Learn about CAO

Learn about CAO

Articles, concepts and videos

Explore articles, concepts and videos on Creating Agile Organizations (CAO) principles and practices. There is also an executive overview and the CAO Guide to support your agile organizational design journey.

Deep DiveWatch the CAO Video

The creating agile organizations approach

Foundational concepts:

Systems thinking#1

Systems Thinking

Systems Thinking supports you with a holistic approach to problem-solving that seeks to understand the entire system.

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optimize for adaptiveness
#2

Optimize for adaptiveness

Speed of delivery can be easily “sold” to management. But speed is not enough to be Agile at the organizational level. 

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agile organizational design
#3

Agile organizational design

There are five key components that make up an effective organizational design: strategy, structures, processes, reward systems, and people practices. 

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agile adpotion approach
#4

An agile adoption approach

Don’t make the mistake of viewing Agile as just a set of tools and techniques for your teams. 

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coaching for change
#5

Coaching for change

Are you ready to become a successful change agent? Let’s dive into the world of Coaching for Change!

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Applying the concepts:

group product
#6

Preparing the product group

Are you ready to kickstart your transformation journey? In this section, we’ll show you how to do just enough preparation to ensure a successful start.

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launching product group
#7

Launching the product group

Are you getting ready to launch your product group’s first iteration? It’s an exciting time, but it can also be nerve-wracking. 

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coaching teams
#8

Coaching teams

In this section, we share how to guide team development. We first share conditions that support effective team growth. Next, we delve into characteristics you can expect to see in Agile teams.

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guiding the product ownership
#9

Guiding the product ownership

As a Product Owner you’re responsible for navigating the choppy waters, steering the direction of the product, and keeping everyone on board motivated.

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Watch the 3-minute CAO overview video

executive overview

Explore how to develop an operating model grounded in the realities of your unique challenges and opportunities.

In collaboration with Scrum.org, Cesario Ramos & Dave West (CEO of Scrum.org) wrote this executive summary to explore key concepts for designing and creating agile organizations using a systems-inspired approach. 

Don’t miss out on this essential guide for modern business leaders looking to stay ahead of the curve.

Open CAO executive overview
Mockup Whitepaper CAO

Explore Conference talks, Webinars and Introduction Videos

Evolving Agile Organizations For the Future | Keynote Scrum Gathering 2024

Evolving Agile Organizations For the Future In this thought-provoking session from the Regional Scrum Gathering Belgrade 2024, Cesario Ramos, a global leader in large-scale transformations, dives into the challenges and opportunities of evolving agile organizations....
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4th Webinar October 9, 2024 | Define Your Product & Product Groups

The Creating Agile Organizations Approach Define Your Products & Product Groups:Optimize Your Organization for Success. This webinar is presented by Konstantin Ribel, a Certified CAO Trainer.
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3rd Webinar July 17, 2024 | How to Identify Capability Gaps

The Creating Agile Organizations Approach Identify Capability Gaps: How to recognize and address weaknesses in your organization design. This webinar is presented by Jeroen Valkier, a Certified CAO Trainer.
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2nd Webinar June 25, 2024 | How to Discover the Essential Capabilities to Execute Your Strategy

The Creating Agile Organizations Approach Align with Your Strategic Focus: How to Discover the Essential Capabilities to Execute Your Vision. This webinar is presented by Jurgen de Smet, a Certified CAO Trainer.
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CAO Webinar by Cesario Ramos

Webinar May 28, 2024 | How to Create Your Future and Design For Strategic Agility

The Creating Agile Organizations Approach The origins and approach of Creating Agile Organizations (CAO) presented by Cesario Ramos, co-creator of the CAO approach.
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Product Definition Explained in 10 min

Product Definition!  By Cesario Ramos. The world of Agile product development A critical yet often overlooked aspect is defining your product effectively. A robust product definition goes beyond what’s listed in the catalog—it's the foundation of your organization's...
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Creating Agile Organizations Explained in 5 min

Cesario Ramos explains the Creating Agile Organizations approach in this short video.Creating Agile Organizations is a systemic approach to designing and coaching agile organizations. It’s based on principles, guidelines, and axioms. Cesario Ramos, founder of CAO and...
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Creating Agile Organizations For LeSS Coaches

Usefull Differences Between CAO and LeSS To Understand The Creating Agile Organizations (CAO) approach is about creating agile organizations that can easily be adapted, it is not about (de)scaling Agile and it is not the same as LeSS. I love LeSS, it is a great...
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A Discussion about Agile Organizational Design

Host Dave West of Scrum.org interviews the authors of the book, Creating Agile Organizations, A Systemic Approach, Cesario Ramos and Ilia Pavlichenko. They chat about their motivation behind the book, problems with traditional organizational...
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Interview with Cesario Ramos by John Coleman

Cesario Ramos on Creating Agile Organizations What is a Product? Where do former Product Owners go? And Dealing With Dependencies. https://youtu.be/tjYJaNyM4bk
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EXPLORE OUR ARTICLES

The Real Question We Should Be Asking About Agile Transformation

The Real Question We Should Be Asking About Agile Transformation

by | Nov 1, 2024

Despite massive investments in Digital Transformation, with $6.3 trillion projected by 2024, failure rates remain high—around 84%. The issue? Many large organizations lean heavily on scaling frameworks like SAFe or LeSS, but without adapting them to their unique needs, they struggle to achieve Agile success. Rather than simply adopting a framework, organizations should focus on evolving it to fit their specific, changing context. The key question isn’t “How can I adopt Framework X?” but “How can I evolve my framework to meet my organization’s needs?”

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Enabling Multifunctional Learning

Enabling Multifunctional Learning

by | May 14, 2023

Cross-functional teams are capable of quickly testing hypotheses and adapting to changes in the market. They are the primary block of an Agile organization. Unfortunately, the load on different specializations and skills within the team is uneven due to the unexpected nature of the upcoming work in a complex environment. Scrum Masters and management, when faced with failures in their initiatives related to multifunctional learning, conclude that people do not want to learn. But they forget that people’s behavior is a product of the system. People are glad to learn when organizational design supports multifunctional development.

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