Adopt the Agile Mindset

Reflect on What Agility Means to You

What do you think it means to be agile? Take a moment to consider what you associate this word with. 

You may have thought about words such as “adaptable,” “flexible,” “fast,” or “nimble.” Of course, agile ways of working can be all of those things (and plenty more!), but it’s important to distinguish between Agile (with a capital “A”) and agile (with a small “a”).  

• Capital “A” Agile is a working methodology that arose from software development and is typically characterized by dividing work into short phases, regularly re-prioritizing tasks, and adapting plans by considering frequent feedback.

• Small “a” agile is the culture, behavior, and mindset that enables teams to be truly adaptive in how they deliver the work.  

You can explore the distinction further in this article from pm-partners. 

We’ll go into more detail on the agile mindset in Chapter 5.

Get Familiar With the Agile Manifesto

Every significant movement needs a manifesto! The foundation of agile principles was first popularized by the 2001 Manifesto for Agile Software Development, which arose from a meeting of seventeen software engineers who came together to discuss how to improve the development methods that many teams were using. 

The authors of the manifesto said that, “while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.”  

Reread those values. What do they mean to you? How close are they to how you currently work? Then, write the answers in the corresponding section of the log book.  

These Agile Manifesto values focused on how development teams worked rather than one specific methodology, but articulated the need for collaboration, good team communication, a focus on outcomes, and adaptability. These were built on 12 principles which we’ll draw on in more detail later in the course.  

Once published, the manifesto provided the momentum for a movement around agile ways of working that revolutionized how that software was built and had much wider application across businesses.

Evaluate the Relevance of Agile Beyond IT

Not at all! Agile methods and ways of working have expanded beyond technology teams to benefit a wide set of industries and functions. The following chapters will show you how to apply them in different contexts.

An example of this may be a medical team that must ensure compliance with a strict process, so patients are not at risk. Here, testing and adaptation are not required. Instead, an approach involving checklists would ensure that everyone followed the same procedure every time to protect patients’ lives. Another example may be a team in a financial business that has to follow a rigid and lengthy process to avoid putting the company at risk or breaking regulations.

Nonetheless, for many areas of work, the benefits of agile ways of working are broad and deep and potentially impact not only the team’s productivity positively.

For example, research from McKinsey into insurance sector companies that had adopted agile ways of working at scale found that agile companies typically delivered their product to customers 5-7 times faster than non-agile companies. They also saw productivity improvement (20-30%), increased customer satisfaction scores (20-30 percentage points), and improved employee engagement scores (20-25 percentage points). 

Let’s Recap!

• It’s important to recognize the difference between capital “A” Agile (the process) and small “a” agile (the mindset). A good way to think about this is that agile is a mindset that enables a process.

• The Agile Manifesto, written in 2001, popularized agile methods by setting out a series of values and principles that are still relevant today.        

• Agile ways of working have broad applications and multiple potential benefits if applied well, but you must use them in the right contexts.  

You’re now starting to understand the fundamentals of agile ways of working. See you in the next chapter, where we’ll look more closely at how an agile team works.