When Should You Agile?

  Agile   Governance   Scrum   ProjectsAtWork  

Too many organizations do not understand that Agile itself is not a methodology; it’s a mindset. No wonder they are rarely successful using Agile. They’re chasing the benefits of Agile without differentiating between methods, or even considering when one approach might be better than another.

The upside for adopting an Agile methodology is tremendous. Fully functioning Agile teams are able to bring products to market faster — products that are more adaptable, with better quality and higher customer satisfaction. And the development team has higher morale and job satisfaction. Certainly, this list of benefits would cause most groups to rush to adopt Agile. But what most new Agile converts fail to understand is that knowing when to go Agile is even more important.

In a recent post, “World’s Largest Agile Program Goes Back To Waterfall,” Dan Galorath discusses the UK’s Universal Credit Welfare System abandoning their “Agile” development.  I’ll leave you to read the blog but his takeaway is dead on the money:  “Agile is a good thing when applied to the right problems.”

This brings me back to a question I ask many organizations — why do they standardize on Agile for everything?

Using Agile for every project is ludicrous — unless you’re using a cadre of Agile methods. But that is not the case with many organizations, especially when it comes to Scrum. Scrum, it seems,…

Please log in or sign up below to read the rest of the article.