Why Flow Efficiency and Consulting Scrum Masters Are the Future of Enterprise Agility
The landscape of Agile practices in large organisations is undergoing a significant transformation. Traditional frameworks like Scrum, with their emphasis on time-boxed iterations, are giving way to leaner, flow-oriented approaches. This shift reflects a growing recognition of the need for agility at scale and the limitations of prescriptive frameworks in complex, dynamic environments.
At the same time, organisations are rethinking the role of the Scrum Master, increasingly viewing it as a consultancy-based function rather than a permanent in-house position. This evolution presents compelling opportunities for enterprises to maximise their agility while reducing operational overhead.
The Move Toward Flow Efficiency
Agile methodologies have traditionally centred on team-level productivity, often measured through velocity and adherence to sprints. While these metrics can be useful for small teams, they often fail to address the systemic workflow inefficiencies that plague large enterprises. Research shows that end-to-end organisational-level flow efficiency - a measure of how effectively work progresses through the entire system from idea/request to its release - is frequently less than 10%*, despite high efficiencies within individual teams​.
*Actineo Consulting LLP
Lean and Kanban principles are growing in popularity as the focus trends towards continuous delivery and value stream optimisation. By visualising workflows and identifying bottlenecks, these approaches empower enterprises to accelerate time-to-market and enhance responsiveness to customer needs..
Scaling Agile: The Challenge and Opportunity
Scaling Agile across large organisations introduces complexities that demand flexible and adaptive solutions. Frameworks like SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) integrate Lean principles to provide structure while allowing for decentralisation. However, many enterprises find that even these frameworks require significant customisation to suit their unique contexts. This realisation is driving a shift away from rigid adherence to specific methodologies and toward principle-based agility with companies applying Agile principles beyond IT and development teams to areas like marketing, HR, and operations. This holistic approach ensures that the entire organisation is aligned around delivering customer value, a core tenet of Lean thinking​
The Changing Role of Scrum Masters
In this evolving landscape, the role of Scrum Masters is being redefined. Traditionally, Scrum Masters have been embedded within teams, responsible for facilitating ceremonies, resolving impediments, and coaching team members on Agile principles. While these functions remain important, many organisations are questioning the cost-effectiveness of maintaining full-time Scrum Masters as their Agile implementations mature.
Increasingly, organisations are turning to consulting Scrum Masters - experts who provide their services on a temporary or project-specific basis. This model offers several advantages:
Cost Efficiency:Â By engaging Scrum Masters on a consultancy basis, organisations can access expertise when needed without bearing the costs of permanent employment.
Fresh Perspectives: External consultants bring diverse experiences from multiple industries, offering insights that in-house employees may lack.
Scalability: Consulting Scrum Masters can be deployed to address specific challenges, such as Agile transformations or scaling efforts, and then transitioned out once goals are achieved.
The Case for Consulting Scrum Masters
As enterprises move toward flow-based models and business agility, the expertise of Scrum Masters is more critical than ever. However, their role must evolve to align with the broader needs of the organisation. Consulting Scrum Masters offer a flexible and cost-effective solution, enabling enterprises to leverage their skills without committing to long-term overhead.
By focusing on systemic improvements rather than team-level optimisations, consulting Scrum Masters can drive meaningful change. Their ability to work across teams and departments makes them invaluable in navigating the complexities of enterprise agility and their external perspective helps organisations avoid the pitfalls of local optimisation and achieve end-to-end efficiency.
If you are a forward thinking organisation that wants to stay ahead in this dynamic environment, come talk to us about how you can utilise our Scrum Master as a Service offering to get the agile expertise you need whilst reducing cost and maximising flexibility.
