Adopt the Agile Mindset

Your Turn! Evaluate the Impact of Feedback

Want to play a game?

Let’s play an online version of Battleships! You may remember playing this game when you were a child. The objective is to sink as many of your opponent’s ships as possible. In this version, you have 30 bombs to drop into the sea (represented by a grid), but you don’t know where the ships are.

Once you’ve clicked “start,” you will see this page:

You can see how many ships you’ve hit and sunk on the left side and the enemy ships on the right. There are two versions of this game. Once you’ve played the first one with delayed feedback, write down your score. Then click on continue. Then, write down your score once you’ve played the second version with instant feedback.

Now compare the scores. Which one did you do better on? Why do you think this is?

You may have been lucky enough to score well on the first version of the game with delayed feedback, but most people score better on the second with instant feedback. In the first, you drop your bombs with no feedback on how you are doing and then get a reveal at the end. In the second, you receive feedback as you go through the game (the orange squares and bomb sound show that you have hit a ship) to adapt your next move. It allows you to make better decisions.

Compare Agile and Waterfall Processes

The Battleships game demonstrates the critical differences between adaptive Agile and more traditional and linear methods, often called Waterfall processes.  

Businesses have more experience with linear, Waterfall processes, which can mean that changing to more adaptive ways of working can be challenging.

Waterfall processes follow predetermined stages planned in advance, and each is completed before moving on to the next (hence the waterfall).  

• The process starts with gathering inputs (research, data, insight). 

• A detailed design or plan is completed based on those inputs. 

• Then, the plan is executed in a fairly rigid fashion. The customer sees the first value at the end. There is a reveal like the first Battleships game. 

Waterfall processes may work well in stable or slow-moving environments but struggle in fast-changing contexts since the process can take a long time to complete. Many things (user needs, technology, competitive activity) may have changed by then. Once the process has begun, changing the pre-planned solution can become harder.

In contrast, Agile processes set a clear outcome or vision the team can aim for, breaking this down into smaller tasks that enable greater adaptation. Teams work to achieve this vision by cycling through a continuous process of planning, delivering, evaluating, and reprioritizing. 

Discover the High-Level Principles of Agile

We’ve now looked at how Agile processes work and the mindset shifts that build success. So, how can you ensure that success?

Here is a summary of some fundamental approaches based on the original principles from the Agile Manifesto. Remember these throughout an agile process: 

• Stay focused on an outcome: The team must be clear on the end goal or result they aim to achieve. Every team needs a mission. Phrasing this as a one or two-sentence outcome is a good technique.

• Break the outcome into smaller tasks: A good question to ask at the beginning of a project is, “What needs to be true for this outcome to happen?” This reveals all the assumptions the team can test.

• Regularly reprioritize around customer and business value: Focus on doing the highest value before lower value work. Look to deliver customer and business value as early as possible in the process. Be adaptive and open to new ways of solving challenges - in other words, embrace change, even late in the process.

• Fail fast: Learning from successes and failures as you go through the process is essential. This means that prototypes, tests, and experiments should be “safe to fail” and allow teams to try new things out without unnecessary risk.

• Visibility of work: Try to make progress visible by using tools such as Kanban boards, and remember to be transparent with the work by using daily stand-ups to share progress and blockers.

• Continuous improvement: In many ways, the work of an agile team never stops. They should always look for ways to improve how they are working and solving customer and business problems. 

Your Turn!

Over to you! What are some of the main obstacles a team can face when shifting from waterfall to agile mindsets?

✅ Solution: see my answer here. 

Now consider your situation at work. Do you think your team leans more towards Agile or waterfall? If it’s waterfall, what would it take to shift the mindset towards agile? Write your answers in the corresponding sections of the log book.

Let’s Recap!

Do you understand why an agile mindset is so important? To “do” Agile, you must “be” agile and adopt the right mindset and behaviors to enable success. Here’s a summary of what you learned in this chapter:

• The shift from more traditional linear and waterfall approaches to adaptive and agile ones involves some fundamental mindset changes that are key to success.

• Remember that working in an agile way is not an excuse not to plan. Every team needs a clear outcome. However, they must avoid fixating on one way of solving that challenge.

• Breaking an outcome into smaller tasks creates a backlog, allowing for regular and easier reprioritization based on feedback. Teams should embrace change—even late in the process. 

Well done! You have come to the end of the first part of the course. In the second part, we’ll dive deeper into techniques for “doing” Agile and the behaviors that can enable you to “be” agile. Before moving on, take a quiz to test your understanding.