Let’s face it, your organization is confronted with a competitive landscape, accelerating at an exponentially increasing rate. Responding effectively to change is essential to your competitive advantage. Agile is primarily associated with software development. But that is shortsighted; it is much broader. Agile is a framework that facilitates the creative development and execution of ideas. Any idea. Sales. Marketing. Human Resources, general organizational efficiency. The core principles of empirical inspection of time-boxed results apply to any complex risk infused problem. Agile’s iterative and systematic approach to solving problems, significantly mitigating risk, and supports the ability to change direction and minimize resource investments in the exploration and expression of new ideas.
Adopting Agile/Lean principles in your organization requires a fundamental cultural shift. Cultural change cannot be dictated. Many companies state that they are going to go "agile" without preparing the organization with the tools necessary to succeed. While a lot of people talk about using Agile, there are many misconceptions. Coaching and organization specific training clarifies the underlying Agile concepts and the differences between terminology and practices. And as the diagram at the top of this page displays, the Agile tools and principles must be explained and explored across all layers of the organization. If the organization does not understand how value is delivered by Agile teams, disconnection and dysfunction will ensue.
While training is essential to conveying the concepts, common language, and implementation tactics simultaneously to the teams, execution requires reinforcement. This is where coaching helps teams. The fundamental reinforcement practices are building a backlog and start practicing the events and executing sprints. It is common for teams to feel awkward at first, but the iterations build upon each other and the production of value increases. The fundamental principles of Agile are dependent upon each other and the various Events and Artifacts
Institutional may resonate as the antithesis of Agile, but this is meant to communicate the cultural mindset of creating and delivering solutions to business problems is flexible, open to trying new ideas within the framework of ongoing collaboration and individual empowerment. The culture encourages self-managing teams that allow people to be creative, innovative, and acknowledged for their expertise. The managers of the organization are responsible for defining and prioritizing the vision for the organization and then removing impediments and shields the delivery teams from external interference.
