Time and again, customers ask us what this "agility" actually means. Malte Foegen describes the term "agility" very aptly in one sentence:
"Agility is the ability to react quickly in a complex world."
Questions often remain unanswered. Examples are: Isn't that the same as flexible? Ad hoc? Does this have anything to do with the fact that we offer home office as a modern employer? And let's be honest: how does all this fit in with responsiveness and fast, regular deliveries?
Reason enough to get to the bottom of the term!
The term "agility" as we understand it today first appeared in 2001: 17 people spent three days in a skiing lodge in Utah and defined agility in the "Agile Manifesto" how they envision the development of software. The result is the Agile Manifesto and twelve principles. The Agile Manifesto still exists today in its original form; at wibas, we now summarize the twelve principles into five. In addition, different agile frameworks have their own values or principles. Kanban, for example, which can be combined very well with agile working, is also directly based on the lean principles; in the case of Scrum, we also refer to the Scrum values:
Agile is therefore anyone who aligns their actions as closely as possible with the values and principles of agile methods.
What does the agile manifesto have to do with Scrum?
If you look at the context chronologically, the answer "nothing" is obvious. After all, the Scrum framework is six years older than the Agile Manifesto. But: the inventors of Scrum, Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland, are among the 17 representatives of various development frameworks who were present at the aforementioned lodge in Utah; they therefore helped to coin the term "agile" on the basis of their invention Scrum; Scrum is therefore one of the frameworks based on the Agile Manifesto, its values and principles - but probably not the only one.
In addition to Scrum, there are also other frameworks such as Design Thinking, which are based on agile values and principles. Even if there are differences within the frameworks, they use a common toolbox of (interchangeable) agile techniques, such as pair programming (pair working) or continuous deployment. To understand what agile means, we need to follow a golden rule: Agile starts with the values, not with the implementation of a technique. It may seem scary, but the fact that I use pair working does not make me agile! It's the goal I'm pursuing and the attitude that makes me agile!
So much for the theory - but what's behind it?
The big breakthrough of agile methods came in software development. In other words, in an industry that traditionally works on a project basis. When we think of complex software products, it quickly becomes clear that the development time can easily take longer than a year. A lot of time, considering how quickly the industry and its framework conditions have developed in recent years. Of course, we want the software we develop today not to be outdated by the time it is released. Our goal today is to develop a product that is state-of-the-art when it is finished. A laudable goal. However, we do not know today in which direction the technology for implementation or the interest of our target group will develop. Under these circumstances, successful products have been built in recent years through the use of agile frameworks.
Following the success of software development companies, more and more companies in the areas of hardware and organizational development are also relying on agile frameworks and techniques.
What do agile companies do differently in their day-to-day work?
While traditional companies try to describe the target state of the product at the beginning of the project, agile companies have invested their energy in recent years in order to remain responsive to ongoing changes. They invest in degrees of freedom for the future. First and foremost, this requires short development cycles and equally short coordination intervals with customers. These in turn require a close and open customer relationship that allows for a corresponding exchange and, if necessary, supporting conditions (e.g. suitable infrastructure for meetings and exchange), as well as the use of modern development techniques such as continuous deployment (software development) or rapid prototyping (hardware development). As a result, agile companies can constantly take customer feedback into account in their planning and react flexibly.
That sounds a bit situationally elastic.
Of course, agile companies also have a clear direction and communicate it. However, we are talking here about a vision or a target corridor, not a goal described down to the last detail.
However, there is still a significant difference between agile and situation-elastic: agile frameworks (only) allow flexible changes within a clearly defined set of rules. At the same time, they also help to reflect on goals along the way and adapt them if necessary.
...that may be the case in the software industry, BUT...
The speed of adaptation by customers and technical development on the market is faster in the software sector than in any other traditional industry or service sector. Nevertheless, even outside of software development, companies today are forced to adapt quickly to the market in order to be successful in competitive situations. Industry and service organizations have therefore shown how agile principles, frameworks and techniques have contributed to the improvement of products and services in other areas. For example, our customers also rely on our experience in agile methods when building vehicle modules or improving customer services.
In their book "Organization in a digital age", Malte Fögen and Christian Kaczmarek provide insights into practices that have proven successful in this regard.
Then everything is clear, isn't it?
Theoretically, yes. And that is a good first step. In practice, however, there is a big difference between using a technology, i.e. "we can deploy continuously" and "we have managed to adapt to customer and market needs in an agile way as a company."
But this is a goal, you could say a vision, that should be achieved in an agile way. If you think this vision is worth striving for and would like to take the first step in this direction as a company, use our Jump start.
Write a comment