Agile Business Change Blog Thoughts on Agile Strategic Business Change and Agile Delivery

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I’d like to extend my thanks to those who attended yesterday’s Second Wednesday. It was the first I’ve facilitated for some time and I thoroughly enjoyed the challenging and engaging discussion on Uncertainty Management.

What struck me as particularly interesting was the prevailing view that organisations have a need for the appropriate management of uncertainty but do not include this in their governance process. In fact they do the opposite. Most will look at alternative risk management strategies rather than dynamically manage uncertainty through a change programme.

There is, of course, inherent risk in this approach.  As soon as decision is made regarding uncertainty (i.e. it is effectively fixed) the potential outcome becomes a risk. Even a range of potential outcomes still constrains the programme.

Programme governance needs to provide an alternative to basic risk management, one in which uncertainties are recognised and addressed as part of a strategic plan, not simply at the outset. In this way programmes will typically be able to start earlier (carrying uncertainties) and therefore deliver early ROI. Additionally, this approach can prevent analysis paralysis, which often leads to stalled programmes.