Don’t be Focused on Doing Agile
A friend recently sent me a post about agile. It was an interesting take on what’s happened since the Agile Manifesto was written 14 years ago. And it reminded me that too often, we see companies, teams, groups of people focused on doing, what they consider to be, agile. It’s what makes frameworks like SAFe and DAD appealing to large companies. They don’t know what to do, and these frameworks offer a solution to that problem… They propose that by following their process, the company will realize the benefits of agile. Or maybe it’s not that much – perhaps it’s a team or two trying to follow the Scrum framework. The interesting thing about all of these is that they’re starting points, and not destinations.
I was working with a new Product Owner on a Scrum team recently. In one of our first interactions, he asked me what we could be doing to be more agile. I think I may have scared him a bit when I explained that I don’t think our goal should be to quantify or focus on how agile we’re being. That shouldn’t be the goal. Odd, given that I tell people I’m an Agile Coach. Not that I really know what it means. But it sounds cool. I explained to him that our goal should be to deliver higher quality software, working software, delivering value to our customers, however we want to define value. At this company, profit and NPS are two key metrics. So let’s figure out a way to do deliver more shit that our customers love and will advocate to others about, and let’s also figure out a way we can make more money. It just so happens that one of the ways we can do this is through a better, tighter, shorter feedback loop with our customers. And that’s where agile fits in this case.
It’s not about following a process. Being agile isn’t about doing scrum, or whatever flavour of process or framework happens to float your boat. It’s about uncovering better ways of developing by doing it, and helping other do it. (Wait… I’ve read that somewhere before).
In my opinion, it’s about finding ways of continually improving. Too often I’ve seen people and organizations focused on “doing” agile (or what they consider this to mean), rather than focusing on continually finding ways to get better. And I’m not talking about a little better. Or working a bit less overtime. No… I’m talking about massive improvements, and gigantic changes in the way we think about business, development, and our customers.
If you’re using a framework, use it as a starting point, and not a destination. Figure out what works for your business, employees, and customers today. My guess is that what works for you today won’t be what will work for you down the road. It’s been said that the only constant is change. Agile is all about adapting to and responding to the change that’s inevitable in a way that works for you.