• Agile Leadership

5 reasons why organizations are switching to an Agile way of working anno 2019

In this blog, 5 reasons why organizations anno now (2019) are still massively switching to agile way of working or want to develop in it more and more.

The info comes from the global State of Agile survey that this time included 1,300 respondents. The full report can be found at www.stateofagile.com. Is your organization ready to work Agile?

The status of Agile

What is striking is that more than half of the respondents indicated that the organization where they work is not yet fully Agile. One half of the organization is doing Agile and the other half is not yet. This corresponds well with our experience. Many times we see that there is plenty of experimentation in the company with Agile and Scrum, for example, but there are also departments that completely miss this party.

22% indicate that the entire organization (read: all teams are agile teams). 78% of respondents indicate that Agile is not yet at the level of complete maturity. By this is meant that the entire organization is not yet competent to work with Agile. In itself, this is not surprising. Agile requires considerable structural and cultural change and it is logical that even respondents who have been working with Agile for more than 3 years still have a world to win. After all, we’ve built bureaucratic strongholds that didn’t happen “overnight” either. Tearing down walls takes less time than it took to build them, but you simply don’t renovate those large buildings in one go with a lick of paint. It takes more than that.

The 5 main reason for adopting Agile

The standouts from the survey on why organizations are getting started with Agile are:

1 Going to market faster (accelerate delivery) 74%

In short: away with big plans, we are going to bring small parts of product to market at an accelerated pace. This has the great advantage that there is much faster feedback from customers, which in turn allows you to improve your product. Another additional advantage is that if the product catches on with the customer, you immediately make money. Even with a smaller product than what you might eventually aim for.

2. Dealing with shifting priorities (Enhance ability to manage changing priorities) 62%

As a plan progresses, you discover new ideas based on new insights, customer feedback and shifts in the marketplace. With an Agile approach, these ideas are given an immediate chance. In traditional organizations, new plans will have to be written, budget rounds will have to wait. With Agile, provided the Product Owner also thinks the new insight is a good idea, it gets an immediate chance. That makes it much quicker to shift priorities and seize market opportunities.

3. Increase productivity 51%.

In Agile, as in Lean, we don’t like waste. By systematically looking back at how people work together, the way things are done gets better and better. By always incorporating customer feedback into the product, the product becomes more and more valuable.

In addition to these 3 reasons, 2 more points stand out that make organizations want to start with an Agile way of working.

4. Reduce project cost.

41% (compared to 24% from the 12th survey) of respondents indicated that they see Agile working as an opportunity to bring down project costs. In our view, cost reduction should not be the goal of Agile. As far as we are concerned, the goal should be to deliver value for customers and end users. The advantage of working Agile is that waste is more readily apparent, and thus costs can be reduced. Or rather, there is a continuous focus on value addition. Whatever does not add value (anymore) can therefore be skipped.

5. Increase team spirit (Improve team morale).

An increasingly large group – 34% up from 28% the year before – sees team spirit improving with Agile working. Agile and Scrum is all about working together on the team, in the organization and with customers. Agile teams are value and purpose driven teams. Where professionals work closely with customers. We see teams completely revived because value is produced again, things are completed and success is achieved. That gives energy.

What opportunity do you see for your team or organization? Do you want to go to market faster? Do you want to respond faster to change? Work more effectively? Get a grip on costs or boost your team’s morale? Then we would like to get in touch with you. Our training courses and Incompany programs take you further. Set your world in motion.