When the traditional organisation meets the agile organisation

Topic

This paper lists the challenges to SBB Telecom's agile transformation. Finding a route to scaled agility and making recommendations for future change are the objectives.  The research is based on quantitative and qualitative surveys that SBB conducted of experts in the telecom sector. The author wanted to show off their disciplinary knowledge further with this thesis.
The research may provide understanding into what motivates people, what factors influence transformation, and how to implement the recommendations to have an even bigger impact. People who are interested in telecom transition may find it interesting.

Relevance

The world of work is constantly changing and many organisations are realising that traditional, hierarchical organisational structures are not always effective in meeting today's complex and rapidly changing business needs. Agile methods offer alternative approaches to fostering flexibility, adaptability and innovation. While agile is often successfully applied at the team level, organisations face challenges when trying to scale agile at the enterprise level. This research helps to identify best practices, challenges and success factors for scaling agility. By implementing scaled agility practices, traditional organisations can improve their competitiveness and adapt to changing market conditions.

Results

The results indicate that the process organisation has improved over the last two years and has moved closer to agile development. The lack of a mission statement for the organisation is met with passive resistance. Significant barriers to success include a lack of leadership, role ambiguity, especially among technical managers, and a lack of ownership of the transformation.
In order to continue the transformation, it is advisable to internalise the key success criteria. In addition, due to the complexity and interdependencies of the many influencing elements, it is recommended that a capable team is given the task of managing and leading the transformation.

Implications for practitioners

• It's important for the organisation to be open to change. Assess the organization's readiness by keeping an eye on the aforementioned prerequisites and warning signs.
• The claer communication has to be developped. This awareness must be created along with a first action recommendation.
• It is suggested that a transformation team be established and charged with overseeing the change. Since this was not done when the change originally started, it is essential to iteratively integrate a transformation team into the continuing transformation.

Methods

A mixed methods approach was adopted for this paper. In the first phase, a survey serves as a descriptive examination of the current state of affairs and as a preparation for qualitative analysis. Practitioners from different teams were approached. Interviewees with different roles were selected to ensure that different perspectives were gathered. The technical, management, human and cultural aspects were covered. The success factors identified in the literature were compared with the emerging success factors identified by the interviewees. By contrasting these perspectives, new insights and findings emerged, enriching our understanding of the implementation and impact of agile scaling frameworks in large and growing organisations.