How LV= learnt to love Agile

Richard Warner is the COO of LV=. At our recent private Breakfast Briefing, he freely shared his company’s remarkable Agile journey with ten senior executives.

Richard’s journey began with a bombshell. In the 2014 Budget, the Chancellor of The Exchequer suddenly announced that people would be free to withdraw their entire pension savings. 

Dubbed the ‘Lamborghini Budget’, the news shocked and rocked the pensions industry. Many feared that millions of pension payments could be compromised by a sudden withdrawal of funds. In one devastating stroke, a new pensions landscape had been created and it forced Richard down a radical path of Agile change…

“Agile is more than mere technology – it’s a total business mindset” 

Richard described his first foray into the Agile world and his subsequent experiences. He explained why…

• Agile is not just for IT; it’s a business-wide mindset. “There has to be a total enterprise commitment to finding new efficiencies; this is not a niche technology play”.
• Senior teams must understand and champion this mindset. “Agile has a steep learning- curve that challenges established processes and personal comfort zones. You have to help people to speak the same language and to share the same expectations”.
• Blockers need to be challenged. Learn how to win the respect of risk-averse governance and compliance gatekeepers.
• Reporting lines cannot be allowed to limit team dynamics. “It’s not about who you work for – it’s all about the work you deliver”.
• Agile and Waterfall methodologies are NOT mutually exclusive. Discover the many agile ways to use Waterfall processes in a productive partnership.

In the lively discussion that followed Richard’s presentation, many interesting aspects of agile ways of working were explored. To read the write up of this discussion and the fascinating insights Richard shared please click on the button below.