>Becoming Agile is imperative to meet and exceed customer expectations and emerging business trends.\u00a0 Implementing the <a href=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/browse\/flevypro\/five-beliefs-of-agile-development-2833\">Agile approach<\/a> to Software Development leverages significant benefits, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Rapid design and development of new product and service offerings<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/browse\/stream\/process-improvement\">Revolutionizing processes<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Managing talent<\/li>\n<li>Reforming organizations<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>However, Agile alone is not enough.\u00a0 Agile Transformation can slip-up as Agile teams can stagger while working together and depending on others. \u00a0In order to become an effective <a href=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/browse\/flevypro\/digital-organizational-design-3189\">Digital organization<\/a>, companies have to steer clear of the obstacles that bog down the rapid progress of Agile software development.\u00a0 These <a href=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/browse\/flevypro\/organizational-obstacles-to-agile-5876\">organizational obstacles<\/a>\u00a0to Agile include:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Rigid Technology Architecture<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Poor Talent Management<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Lack of Product Mindset<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/browse\/flevypro\/organizational-obstacles-to-agile-5876\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-9726\" src=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Agile-org-obstacles.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1002\" height=\"752\" srcset=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Agile-org-obstacles.png 1002w, https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Agile-org-obstacles-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Agile-org-obstacles-768x576.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1002px) 100vw, 1002px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Overcoming these barriers necessitates sincere harmonization, persistent effort, and commitment from the business and technology leadership.\u00a0 Anticipating and addressing these major organizational obstacles is integral to becoming <a href=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/business-toolkit\/agile\">Agile<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s discuss these obstacles in detail.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Rigid Technology Architecture <\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Using and expanding the same old codes and plugging gaps with software patches renders the IT Architecture cumbersome and unyielding, at most organizations.\u00a0 Many organizations have outdated systems to manage operations and facilitate their customers.\u00a0 The integration of these outdated systems with modern applications and IT architecture isn\u2019t easy, making them inflexible.\u00a0 Most of these systems and aps are inter-reliant and connected.\u00a0 A small change in a code has serious implications on other connected applications.<\/p>\n<p>IT executives have to consider a number of factors before modernizing their IT architecture.\u00a0 These factors include potential value envisaged from the new architecture, requirement for new functionalities, risk of disruption, complications involved in the process, extent of fragmented data, and costs. \u00a0Based on thorough evaluation of these factors, executives select one of these 4 common approaches to revolutionize their IT architecture:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Inaction<strong> \u2013 <\/strong>The investment in overhauling certain applications is thought to be nonviable as their impact is considered insignificant in the overall architecture.<\/li>\n<li>Integrate<strong> \u2013 <\/strong>Uncover the old system\u2019s essential function \/ elements and connect them with modern systems using interfaces (APIs).<\/li>\n<li>Overhaul<strong> \u2013 <\/strong>Modify the design of applications\u2014e.g. dissecting the code into distinct, autonomous sections and eliminating any hard-coded values.<\/li>\n<li>Replace<strong> \u2013 <\/strong>Design innovative applications and deploy latest architecture (e.g. micro-services).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Poor Talent Management<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Most leaders understand the importance of finding and staffing top talent in becoming Agile. \u00a0However, outdated <a href=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/browse\/stream\/human-resources\">HR Management<\/a> practices at some organizations become a major hurdle in attracting and retaining talented individuals. \u00a0The issue with IT management at most technology firms in the recent past was their shortcoming in visualizing the problems through a business perspective.\u00a0 This led to the depletion of technical capabilities due to hiring of more and more people with strong business sense, but inadequate technological prowess.<\/p>\n<p>Another factor compounding the talent deficit is entrusting the hiring function to external contractors by scores of IT organizations. \u00a0This practice, although, assists in staffing talent and gaining new capabilities promptly, but diverts much of the executives\u2019 time in supervising the external contractors.\u00a0 This leaves little time for them to acquire new technical skills and gives the contractors too much control over <a href=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/browse\/stream\/innovation\">innovation<\/a>. \u00a0Outsourcing the software maintenance to 3<sup>rd<\/sup> parties is another factor that leads to poor accountability and <a href=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/browse\/flevypro\/6-pillars-of-talent-management-5271\">Talent Management<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>To mitigate these issues, technology companies need to transform, strengthen their technical capabilities, eliminate dependencies on 3<sup>rd<\/sup> parties, and clearly define responsibilities.<\/p>\n<p>Interested in learning more about the obstacles to becoming Agile?\u00a0 You\u00a0can download\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/browse\/flevypro\/organizational-obstacles-to-agile-5876\">an editable PowerPoint on <strong>3 Organizational Obstacles to Agile<\/strong> here<\/a><u>\u00a0<\/u>on the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/browse\">Flevy documents marketplace<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Do You Find Value in This Framework?<\/h2>\n<p>You can download in-depth presentations on this and hundreds of similar business frameworks from the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/pro\/library\">FlevyPro Library<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/pro\">FlevyPro<\/a>\u00a0is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives. Here\u2019s what some have to say:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cMy FlevyPro subscription provides me with the most popular frameworks and decks in demand in today\u2019s market.\u00a0 They not only augment my existing consulting and coaching offerings and delivery, but also keep me abreast of the latest trends, inspire new products and service offerings for my practice, and educate me in a fraction of the time and money of other solutions.\u00a0 I strongly recommend FlevyPro to any consultant serious about success.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Bill Branson, Founder at Strategic Business Architects<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cAs a niche strategic consulting firm, Flevy and FlevyPro frameworks and documents are an on-going reference to help us structure our findings and recommendations to our clients as well as improve their clarity, strength, and visual power.\u00a0 For us, it is an invaluable resource to increase our impact and value.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 David Coloma, Consulting Area Manager at Cynertia Consulting<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cFlevyPro has been a brilliant resource for me, as an independent growth consultant, to access a vast knowledge bank of presentations to support my work with clients.\u00a0 In terms of RoI, the value I received from the very first presentation I downloaded paid for my subscription many times over!\u00a0 The quality of the decks available allows me to punch way above my weight \u2013 it\u2019s like having the resources of a Big 4 consultancy at your fingertips at a microscopic fraction of the overhead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Agile is a robust approach to value creation. \u00a0More and more organizations are adopting Agile Software Development approach. Becoming Agile is imperative to meet and exceed customer expectations and emerging business trends.\u00a0 Implementing the Agile approach to Software Development leverages significant benefits, including: Rapid design and development of new product and service offerings Revolutionizing processes&hellip;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/organizational-obstacles-to-agile\/\" rel=\"bookmark\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Organizational Obstacles to Agile<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":9662,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[84,85],"tags":[222,1015,2,2665,1338,1145,1602,2122,1877,1137,2644,824],"class_list":["post-9659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-information-technology","category-organization","tag-agile","tag-disruption","tag-innovation","tag-it-architecture","tag-outsourcing","tag-product-development","tag-product-management","tag-product-mindset","tag-software-development","tag-talent-management","tag-technology-architecture","tag-transformation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/110"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9659"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9730,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9659\/revisions\/9730"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}