• Scrum Master

China goes Agile…? Yes indeed!

Three reasons why, from our own experience, we think it could still go fast.

Since 2019, Scrum Academy has been working with a Chinese partner HighCo to provide Agile training in China. HighCo is a leader in Design Thinking especially in Shanghai. They were looking for a partner that is at the forefront of providing Agile training and Agile transitions. So a great match with Scrum Academy. This blog consists of two parts. In this first, Roy and Gert-Jan share their experiences about why Agile is catching on in China and what prompted the Chinese party to bring Scrum Academy to China. In the second part, Roy and Gert-Jan explain the differences of training in China and in the Netherlands.

Agile is also going to help China

Agile and China, do they actually go together? Surely the government control mechanism knocks any agility out of organizations and collaboration? Decades of hierarchical structures already leave quite a mark in the Netherlands. In China, that must be huge. During our trip, we had many moments of learning and reflection that answered our question: Does China go agile? We would like to share the most important main reasons with you.

Reason 1: Collaboration & personal interaction

After an 11-hour trip, breakfast of noodles, jet lag and some sightseeing, the first briefing with the Chinese team followed. HighCo has an impressive client list and does a handsome job when it comes to Design Thinking. In one of their medical cases, they break down walls between doctors, patients, patients’ families and the pharma to come up with a better understanding of what the best treatment is from the patients’ eyes. This is groundbreaking work in China and ultimately yielded numerous ideas that could be addressed. So even in China, people don’t just think what is good for the customer, they really want to know and bring these stakeholders together. And this is where Agile and Scrum come in. How do we shape these ideas so that they don’t just remain ideas but are actually implemented? How do we quickly create concrete value for stakeholders?

Reason 2: Embracing change over following a plan

Another reason to embrace Agile in China comes from increasing (domestic) competition. Many companies were more or less monopolists until recently. There was very limited competition for existing companies. Put flatly, “it doesn’t really matter what we bring to market, we are the only one and there are very, very many customers. It will be sold anyway.” That mindset has had its day now. Competition is increasing and there is a need to work in a different way (Agile style, including prototyping). It has to be smarter, faster and more customer-oriented.

Reason 3: New generation, new mindset

Yet another reason to replace the traditional way of organizing for Agile comes from another angle. Namely, from the corner of professionals. Talent is also scarce in China. And while we too have certainly experienced how hierarchically oriented China is, a generation is arriving at lightning speed that does not simply fit into the traditional way. They also have plans, ideas, desires, talents they want to develop. They want to tap into and put their creativity to good use. They too are looking at what makes them happy themselves. There is a purpose to work less hierarchically and more collaboratively. This requires a different way of organizing. Much less hierarchical, much more collaborative and equal. In which choices are made based on data and expertise rather than the highest in rank being right. We think this is still a long way off (we will go into that in our next blog), but developments in China (Shanghai) are moving very fast.

China is advancing. We all know that. The drive we have felt among participants is tremendous. The question is not whether China will also embrace Agile, but rather when. On the “how” they are going to embrace it and what our experiences are, we will go into part 2 of our blog. This will appear within 3 weeks.