Bringing Agile to the Next Level

I finished my last post with the statement Agile will be applied on a much wider scale in the near future. Within governmental organizations, industry, startups, on a personal level, you name it, but how?  In my next posts I will take a deep dive in this exciting story lying in front of us in five steps:

Step I: Creating Awareness and Distributing Agile Knowledge

Change is a chance, not a threat. Understanding and applying the Agile Mindset and toolsets will help everyone riding the wave of change with more pleasure and success.  This is the main reason why I’ve joined initiatives like Nederland Kantelt, EduScrum, Wikispeed and Delft University’s D.R.E.A.M. Hall.

Step II: Fit Agile for Purpose

The Agile Manifesto was originally written for software.  Lots of variants of the manifesto emerged the last couple of years serving different sectors and products. This is a good thing if the core values of the agile manifesto are respected.

However, agile is not applicable for everything.  For example, Boeing will never apply Scrum directly for producing critical systems.  They’re applying Scrum for less critical parts and R&D processes. For determining the right approach they use the Cynefin framework.  In this post I will explain this framework making it a lot easier where you could apply Agile and where you should be careful. 

Step III: Creating a Credible Purpose or “Why”

You can implement a new framework or organization, hire the brightest minds and have loads of capital, in the end it all boils down to real passion and believe. Every purpose should be spot on in hitting the center of the Golden Circle.  But how to create this fontainebleau in spring?

Step IV: Breaking the Status Quo and Igniting Entrepreneurship

Many corporate organizations are busy or have implemented existing frameworks like SAFe or successful Agile models from companies like Netflix and Spotify.  But the culture change which goes with it, is the most important step. How to spark a startup mentality in your organization?  How to create real autonomy?

Step V: Creating Organic Organizations

Many Agile implementations do not transform organizations in being intrinsically Agile.  To enable this, organizations should evolve organically, like Holacracy.  They will become stronger and stronger by setbacks and uncertain circumstances.  Organic organizations will be more resilient and anti-fragile.  In fact, it’s exactly how nature works.  But how can you work towards this ideal situation?

Read the original blog entry here. Continue learning about Agile, DevOps and Continuous Delivery with our on-demand webinar: Starting a DevOps and Continuous Delivery Transformation in the Enterprise.