splitting the atom - agile business conference · · 2018-02-07splitting the atom agile target...

Splitting the ATOM Agile Target Operating Model

Harriet Green, The British Council James Yoxall, IndigoBlue

Digital British Council Agile Working in a non-Agile Organisation

Harriet Green, Digital Director The British Council

www.britishcouncil.org www.indigoblue.co.uk

The British Council’s Purpose

The British Council creates international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and builds trust between them worldwide.

We call this cultural relations.


What we do in the name of Cultural Relations

English teaching Face-to-Face

English teaching online

Facilitate exams

Encourage student mobility

Promote English Teaching as a profession

Debate around governance in Education

Arts exhibitions and events

Manage an enormous Art collection

Promote the UK in 110 countries


How are We Funded?

• The British Council is a UK charity

• We are a ‘mixed economy’: we generate our own income, and receive a Government grant

• 75% of turnover is self-generated income

• We generate income by charging for some services, building partnerships, sponsorships, and winning contracts from governmental bodies (UK and abroad)

• By 2015, for every £6 we spend on building international opportunities, less than £1 will come from our UK government grant


The British Council and Digital – a Match Made in Heaven

If the British Council’s goals are to encourage…

• Positive interaction between people

• Debate

• Learning

• Mutual inspiration

• Reaching from the UK to the far corners of the world

Then the British Council and digital media could be made for each other!


But… our Journey with the Digital Media has Been Bumpy

• ‘Big ticket’ development

projects proved hard

• The CMS started to look

it’s age

• Investment faltered

• Isolated teams left on their

own

• English language competitors

rose and grew strong

• Projects ran out of steam

• No consistent standards

• Effort duplicated

• High security risk

• Staff skills not developed

• Industry best practice

improved…

we didn’t keep up

• Pioneering early initiatives

• A global Content

Management System

• Popular English language

‘browseware’ websites

• Teaching via Second Life ...


Digital Director Post Created to Breathe New Life into Digital

• FIT-FOR-PURPOSE DESIGN -‘responsive’, user journeys optimized for

tasks we know our users need to carry out, a new visual style

• CONTENT– global content assets created in a ‘global content store’;

local layer of content creates optimal user experience; we can support

any language or script

• A RATIONALISED DIGITAL ESTATE - digital assets audited, reduced from

765 to 330…so far. A tighter URL policy; a layer of harmonised social

media channels

• A NEW CONTENT PLATFORM - cutting-edge Open Source content

platform developed, we’ve named it ‘Solas’, replacing a multitude of

publishing tools, many obsolete and unstable. Rolling out to 110

country sites and to British Council project sites.


Digital Director Post Created to Breathe New Life into Digital

• Rolled out global training to build Digital skills

• FULFILLMENT, ECOMMERCE AND CUSTOMER SERVICES - a global event

management tool; a global product catalogue; Digital Asset

Management platform chosen. We report performance and insights,

using Webtrends, Google Analytics and Hitwise.

• EFFICIENT PRODUCTION AND ROLL-OUT - Agile development process

allows resource allocation and production volume to be accurately

managed. Principle of the ‘minimum viable product’, ensuring timely

delivery followed by enhancements.

• BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS WITHIN THE BRITISH COUNCIL - network of

‘Heads of Digital’ now bridges Digital and business operations in every

region and business area, shares ideas and leads cultural change.


Before…


And after…


The Digital Engagement Process

ENTERPRISE

SERVICES

• Common

payments

service

• Integration

platform

• CRM

integration

Digital engagement

WIDER USAGE

OPPORTUNITIES WIDER BUSINESS

BENEFITS

Participants, Audience, Learners, Leaders and influence

COUNTRY OPERATIONS

REGIONAL OPERATIONS

ENGLISH AND EXAMS EDUCATION AND

SOCIETY ARTS


Challenges to our Digital Change Programme

• Low level of confidence

• 769 separate websites – now reduced to 335

• Lack of understanding of potential damage to the Brand

• Fear of changing familiar jobs, or even losing them

• Exceptionalism – “our part of the business is unique”

• Working across all time zones of the world

• Digital work has to be fitted in alongside the ‘real’ work


What We Hear From Our Stakeholders

Our business in unique, we need a bespoke solution “

“

We have already explained our needs, you just have to make it happen

“ We need sign-off in close detail at every stage “

“ I like it, but our

stakeholders won’t

We have waited years for this, so we want everything to be right first time “ You promised that feature!

You can’t now say it will be

delivered later!


What We Hear From Our Senior Management

“ When exactly will you deliver this? “ Please forecast in

detail up to 2020

“ Wouldn’t it be better

to outsource this?

Splitting the ATOM Agile Target Operating Model

James Yoxall IndigoBlue, Innovation Director


Changing the Context

PROJECT

• THINKING INCREMENTALLY • MANAGING UNCERTAINTY

CONTEXT


Interacting with the Context

GOVERNANCE

PROJECT

CONTEXT


Adapt 2.0 Governance Framework

GOVERNANCE

STRUCTURE

PROJECT PLANNING

FORECASTING and

REPORTING

BASELINE and

CHANGE

MANAGEMENT

CORE

MODULES

PROTFOLIO

MANAGEMENT

GATING and

ASSURANCE

COMMITMENT

MANAGEMENT

BENEFIT and

VALUE MANAGEMENT

EXTENSION

MODULES


Optimising the Whole - Operating Model

PEOPLE

WORK


Operating Model Challenges

• Project centric?

• Product centric?

• Team centric?

How to structure teams to

accommodate work

• Units of funding?

• Budget with customer or supplier

• What authority with the budget

• Models for ownership

How work is paid for

• In-house

• Out-sourced

• Procurement models

• Measurement

Possible delivery models

• Discovery

• Build

• Support

• Run

The full lifecycle of work

• Ideas

• Business priority

• Demand / capacity management

Where do ideas come from?


Planning Horizons

Strategy

Portfolio

Release

Iteration

Daily


Project-Centric Model

STAKEHOLDERS

BACKLOG

TEAM

PRODUCT


Product-Centric Model

STAKEHOLDERS

BACKLOG

TEAM

PRODUCT

STAKEHOLDERS

BACKLOG

TEAM

PRODUCT


Portfolio Options Model – Capacity Management

STAKEHOLDERS

BACKLOG

CAPACITY

PRODUCT

STAKEHOLDERS

PRODUCT

STAKEHOLDERS

BACKLOG

CAPACITY

PRODUCT


CAPACITY

Platform Model

STAKEHOLDERS

BACKLOG

CAPACITY

LOCAL PRODUCT

STAKEHOLDERS

BACKLOG

CAPACITY

LOCAL PRODUCT

PLATFORM

BACKLOG

?


Target Operating Model - Components

Scaling up / out

Security

Integration

Tools

INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDS

PROJECT n

BAU

Objectives

Value KPIs

Backlog

Governance

PROJECT 1

Procurement

Tool adoption

Test automation

Continuous integration

ENVIRONMENT

Content update

Bug fix

“small” change

BAU REQUIREMENTS

• Business unit goals

• Strategic programmes

• Market / product development

CHANGE PROPOSALS

Objectives

Value KPIs

Backlog

Governance

• Content

• Bug Fix

• “Small Change”

• Demand management - Capacity measurement - Layers of planning

Value assessment - Priortisation - Reporting

PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT

Thank you

Harriet Green, The British Council James Yoxall, IndigoBlue

splitting the atom - agile business conference · · 2018-02-07splitting the atom agile target...

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