Sensing Agile in an ‘Agile’ Way: A Definition That Helps Practice

  Agile  

‘Agile Project Management’ is now used as shorthand for almost everything from everyday tasks to organization-wide transformation. The problem is that the label has expanded faster than a clear understanding has been established. One particular challenge occurs when pursuing scaled Agile across levels: project agility (how a specific project adapts) and enterprise agility (how the wider organization adapts at scale).

In practice, organizations often adopt Agile rituals without changing their underlying project governance. Teams hold daily stand-ups and work in sprints, however, projects are still planned with fixed scope, controlled through variance management, and measured against original baselines. This creates confusion about what genuine Agile implementation requires and how to assess whether it is working.

Our study published in the Project Management Journal (Dong, Dacre, Baxter et al., 2024) addresses this confusion through a systematic review of academic literature. We found that despite a rapid rise in publications over the past decade and widespread organizational adoption, there is not a consistent understanding of Agile Project Management. Most discussions remain implicitly anchored in software development contexts, limiting their applicability to the broader range of projects where Agile is now being deployed.

Without a clear definition of …

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