EDGE: Value-Driven Digital Transformation

The first component of a responsive enterprise is an executive vision that expresses how the organization intends to prosper in the future.

The key to pursuing speed and adaptability at the same time is to view software technology as a continuously evolving asset, instead of something that is built once and then maintained.

This cascading delegation, shown in Figure 4-4, with alignment to the level above, borrows heavily from the lean movement’s Hoshin Kanri.5 In particular, the concept of “catchball” emphasizes communication, accountability, and feedback between layers of responsibility in the organization.

Characteristics of Autonomous Teams The best decisions and products result from teams with the following characteristics: Independent. Teams are self-directed with clear goals and boundaries they can play within. Empowered. Teams perceive that their decisions aren’t constantly questioned; they have a clear understanding of their decision rights. Ac

A goal consists of a portfolio of bets. Each bet is a hypothesis of value that the organization believes will help it realize a goal.

“Shortcomings in organizational culture are one of the main barriers to company success in the digital age. That is a central finding from McKinsey’s recent survey of global executives, which highlighted three digital-culture deficiencies: functional and departmental silos, a fear of taking risks, and difficulty forming and acting on a single view

As the software stack for any development effort has exploded over the last 10-plus years,7 organizations with strict tool standards have been at a distinct disadvantage, as their process for adding new tools has been too slow to take advantage of rapid advances.

Organizations are caught in a dilemma years in the making: Redeveloping the systems is too time consuming and risky, but building new digital assets depends on upgrades to these systems. Finding solutions to this dilemma—finding creative ways to revitalize these legacy systems by wrapping, selective revisions, and automated testing—becomes a critic

Projects typically consist of a collection of features implemented within a timeframe. A project team is temporarily assembled to complete the set of features within that time frame. When the defined work is complete, the team is disbanded. This process creates several constraints on maximizing value for the customer. First, the temporary nature of