Transformation to methodologies that work for you
We have heard stories where an organization executes with a certain methodogy - Waterfall, Agile, SAFE. In the past few years, we have seen that some methodologies are trending like agile. The reason being competition - Every organization wants to move fast and be competitive. Getting a few certifications is the 1st step. But you will realize that there are different processes that you can use and different ways to achieve your goals. There are a few use cases.
Use case 1 - Small company (May be less than 50 employees)
You have few product teams. You are likely to report directly to the CEO. This will help in the decision making at the product vision level. Given that you have a few product teams, the collaboration is likely to happpen seamlessly. I find that agile works best here but a high risk-high reward approach.
Use case 2 - Medium size company (Between 50 to 200 employees)
You have more product teams. You are likely to have a layer between the CPO and the product manager. Here again, the idea is to keep evolving the product strategy. If you are now transitioning into a medium size company then, it is hard if you were completely agile and then going into a more regulated methodology. Everyone wants to be that “cool” kid with agile but the reality is that if your product is something that requires collaboration then you have to also smartly decide your company structure. You have to decide how many layers are needed upto the CPO.
Use case 3 - Large size company (Over 200 employees)
You cannot absolutely count the number of product teams. You are likely to have multiple levels of directors/VPs and the CPO. This might be an easier transition because now you are likely to have a structure. You might have a harder time collabrating. SAFE methodology might be a good one wherein we plan for the next 6 sprints i.e. knkown as program increment. A caveat there though is that our world is evolving and so it is possible that the goals of the program increment changes. Our leaders should truly be brave enough to communicate this with the CPO. Many a times we are expected to work despite new requirements (which is ridiculous). But if producing estimates and convincing them is the only way then so be it! Either ways, we need to collaborate with teams to achieve the desired results. In these large companies, it might be harder to figure out the teams you need to work with.
Final Thoughts
I see that we need a good combination of agile, waterfall and SAFE to achieve our initiatives. Depending on the initiatives, you might want to choose the methodology. Some initiatives were small i.e. 3 months and so in a program increment, we were able to execute it. But then there are big ones that could take a year. So, we have to be working with other teams to ensure that we are making progress. We need program managers to track development and so on. Our product leads need to ensure that the requirements are in sync and the engineering managers need to ensure that the engineering architecture is in sync. So, suit yourself to use the methodology of your choice!