Event Second Wednesday Breakfast

Second Wednesdays Breakfasts

Overview

IndigoBlue's Second Wednesdays are monthly breakfast discussions between Senior Business and IT Stakeholders in complex organisations. By invitation only and limited to 10 guests, the discussions are open and candid.

Chatham House rules apply: no presentations, no publicity, no recordings, no vendors. Simply an engaging, informative discussion in a convivial atmosphere with excellent food.

Format:

• Facilitated discussion / Breakfast briefing
• Starts at 08:00am, wrapping up at 09:45am
• Hosted at the Royal Automobile Club, 89 Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5HS

If you are interested in attending one of our Second Wednesday meetings or if you would like IndigoBlue to facilitate similar discussions within your organisation, please register your interest with Christina Canter:

Register Your Interest

Previous topics:

• Change Programmes - Success is in the Eye of the Beholder
• Political Debt, the Change Director's Achilles' Heel
• Scenario Planning and the future of the CIO
• VC Funding Model for Product Portfolios
• Agile procurement, a contradiction in terms?
• Limits of Lean propaganda for Complex Change Programmes
• Will we witness the rise of the Agile CXO?
• The Traditional IT Function is Doomed!
• Change, change…and manage uncertainties! | Blog Post
• Flow, flow, value flow! | Blog Post
• Adapt or die, be Agile, innovate! | 2 Blog Posts

2011 Topics (2011 Archive Page):

• The ‘Agile PMO’, best or worst of both worlds?
• From Activism to Politics, Agile enters the Boardroom
• The CIO is dead, long live the CIO!
• Agile reporting for business sponsors
• Traditional IT Contracts are Doomed! | 2 Blog Posts
• Looking at IT Projects and Programmes as an Investment Portfolio | 2 Blog Posts
• Creating a Culture for Continuous Change
• Has Architecture & Design been lost in translation?
• Governance Challenges as IT becomes less Centralised | Blog Post
• Agile Treadmill, Command-and-Control in disguise?
• About Value Conversations and Organisational Efficiency

2010 Topics (2010 Archive Page):

• Tying Enterprise Architecture and Agile or the Emerging Role of the Business Architect
• Critical Success Factors for Complex Business Change Programmes | Blog Post
• Are we witnessing the decline of the project as a concept?
• Measure for Measure. Measuring what and for what? | Blog Post
• Creating a Culture for Business Transformation
• Matrix Management for Scaling Agile
• The Agile Treadmill, Command-and-Control in disguise?
• Potential and Limits of Managing IT as an Investment Portfolio
• Agile offshoring, the best or the worst of both worlds?
• Alignment of PMO goals and Enterprise Architecture vision (SOA)

Since the dawning of the green screen IT has somehow been regarded as the poor cousin of the change programme, something that sits on the outside and is subject to strange rules. The technology elements of change are typically measured using different criteria than the wider programme: rather than consider the overall ROI we are instead subject to less useful measures such as adherence to time and budget. But does this really have any use? If we are to ensure a clear focus on value from change do we not have to consider the system as a whole and balance investment against return?

Facilitator: Rob Smith

The honeymoon's over, you have to deliver! It is only three months since you landed your dream job, yet the pressure starts mounting. Long gone are the good old days when, for months on end, reporting work in progress to the program board could just do…until a liberating (or troublesome) ‘big bang’ release. Business sponsors and Enterprise Stakeholders have adopted—at least tacitly and as a response to their own pressures—a more Agile mindset and expect tangible value to be delivered incrementally. How will you discharge yourself from these recurring obligations whilst delivering against the promises that brought you where you are, for now?

Scenario planning is a highly respected tool for exploring alternative futures. By driving apart differences and exploring the results as a possible future, participants are able to recognize symptoms of particular scenarios when they start to become real and recall actions that they can take to flourish in the scenario. CIO Connect now see evidence that more than one of the scenarios are becoming evident in large corporations simultaneously (see diagram below) and the way the CIO and their team need to engage with their business colleagues varies widely between the scenarios. One size won’t fit all!

© CIO Connect Ltd 2012 - used with permission

Facilitator: Nick Kirkland CEO of CIO Connect

There is a growing acceptance that traditional approaches to project funding directly stifle innovation and, indirectly, encourage ‘death marches’, or failing projects to fail in a big way. Can a VC mind-set inspire and enhance the financing of internal project and product portfolios? And can an incremental, outcome-based approach to funding, if this is what we are to retain from venture capitalists in this context, mitigate these shortfalls?

Facilitator: Nigel Kneill

Some of the principles on which the Procurement Function is based seem to be clashing with the Agile philosophy. The traditional Supply of Goods model assumes that the delivery milestones of a complex programme can be scheduled with laser sharp accuracy, from the outset. By contrast, starting to deliver value whilst living with uncertainties and embracing change remains an unshakable Agile moto. Yet, practices are maturing on each side of the fence, they have to. Can the Procurement Function re-invent itself to fulfil its remit of cost control whilst allowing delivery partners to adopt the collaborative mindset that have inspired internal Agile teams?

Facilitator: Andy Beale, Technology Director of Guardian News & Media

Lean is a wonderful thing! Who would question the benefits of, for instance, identifying and removing waste? But do Lean techniques apply to complex change programmes, and in the IT projects they encompass? If Lean is ultimately about optimising the flow of discrete units (such as physical objects in manufacturing, or transactions in business processes) through a process, what are the discreet units in a programmme? As the saying goes: “one man’s waste is another man’s treasure”. Is it possible that optimisation within projects, in a Lean sense, can be detrimental to the whole programme?

Facilitator: James Yoxall

Agile by its very nature is iterative and incremental aiming to produce high quality solutions that meet the evolving needs of the stakeholders. Whilst Technology departments in many organisations have undergone significant change in how they deliver projects, how much of the wider corporate enterprise has adapted and adopted new ways of working? Are we in danger of constraining potential success through a siloed implementation? What does Agile mean for the corporate planning cycle, for investment committees and post implementation reviews? How does the broader enterprise need to change in order to reflect the different approach and associated demands of Agile upon it?

Facilitator: Richard Piercy EVP Transformation & Digital Supply Chain at EMI

From the Dot com boom to the quieter (but potentially deadlier) digital revolution, what's next for our IT leaders? The increasing ubiquity of technology in business combined with the commoditisation of IT services presents them with a challenge as business leaders can feel empowered to survive without an 'IT' function. This new sense of confidence (with a vengeance) is not without danger. The IT function needs to be reinvented at all levels to remain a guardian of corporate goals and values, as well as a visionary partner of the business. What will it look like and what role will the IT leaders of tomorrow fulfil?

Facilitator: Rob Smith

Uncertainties exist in all guises in complex programmes, and yet change needs to take place regardless. These uncertainties can range from sudden market upheavals through to technical challenges or functional unknowns. They are often viewed as risks, but removing them too early in the process can be equally dangerous. Predefining a new proposition before a market is fully understood can easily stifle speed to market, let alone create unnecessary cost. However, setting out on a business change without a clear understanding of the key uncertainties can ultimately lead to failure. This peer discussion will explore the art of optimising the removal of those uncertainties through incremental programme delivery.

Facilitator: Rob Smith

Few would argue against the pursuit of value in complex change programmes. However, pinning down a single, measurable notion for it, one that could give a practical compass across teams and peer groups, is tough. Is this common purpose even realistic or just wishful thinking? If not, doesn't forcing the issue come with possible downsides? Indeed, at a team level, co-workers tend to solve this challenge without outside help or pressure. Should we not simply make do with diverse perceptions of value across teams, and empower mediators between those groups, rather than diluting motivation under an autocratic so called 'shared vision'?

Facilitator: Stan Wade

The iconic Darwinist statement is now as compelling for complex organisations as it has been for living organisms. However, linking Agile to innovation, is taking a bold step further. In our Agile Treadmill series, we hinted that when industrialised, Agile actually incurs the risk of stifling innovation. Its obsession nonetheless, of speedily converting concepts into usable assets, meets a necessary, but not sufficient condition for innovation. This discussion will explore whether the political will to invest in a portfolio of initiatives, combined with governance mechanisms tracking success and failure at regular intervals, can create a ground where Agile and Innovation are mutually supportive.

Facilitator: Stan Wade

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