Whilst there were some discussions in late 2002, the transformation planning started in earnest in January 2003. For me, the real starting point was when Daren called me one evening in the Christmas Holiday to say he had agreed with Tom that the whole thing was kicking off in earnest, and quickly [of course, it was Egg, after all]. The conversation itself was one of those slightly memorable events: Daren was calling from Australia [or possibly NZ, but definitiely antipodean], and I was lounging on the sofa watching TV…
And so the first actual kick off meeting was held in the IOD meeting room at the Trent Bridge cricket ground in Nottingham on 7th January 2003. In the nature of such sensitive planning discussions, we then met in various other out of the way locations from the Holborn Hotel, near the Egg offices in London, to some less salubrious locations; in Nottingham – the Strathdon Hotel, which looks quite nice on their website, but in the harsh light of Google local images actually looks like this…
Http iframes are not shown in https pages in many major browsers. Please read this post for details.…glamorous it ain’t;
and in Sutton Coldfield and Coventry on a journey of exploration of low cost hotels…
Just to add some spice to the mix whilst we were working through the Transformation planning, I also had a quick trip to Kaduna in Nigeria to run an IT Security and Operational Risk Review workshop with a regional bank…
…which is nowhere near the West Midlands.
Early Whiteboarding
The early planning started to lay out the shape of the transformation plan with initial set of key working assumptions, and the Conditions of Satisfaction [Egg speak for the target criteria by which we can measure success]
Http iframes are not shown in https pages in many major browsers. Please read this post for details.Communicating the Agile Transformation
A key milestone was the presentation to the Egg People Forum on 28th February 2003 which laid out the vision for Egg Technology, and in particular the plan for the Agile Transformation. The essential elements described were:
- Egg’s Game and focus for 2003 [To understand some of the terminology Egg used, you should read Mike Harris’ book “Find your Lightbulb”]
to deliver the technology that drives the customer experience revolution
- The Egg Technology Solutions Play into the Game:
- Create a new Customer Technology Solutions team, working in a creative environment that delivers superior customer solutions, passionately focussed on listening to, and making it work for the customer, closer to the customers both mentally and physically
- Rigorously defend 2003 bottom-line
- Better value for money, “more bang for the buck”: Reduce fixed cost overheads; strip out poor quality practices, eliminate red tape; invest in our Technology People
- Be the Technology Partner of choice: Egg loves business agility, we’re good at it. Build on our strengths; select and engage Trusted ; Partners; Invest in relationships to create the technology multiplier
- Customer Outcomes
- Egg Technology Solutions is perceived to be more productive
- measured by increase in internal customer satisfaction (and)
- Target 33% developer productivity increase for flat costs
- Egg Technology has a real partnership with the rest of Egg – measured by internal feedback
- 8/10 of Egg Technology people say it is a great place to work (in 2003)
- Egg Technology Solutions is perceived to be more productive
- Moving to a new delivery model with a £4.5m reduction in fixed costs, necessitating a reduction in people from 234 to 141 in Egg Technology, mainly impacting the delivery teams (180 down to 100), and based on a robust selection process and essential supportive measure
You can read more here…
Http iframes are not shown in https pages in many major browsers. Please read this post for details.Programme on a page
In true agile style, the transformation was not planned using traditional mega-project plans (nor indeed using Microsoft Project). The programme was well visualised and the essential shape can be seen in this one page summary showing the overall shape that was expected looking forward across 2003 and beyond
The programme covered the full range of ingredients in the recipe for a full (and successful) Agile Transformation:
- Securing Projects – ensuring key projects are delivered “business as usual” without interruption during the transformation process
- People & Culture – defining the new way of being for Agile People, setting out the organisation structure and managing the process of selection and onward personal development
- Communication – managing the communication with all the key stakeholders (even though they were not called that in Egg…)
- Brand – defining the name and core essence of the new organisation
- Agile Development – defining, implementing and tuning the new agile development method (Agile Egg V1)
- Partnership & Commercials – Engaging compatible development partners and building the commercial model for ETS
- Physical Environment – Designing and building out the vision for the new working environment
- Relocation – managing the relocation of people from Dudley to Derby
Moving Beyond the the First Stage
Egg was not culturally an organisation that sat on its laurels contemplating past events, and so once the initial launch was completed, thinking moved on the next stage of transformation and further (r)evolution…
Http iframes are not shown in https pages in many major browsers. Please read this post for details.By the way, whilst we looked at off-shore development partners, eventually the furthest flung location was Keane’s office in Coventry…
Next…