Legacy organisations focus on efficiency rather than customer needs. Legacy organisations focus on infrequent release cycles, waterfall projects, and rigid waterfall workflows. Legacy organisations need more data sources, essential analytical tools, descriptive analytics, technological limitations, legacy platforms, isolated knowledge, vertical skill sets, inadequate training, organisational structures that are functionally silo-oriented, and rigid systems that are incapable of adapting to new market conditions. Legacy organisations use K.PI.s and do not focus on developing digital capabilities. It is more important to cling to legacy advantages, innovate episodically, and think short-term instead. Legacy organisations retain an assumption that existing advantages will be retained and an absence of clarity concerning the organisation’s purpose or direction. Legacy organisations are punctual, cautious, controlling, prohibitive, focused on efficiency, incremental improvement, and highly discursive.
Although the organisation has likely adopted many foundational shifts in mindset, strategy, process, resources, and culture, it still embeds, extends, and realises its potential value. They still need to be present where they want to be.
Enabling organisations focus on customer needs, and the business orients its operations around efficiency. Enabling organisations focus on iterative development, SCRUM, test-driven development, rapid prototype development, digitally empowered operations, strong governance and measurement. Enabling organisations focus on software-as-a-service, integrated technology stack, flexible partnerships, data integration, primary modelling, predictive analytics, centres of excellence, specialists and generalists, technology skills, fluid structures, collaborative environments, and integration of digital, online, and offline components. Enabling organisations focus on a systematic approach to innovation, a more fluid approach to planning and strategy, and an accounting system for innovation. Enabling organisations align with strategic priorities, key performance indicators (KPIs), and rigorous vision implementation. Enabling organisations focus on cooperative, customer-centric, data-driven, talent-focused, challenging norms, ownership mindset, greater autonomy, and learning from mistakes.
Native organisations focus on continuous improvement and innovation through seamless, rapid feedback loops. Native organisations focus on interdisciplinarity, cross-functionality, small agile teams, fearlessness, permission to fail, rapid test and learn, digital operations, data-driven, adaptive processes, and Lean methodologies. Native organisations focus on customers-centred structures and resources, reconfigurations of resources continuously, flexible, adaptive structures, organising around opportunities, data/technology integration, predictive analytics, empowered frontline staff, customised dashboards, cloud scalability, actionable modelling, real-time decisions, T-shaped, deep knowledge, human layer over tech, fluid flow of knowledge. Native organisations focus on effectively leveraging an adaptive and fully agile approach, systematic and embedded experimental methods, a healthy disengagement from legacy strengths, and a long-term perspective. Native organisations focus on a clear understanding of the organisation’s purpose and vision, manifested in tactics and behaviours and the adaptive execution of the strategy. Native organisations desire a collaborative and highly fluid environment, agile culture, ‘fast and roughly right,’ empowering teams, multidisciplinary, decentralised authority, a bias for action, 10X thinking, and networked, embedded learning. In addition to providing an overview of what good looks like in agile transformation, this model also underscores the critical mindset shifts needed to transition at scale from more traditional ways of working and understand the fundamentals of agile thinking and working.
