News Alert! Bigfoot Sighting – We Have Evidence!

In a session titled “Business and IT Alignment:  Turning Agility into a Reality”, Robert Woods (IT Project Manager & Agile Coach/Trainer) used his hands-on experience at Aarons, Inc. to advise participants on the importance of establishing Business and IT alignment, when trying to get the value out of an Agile transformation.   He described this alignment as being elusive – “…sort of like a Bigfoot sighting.”   He went on to reassure the audience, however, that he observed this alignment working at Aarons.

Woods explained that the success of Aaron’s Agile transformation was evident in the release of the developed product to 500 stores - as planned.  The journey was not without challenges, though.  A lack of product ownership and a lack of properly trained team facilitators are 2 of the key challenges the team faced.  These challenges were acknowledged and steps were taken to create engaged product ownership and to train team facilitators.  

After explaining some of the challenges (and tips to overcome them), Woods left participants with a key take away “Agile transformation is not department specific.  It is a culture change for the entire organization.”  He explained that if an organization can think of Agile transformation from this perspective, it is more likely to be successful in that transformation.

Belinda Henderson, CBAP, PSM

Senior Consultant and Business Analysis Blogger, Cardinal Solutions Group
Guest Blogger, 2013 Project World & World Congress for Business Analysts