Question

BUS-380 Lesson 3 Activity 3: Agile Case Study: John Deere Read the John Deere case study. Read the case study. Identify the issues, why the issues arose, and what could have been done to prevent them. This case study comes in two parts - see links below. Analyze the case study Organizational Change and SCRUM followed by SCRUM - 9 Months On

Answer 1

The Agile solution was primarily introduced in ISG with a view to increase productivity as well as quality at the same time. To make the transformation more operationally smooth and efficient, an Agile transformation team was formed for the roll out.One of the major issues and challenges was to address the concerns voiced by many stake holedrs.They were:- This being a new system, can we remain in control of it? How do different departments like the architects, engineers and the test managers be on the same page? Who trains and what would be the budget?
What impact does it have on the company during the transition phase? The major challenges with respect to the below were addressed. Program , Budget,Method,Trainers ,Teams,Venue, management support

To have the management and the other teams of ISG onboard was one of the biggest challenges .This happened by way of breaking the ice and socializing. Agile was introduced as a transformative replacement to the waterfall methodology which found a convincing buy from the teams. The training was squeezed into a room to cut the cost .This involved mixing all teams and making them work together and overcoming the challenges of diverse schools of thought and ideas.A program incorporating display , documentation, guidance and control to make it operationally smooth was needed.Greenstar was considered. But the dilemma was to whether to go ahead and implement it as it was at the throes of change. This gave the team jitters.But the team realized that this is part and parcel of any business implementation and initiative and a call had to be taken.And so they decided to go ahead full throttle.

ALTERNATIVELY:

John Deere was using traditional waterfall-type development methodology, where the requirements are gathered initially and then the code developers get to work to produce a deliverable. Now this was a very famous model some time back but has its own drawbacks. It is time consuming, has little room for iteration, slow to respond to changes and product is available at the end of development alone. During times of heavy competition a company cannot afford to lean towards traditional waterfall model and you would be left back with your competitors leaping far ahead of you.

John Deere performed sever introspection into their development team's methods and understood the need for a more developed model and implemented Agile model. It is not always easy to move to an Agile model and it normally is a time consuming process. However, John Deere has made it happen in a short span of time of over an year. This according to experts this is highly uncommon implementation of a a Big Bang approach to agile implementation. Management heads of John Deere confirms the fact that the market demand called for a faster approach towards production

Agile methodology helped John Deere in focusing more into code at smaller phases helping them improve quality altogether. Quality became an integral part of code development. Continuous quality improvement became a buzz word. This was extremely beneficial to the developers who are now focusing more into what the end consumer actually wants or needs. Agile methodology helped John Deere in overcoming organizational inertia towards change