Is agility for me?
We often hear that Agility is easy to understand and difficult to implement. Commonly see it during our interactions with our clients we have never experienced a situation in which Agile frameworks like Scrum (the most popular) can be followed strictly. According to our observations, this happens because, most of the time, Agility is taken as a solving problem magic formula for by project managers, product development teams or innovation initiatives. Moreover, agility has become so popular in recent years that companies believe it can be applied in any context.
Empiricism to solve complex tasks
So, to help demystify this, we need to go all the way back to one of the foundations of agility: empiricism. This notion has long been applied in contexts where the goal is to explore. The most common use of the empiricist is the scientific method. You make observations, and you formulate a hypothesis. Then you do tests, and finally, you collect your evidence. That’s one of the things that agile proposes, in its first objectives, for complex product management contexts.
Inspired by the Cynefin model, it is important to do before a conscious identification of the characteristics of our environment to a clarify the context and better understand which attitudes, decisions and actions to implement to obtain the best result. This means when there are too many unknown elements, such as the lack of clarity about a problem, the resources we need to lead the initiative, or even the details of the actions to be taken to execute the project, we need to go through cycles of discovery, which will allow us to de-risk our actions while validating the information as we go along. On the contrary, when we are in a complicated context, we have some defined information that allows us to make the planning much more simple. This is the case of projects in which we already know what we are going to develop: we have identified some resources and we don’t need to find out the effect on the client.
Source : Wikipedia
Agile Principles
Beyond empiricism and the experimental iterative approach, agility is a state of mind based on four principles (the Agile manifesto]:
- People and their interactions, more than processes and tools
- Operational software (products), more than exhaustive paperwork
- Collaborating with customers, more than contracting
- Adapting to change, more than sticking to a plan
(We acknowledge the value of the latter, but prefer the former).
These are so flexible that they can be included in any work context, and that is why teams have a hard time putting agility into action. To do this, there are frameworks that explain what you are supposed to do: roles and responsibilities, appointments, work artifacts, etc. But these frameworks don’t take into account only the current situation, which can be too exigent regarding the team’s performance , the market needs and the availability of resources.
So, is agility for you? Is it possible to apply it in your company or context? The good news is that you can, you just have to be Agile yourself and try to find your own framework. We call it a Hybrid framework that draws on various project management methodologies including Agile.
Why the Agile-Hybrid Methodology?
The interest of the Agile-Hybrid approach to project management is to choose the most appropriate methodology for each team, according to its context, which is partially complicated and partially complex. It can be very different from other teams, even within the very same organization.
There are good, rational and validated reasons for using a Hybrid mode of operation, but it is important to be aware of them and to understand that it is not because we don’t like one framework. Everything depends on the degree of complexity and/or context. You always have to remind yourself of that.
So, in a Hybrid framework, it’s normal to find a backlog that contains stories that are not necessarily related to a product increment, a team of Product Owners, or multiple objectives in a single Sprint. If you’re a meticulous person, this may seem shocking, but it’s just life. What would agile be, if it can’t itself be transformed to benefit the teams?
If you are interested in continuing the current discussion, or would like to find out more about our Hybrid-Agile methodology, please feel free to book a meeting with us.