What is the one thing that most commonly gets in the way of agile transformations? In my experience it’s structure. And there are two aspects to this.

The first is the transformation structure itself. When transformation is treated as a programme with its own team of people and budget, conflict arises between the change agents and those to whom change is being done. When agile coaches have to tread a fine line between the needs of the Sponsor and those of the Client, things can get really tricky.

Second is the structure of agile teams. Some teams operate off more than one backlog, or have one backlog shared with others outside their team. Others have no Product Owner at all, but multiple people providing requirements. Some teams are too big, some too small and some have sub-teams within them.

If you recognise any of these symptoms, try to understand how work would flow better if you didn't have these constraints.