Episode 41 Need quick results? Use Agility Hacks. ​ (Based on an article by Amy C Edmondson and Ranjay Gultai of Harvard Business School published in HBR November – December 2021)

Link to article https://hbr.org/2021/11/agility-hacks

Speed Agility and Responsiveness are the keys to future success Anita Roddick

Some business processes are well suited to structure and bureaucratic systems. Although the word bureaucracy has negative connotations it sometimes is the best way of getting things done. Payroll processing maybe a good example. If your employees are going to get paid the right amount and on time, there is not a lot of room for flexibility.

Approving sales contracts often follow a rigid structure that ensures that the company will not lose money on a deal, or that they will get the value they expect. But such processes do not adapt quickly to changing circumstances. So at times businesses should bypass their standard procedures to deliver speed flexibility and experimentation.

This is when Agility Hacks make sense if you have the courage to use them.

Agility hacks – the use of temporary teams to carry out time sensitive projects quickly. Shortcuts or novel methods that increase responsiveness or productivity May not use formal agile methods but work within the principles and values. Hack was originally a quick effective, if inelegant solution to a problem. Often used to capture new opportunities or to respond to major challenges by implementing workarounds to respond more rapidly GE adopted a change in reporting structure to focus on winning an order from Indian Railways PepsiCo UK had two years of declining revenues and faced a third. Realizing that PepisCo’s entrenched systems would impede rapid novel solutions, UK GM formed a SLAM team. (Self-organizing, Lean, Autonomous, Multidisciplinary) Best when the goals are seen as important for the company, this minimizes push back from parties who usually maintained standard operating procedures. Enables team members and others whose support is needed to see the value in the project By definition Agility Hacks fail if they do not deviate from the conventional way of doing things. Extraordinary times require extraordinary responses Teams need to be given permission and resources to try new things – quickly without delay. Hacks should not be a chaotic free for all but follow a disciplined process of rapid trial an error Execution as learning – a structured approach to getting projects done while playing close attention to what works and changing course as required. The GE Story 2012 Indian Railways announces a $2.5 billion to revamp its entire fleet of diesel locomotives. Bids to be submitted within 6 months Processes and distance from HQ limited the likelihood that GE could submit a bid within the deadline. It seemed likely that the specifications may change during the bidding process High risk deal. Bid too high lose the contract, bid too low – potential to lose a lot of money. Resistance from others – in the past Indian Railway had pulled the bidding process But huge potential if successful – important to GE as a company. Required a cross functional team: manufacturing, sourcing, finance, legal and knowledge of government bids in India By passed organizational layers to report directly to the CEO of GE India and the CEO of GE Transportation What happened? GE won the contract and delivered the first locomotive in 2015. In 2017 Indian Railways decided electrification was the way to go. There was a penalty of US$325 million for breaking the contract. I could not find out how this was settled. It was reported in Business Standard of India in November this year that the electrification project was due to be completed by 2023. Agility Hacks are short term solutions that do not address underlying problems – but they can be effective in tackling immediate challenges quickly.