Going Agile - is it always the right answer?

Although the topic has been around for some time, Agile is still a relatively new way of working for many organisations.  Its adoption doesn't happen overnight and as a methodology it comes with its own set of challenges.   

We recently held a round table discussion which focused on the adoption of Agile and whether it is always the answer. Key contacts attended from a mixture of organisations and industries to take part in a lively conversation.

The audience had differing levels of experience in the use of agile with some  organisations  practicing agile across a number of projects for longer than a 12-month period with varying degrees of success, whilst others were just about to dip their toes in the water. The general feeling among our invited guests however, was that Agile:

• is a strong way forwards for companies that want to deliver services to the market.
• facilitates flexibility and allows you to adapt quickly to change.
• is not a simple answer and requires more structure in terms of process and prioritisation.                            

So how do we adopt Agile? 

However it became apparent that adopting Agile isn’t as simple as running a few daily scrums. An organisation needs to change the way it operates.

It was identified that to introduce Agile into the organisation successfully there also needs to be a change in the culture with a change in mindset from rigid and liner work practices to collaborative and iterative processes. A number of organisations highlighted that it can be hard for teams to let go of past working habits and shift to self organising teams. The emphasis is now on stakeholder management rather than hands on with Prince2.

Becoming Agile also requires the right skill set and there was an emphasis on the importance of both skill acquisition and internal staff retention.  The main challenges are acquiring talented individuals and strong agile project managers. Targeted recruitment from small technology companies and retraining existing employees are strategies that some organisations are using.