Agile Transformation @ Education

Agile Transformation in Education (Personal Journey)

As a Program Manager at 21K School (Mindreflex Technologies) Leading online school in ASIA [Remote Set-up], I have always been passionate about creating value propositions for my team and organization. After joining the education system which was already full of innovation and collaboration. I was equally encouraged to contribute and deliver value in education to stay aligned with the needs and expectations of 21st-century learners.

That's why I decided to embark on an agile transformation journey for myself and the school. Agile is a mindset with a set of values and principles which enable any organization to adapt to changing environments, deliver value faster, and improve continuously. Agile has been widely adopted in the software industry, but it can also be applied to other domains like education.

A risk or experiment with the right mentorship whatever you may call it, I will share some of the steps and challenges I faced in my agile transformation journey, as well as some of the benefits and outcomes I achieved.

Step 1: Changed my mindset and others

The first step in my agile transformation was to educate myself and others about what agile is and why it matters. Correct knowledge was a vital ingredient during transformations, and it was one of the first steps I took while moving to agile. Regardless of anyone’s level of agile experience, everyone should go through the same training because the real value of training isn't the lesson plan; it's the shared experience.

After working in Nexus Agile Team for 4 Years at a Bank, I enrolled in an online course on Agile Coaching, SAFe Agilist 6.0, where I learned in depth about agile values, principles, and roadmap-based frameworks. I also read books, articles, blogs, and podcasts on agile topics. I found there are many different forms of enterprise agility, but they share some common trademarks, such as:

- A network of teams with a high degree of empowerment, accountability, and collaboration

- A dynamic people model that ignites passion and fosters learning and growth

- A rapid learning and decision-making cycle that incorporates customer feedback and experimentation

- A next-generation enabling technology and tools that support innovation and responsiveness

- A culture of innovation that encourages risk-taking and learning from failure

I organized Training and Workshops for my colleagues and leaders to introduce them to agile concepts and practices. I used interactive exercises, games, simulations, and case studies to illustrate how agile works in practice. I invited guest speakers one of our founders (Agilist himself) who had successfully implemented agile transformations to share their stories and insights and their importance.

Step 2: Aspire and design a new operating model

The next step in an agile transformation is to aspire and design a new operating model that aligns with the vision and goals of the institution. An agile transformation fundamentally changes the way work is done and blueprinting also needs to identify changes to the people, processes, and technology elements of the operating model which includes cross-functional teams not limited to technology but also includes Sales, Marketing, Finance, Operations, and Academics. The blueprint should be a minimum viable product developed in a fast-paced, iterative manner that gives enough direction for the organization to start testing, Fitbot was a handy tool to start planning on OKRs and enabled remote and team members teams to collaborate efficiently.

I worked with a cross-functional team of stakeholders to define our vision, mission, values, and strategic objectives for our educational organization. I used tools such as Miro, and Click-up to build upon customer journey mapping, value proposition canvas, and business model canvas to understand our current state and identify our desired future state. I also conducted surveys, interviews, focus groups, open houses, and observations to gather feedback from our internal employees (students, parents, academic leaders) and employees.

Based on our findings, I designed a new operating model using OKR that would enable all cross-functional teams to deliver more value to our customers faster and better. Where each team would have a clear purpose, autonomy, accountability, and collaboration with other teams. I also defined new roles and responsibilities for each team member (Champions and Co-Champions) based on their skills, interests, and aspirations. I introduced/redefined existing new processes and tools that would support agile ways of working, such as backlog management, sprint planning, daily stand-ups, retrospectives, and demos.

These practices enabled more engaging and personalized learning experiences for our students with our online platform, learning management systems, and analytics.

OKR Adoption Journey in Fitbots

Created OKR Adoption Roadmap
Leadership to Add Objectives
Leadership to Add Key Results
Leadership to Assign Ownership to two or more teams - Recommended for driving collaboration
Leadership to discuss expectations/Clarify challenges on the Key Results
Team to Draft Objectives based on Organizations Objectives
Team to Draft Key Results based on assigned Org KRs
Team to Draft Key Results based on independent Initiatives and discuss as agreed with Leadership
Team to Draft Milestones for Anticipated Key results
Team to assign Owner for Key Results
Team to add weightage for each Key Result for the given objective
Team to Align Key Results Ownership with Org along with distributed weight-age agreed with co-teams
Team to Align Key Results Ownership with other teams for independent initiatives
Team to add measurement goals (Accurate Measures or Relative Measure)
Team to update confidence Level
Team to update Metrics Type
Team to Schedule Weekly check-ins
Team to Invite Other Champions/Co-pilots in weekly check-in wherever dependency exists
Team to update Progress (Weekly Check-In Comments / Metrics)

Step 3: Pilot and learn

The third step in my transformation journey was to pilot and learn by testing with new OKR based operating model in small-scale experiments. Piloting allows us to validate our assumptions, learn from our mistakes, and improve our design before scaling it up. Piloting also helps us to build confidence and buy-in from our leadership (Founders) by demonstrating tangible results and benefits.

I selected a few pilot teams and their respective senior members to test our new operating model in different contexts and domains. I selected teams that were willing and ready to embrace agile, had a clear customer focus, and had a high potential for impact. I provided them with coaching, mentoring, and training to help them adopt agile practices and mindsets. We also established feedback loops and learning mechanisms to monitor their progress, challenges, and outcomes. I learned a lot from our pilot teams. I learned what worked well and what didn’t, what enabled and what hindered agile adoption, and what needed to be adjusted or improved in our design. We also learned about the benefits of agile for our teams and our customers. Some of the benefits we observed were:

Increased customer satisfaction and engagement: Our pilot members were able to deliver more value to their customers faster and better by involving them in the design and delivery process, soliciting their feedback regularly, and responding to their needs and preferences.
Improved team performance and morale: Our pilot team members reported higher levels of empowerment, accountability, collaboration, learning, and innovation. They also felt more motivated, satisfied, and proud of their work.
Enhanced organizational agility and resilience: Our pilot team members were able to adapt more quickly and effectively to changing environments, opportunities, and challenges. They were also able to leverage their network of teams to share knowledge, resources, and best practices.

Step 4: Scale and Improve

Finally in an agile transformation is to scale and improve by expanding the new operating model to more teams and areas of the organization, especially Academics, while continuously learning and refining it. Scaling requires careful planning and execution, as well as strong leadership and governance support. Scaling also requires addressing the systemic barriers and enablers that affect the adoption and sustainability of agile.

I developed a scaling strategy that outlined our vision, goals, scope, approach, and timeline for scaling agile across our Academic Leadership Crew. I used tools such as the Education Scalability Checklist to assess how easy or difficult it would be for our initiative to scale, and what actions we needed to take to overcome the common barriers. I also engaged with our senior leaders, partners, and stakeholders to secure their commitment and support for scaling.

We adopted a step-wise approach to scaling, where I systematically and gradually expanded our agile operating model to more teams and domains while ensuring quality and consistency. I used a combination of methods such as replication, adaptation, integration, and diffusion to scale our initiative, depending on the context and needs of each team. I also established a scaling team that was responsible for coordinating, facilitating, and supporting the scaling process(I cannot disclose much here due to operational confidentiality).

We continued to learn and improve as we scaled. I collected data and feedback from our teams and customers to measure our impact, identify gaps, and generate insights. We also created a culture of innovation that encouraged risk-taking and learning from failure. I used scrum methods such as retrospectives, demos, and showcases to share our learning, celebrate our successes, and implement improvements.

My agile transformation journey has been challenging but rewarding. I have learned a lot about myself, my team, my organization, and my customers. I have also seen positive changes in the way we work, learn, and deliver value. Agile has helped us become more customer-centric, collaborative, adaptive, and innovative.

However, I also realize that agile transformation is not a one-time event or a destination. It is an ongoing journey that requires constant attention, adaptation, and improvement. Agile is not a silver bullet or a magic formula that can solve all our problems. It is a mindset and a set of practices that can help us navigate complexity and uncertainty in a rapidly changing world.

I hope that by sharing my story, I have inspired you to start or continue your own agile transformation journey. If you are interested in learning more about agile or scaling agile in education, feel free to reach out to me. Click here!

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