Agile IT Organization Design

Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Glossary

1: Context
1.1 Focus
1.2 Business, IT, and Shadow IT
1.3 Business-IT Effectiveness
1.4 Digital Transformation
1.5 Bimodal IT and Dual Operating Systems
1.6 Angles of Coverage
1.7 Summary

2: The Agile Credo
2.1 Understanding the Agile Manifesto
2.2 Continuous Delivery and DevOps
2.3 Agile Culture
2.4 Common Themes
2.5 Isn’t Agile Dead?
2.6 Summary

3: Key Themes
3.1 Software Development Reconsidered
3.2 Govern for Value over Predictability
3.3 Organize for Responsiveness over Cost-efficiency
3.4 Design for Intrinsic Motivation and Unscripted Collaboration
3.5 Summary

4: Superstructure
4.1 Business Activities and Outcomes
4.2 Centralization and Decentralization
4.3 Silos
4.4 Summary of Insights
4.5 Summary of Actions

5: Team Design
5.1 Framing the Problem
5.2 Activity-oriented Teams
5.3 Shared Services
5.4 Cross-functional Teams
5.5 Cross-functionality in Other Domains
5.6 Migrating to Cross-functional Teams
5.7 Communities of Practice
5.8 Maintenance Teams
5.9 Outsourcing
5.10 The Matrix: Solve It or Dissolve It
5.11 Summary of Insights
5.12 Summary of Actions

6: Accountability
6.1 Power and Hierarchy
6.2 Balance Autonomy with Accountability
6.3 Assign Accountability
6.4 Minimize Power Struggles
6.5 Decide on an Outcome Owner
6.6 Migration
6.7 Decision Accountability
6.8 Planning and Execution
6.9 Org Chart Debt
6.10 Summary of Insights
6.11 Summary of Actions

7: Alignment
7.1 Articulate Strategy for General Alignment
7.2 Aligning IT with Business
7.3 Structural Alignment
7.4 Making Business Play Its Part
7.5 Summary of Insights
7.6 Summary of Actions

8: Projects 109
8.1 What Is Wrong with Plan-driven Software Projects?
8.2 Budget for Capacity, Not for Projects
8.3 Business-capability-centric IT
8.4 Project Business Cases
8.5 Value-driven Projects
8.6 Project Managers
8.7 Governance
8.8 Change Programs and Initiatives
8.9 Summary of Insights
8.10 Summary of Actions

9: Finance
9.1 Relevance
9.2 Cost Center or Profit Center
9.3 Chargebacks
9.4 CapEx and OpEx
9.5 Conventional Budgeting
9.6 Agile Budgeting
9.7 Summary of Insights
9.8 Summary of Actions

10: Staffing
10.1 Dealing with the Talent Crunch
10.2 Go Beyond Project Teams
10.3 Better Staffing
10.4 Summary of Insights
10.5 Summary of Actions

11: Tooling
11.1 Access Control for Unscripted Collaboration
11.2 Subtle Effects of the Toolchain
11.3 Technology Isn’t Value Neutral
11.4 Tool Evaluation 1
11.5 Summary of Insights
11.6 Summary of Actions

12: Metrics
12.1 Metrics Don’t Tell the Whole Story
12.2 Dashboards Promote Ignorance
12.3 The Problem with Targets and Incentives
12.4 Reforming the Metrics Regime
12.5 Designing Better Metrics
12.6 Objections to Metrics Reform
12.7 Migration
12.8 Summary of Insights
12.9 Summary of Actions

13: Norms
13.1 What Are Norms?
13.2 Reinforcing Norms
13.3 Cooperation over Competition
13.4 Living Policies
13.5 Consistency over Uniformity
13.6 Ask for Forgiveness, Not for Permission
13.7 Confidential Surveys
13.8 Balance Theory and Practice
13.9 Summary of Insights
13.10 Summary of Actions

14: Communications
14.1 Intrinsic Motivation
14.2 Interpersonal Communications: Problems 1
14.3 Interpersonal Communications: Mitigation
14.4 Scaling Employee Engagement through Internal Communications
14.5 Deliberating in Writing
14.6 The Use and Misuse of Visual Aids
14.7 Documents, Reports, and Templates
14.8 Summary of Insights
14.9 Summary of Actions

15: The Office
15.1 Open-plan Layouts
15.2 Ergonomics
15.3 Remote Working
15.4 Summary of Insights
15.5 Summary of Actions

16: Wrap-up
16.1 Summary of Effects
16.2 Order of Adoption
16.3 Information Radiators
16.4 Sample Exercise
16.5 IT Services
16.6 GICs
16.7 Beyond IT

Bibliography
Index