Author: Jurgen Appelo

In conversations with agilists worldwide, we hear nothing but misery about the "implementation roadmaps" of agile scaling frameworks.

We don't believe in implementation roadmaps. Agile transformation and cultural change are not things to be "rolled out" as a framework powered by extensive training programs and measured by the number of certificates. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. It's best to avoid drawing a map for that.

We do believe in evolutionary change and continuous transformation.

To keep up with change, organizations must keep evolving and reorganizing. The only way to do that properly is with an iterative/incremental approach that never stops. Guess what? The unFIX model includes the Innovation Vortex with seven streams for continuous innovation. Let's see how it might work when you apply Design Thinking and a Lean Startup approach to ongoing organizational transformation.

Frame / Contextualize

Set the scope. Are you changing one team? One business unit? The whole company? Begin by (re-)evaluating the purpose, mission, and strategy for the selected scope. This is a high-level exercise to gain a better insight into the kind of effort you're dealing with. (My advice: prefer small over large.)

The goal of this stream is to achieve alignment on the scope of the change.

Discover / Empathize

Evaluate the present. How do your people organize their work now? What is the structure of your organization? Achieve consensus on the current organizational design, team structure, lifecycle stages, investment horizons, etc. Most importantly, where is the pain, and where is the gain? (My advice: have separate talks with people in various roles.)

The goal of this stream is a more precise understanding of the present situation.

Define / Synthesize

Imagine the future. What are the potential future designs of your organization? What are alternative scenarios that could move the organization in the desired direction? (Re)define value streams, crew boundaries, forums, and dependencies. Maybe also discuss operational options such as cadence, reteaming, and decision-making. (My advice: use idealized design to envision multiple solutions.)

The goal of this stream is to develop different scenarios for organizational evolution.

Our team at The unFIX Company will run an experiment called the Ignition Program. We can help drive the change in the Frame, Discover, and Design streams. But we hand over to you (or an Official Partner company) when it comes to Ideate, Discover, Test, and Learn. We will not manage the change, but we will be happy and honored to be your sounding board.

Ideate / Hypothesize

Think big but start small. After agreeing on purpose, mission, strategy, present situation, and potential future scenarios, you should move the organization forward in a way that keeps many options open. Sometimes, you need a radical change. Most of the time, however, you want to explore the landscape by planning small, reversible changes. (My advice: plan radical changes only after gaining knowledge through gradual changes.)

This stream aims to select the best ideas from a long list of options.

Build / Externalize

Run experiments. Now, it's time for you to try something out. Start a Forum, move a manager, change some delegation levels, move a team boundary, or rethink a value stream. Implement every organizational change as an experiment: maybe it works, maybe it doesn't. If it doesn't work, don't be discouraged. Perhaps another change needs to be in place first. (My advice: expect everything to depend on everything else.)

The goal of this stream is to gain knowledge by trying different things.

Test / Sensitize

Validate outcomes. Do not assume that each organizational change is for the best. Assess what the impact of each change on the human experience is. Achieve measurable improvements in the organization and continue to evolve in the desired direction. (My advice: discuss experiments and learnings, not successes or failures.)

The goal of this stream is to check on the direction of the organizational transformation.

Learn / Systematize

Step back and reflect. Learn about organizational change. Be inspired by case studies of other organizations. Talk with people outside your current scope about their experiences and share with them your learnings. (My advice: get involved in the unFIX community.)

The goal of this stream is to learn the language of organizational change.

Cycles, Not Steps

The Innovation Vortex is an iterative and incremental model. Vision, mission, and strategy may change over time, together with the pains, gains, scenarios, and experiments your organization want to run. That's why you must revisit each stream regularly. But you can go through them at a different cadence. For example, the Frame and Discover streams may need your attention only a few times per year, while the Build and Test streams would have your attention nearly every week!

An agile transformation is not a step-by-step process with a linear roadmap. It is messy, fuzzy, and non-linear. You must revisit each stream of the Innovation Vortex regularly and your organization design will never achieve a status of Done. The best you can aim for is Good Enough for Now.

We don't believe you should follow an implementation roadmap for your agile transformation. Instead, you should have an evolutionary approach to organizational change. Set a scope, evaluate the present, imagine multiple futures, start small, run experiments, validate outcomes, and step back to reflect. And do all of this repeatedly.

If you prefer not to be alone on this journey, our team can help. Contact us about our upcoming Ignition Program. Continuous transformation is your job. But we can assist with setting the scope, evaluating the present, and imagining the future, using the many patterns of the unFIX model.