Tangible’s Unique Approach to Agile Adoption
Agile processes accommodate and adapt to different situations and environments, and the transition to agility should be no different. Although the framework guiding agile adoption needs to be repeatable, it also needs to accommodate the changing nature of projects within an organization, just as agile processes accommodate the changing nature of requirements in a project.Each software development project is unique and surrounded by unique characteristics.
Knowing this, at Tangible Software we used scientific research to develop a framework know as the Agile Adoption Framework to help organizations adopt agile practices in an effective and efficient manner using a combination of project-based assessments and organizational-level assessments.

During project-level assessments, Tangible’s consultants will help identify a target agile level for each project aspiring to adopt agile practices. After identifying a target agile level for the project, Tangible’s consultants conduct an organizational-level assessment to determine the extent to which the organization is ready to adopt the target agile level for the project. Additionally, since measurement and assessment are substantial components of many process improvement efforts, Tangible Software uses a specially engineered measurement index, known as SAMI (Sidky Agile Measurement Index), to measure the agile potential of organizations. By using the SAMI, our agile experts make sure that the agile practices your organization adopts are synergistic and add value to your organization.

After the assessments are completed, the next step is to prepare an agile adoption plan or a “Roadmap to Agility” as we call it at Tangible Software. The goal of the Roadmap to Agility is to identify which practices will be adopted in which sequence based on the results of the readiness assessment. Tangible Software uses the Sidky Agile Measurement Index (SAMI) (see Figure above) to guide the adoption effort and to ensure that the adoption plan is based on the true agile values – as defined in the original Agile Manifesto. Another benefit that is realized from using the SAMI to guide the agile adoption effort is the mitigation of the risk of “one big” adoption effort. As depicted in Figure 1, any change usually goes through a period of chaos. This chaos is directly proportional to the amount of change the team goes through. Some teams can not handle such a period of chaos and either reverts back to their old ways or “fake” the adoption and then a couple of months later revert to their old ways after the agile coaches leave the site. At Tangible Software we want sustainable change. Therefore we use the SAMI to divide the agile adoption effort into 5 stages or levels. The agile practices adopted in each stage focus on realizing a certain value of agility within the team. For example, the practices adopted during level 1 will focus on enhancing the communication and collaboration between the members of the team. After those practices are successfully adopted then we introduce the practices in level 2 which focus on helping the project team deliver software early and frequently. This process continues till the team adopts the practices in agile level 5. This approach significantly reduces resistance to change and reduces the degree of chaos the team goes through before realizing a increase in their performance. (see Figure below)