. : Identify

Organizations were quick to adopt Agile frameworks without understanding the strategic impacts upstream and downstream.   Projects were faster to deliver, but did not meet their market objectives.

. : Frame

Program, projects, and classic funding mechanisms were restricting what the organization could accomplish.   The connection between organizational strategy and the delivery mechanisms were decoupled.  In some cases, the organization was simply delivering the wrong or lower value outcomes faster.   Focus was on projects and time to market rather than value to market.

. : Engage

We engaged leadership, lines of business, and architectural groups to understand how their business capabilities were prioritized and how they communicated that down into the delivery mechanisms of the organization.  When needed, we partnered with business to create the business capability model and align it to expected value based outcomes.

. : Solve

By reaching out to all lines of business, we were able to compile an inventory of operational value based outcomes.  Organizations often like to discuss the technology versus the business outcome they are achieving.  In our discovery, we treat technology as an actor and minimize the amount of “tech speak” in order to get to the core business goals.  We also worked with specific lines of business to rank the value outcomes by their impact for the business.  At the end, we provided a committee framework for investment decisions and aligning it to the downstream delivery channels within the organization.  By allowing the organization to focus on value based outcomes and organize the work by importance, we were able to connect strategy to their Agile mechanisms.