Agile? Its about time, or its about timing ?

I know this talk about doing agile and being agile, has been with us for some time now, and for good reason. However I still too often see organizations, wanting to become more agile, tend to stop after the transition into doing agile. Not giving the necessary time or support for the people to actual transform the organization into being agile.

In the context of Agile methodologies, the terms "transition" and "transformation" are often used to describe different aspects of organizational change. While they are related, they have distinct meanings and implications.

Transition:

Transition refers to the process of moving from one state to another. In Agile, it typically pertains to the adoption of Agile practices within an existing team or organization. This might involve transitioning from traditional project management methods (like Waterfall) to Agile practices (like Scrum or Kanban).

In the context of a team, transitioning to Agile could mean adopting new processes, roles, ceremonies, and tools. It's often a more incremental change where teams incorporate Agile practices into their existing workflow. Transition tends to focus on immediate changes in how work is done and how teams collaborate.

Transformation:

Transformation, on the other hand, is a more profound and holistic change. It involves not just adopting Agile practices but fundamentally altering the entire organization's culture, mindset, structure, and values to become more Agile. Agile transformation is a strategic shift that aims to embed Agile principles and values into the organization's DNA.

Agile transformation goes beyond changing processes; it might involve redefining roles and responsibilities, restructuring departments or teams, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and collaboration, and aligning the organization's strategic goals with Agile principles. It's a long-term change that requires buy-in from all levels of the organization, from leadership to individual contributors.

In summary, the key differences between transition and transformation in Agile are:

• Scope: Transition mainly focuses on adopting Agile practices within a team or project, while transformation involves a broader organizational change encompassing culture, mindset, and structure.
• Magnitude of Change: Transition involves relatively smaller changes to existing processes, whereas transformation involves a more substantial and comprehensive change that affects the entire organization.
• Duration: Transition tends to be shorter-term and focused on immediate changes, while transformation is a long-term journey that can take years to fully realize.
• Impact: Transition might lead to improved team efficiency and collaboration, while transformation aims to achieve a cultural shift that fosters agility, innovation, and adaptability throughout the organization.

Both transition and transformation are important concepts in the Agile context, and organizations might choose to engage in one or both depending on their goals and readiness for change.

So while transition is something that can be done in a relative short period of time, it tend to not make your organisation fully agile (if only it was that easy!). Transformation takes time. Its more than just implementing a new process or way of working into the team or across the whole organization. More its about the people needing to understand, adopt and believe in these new ways of working. People need time to change their routines, habits and to "re-programme" their beliefs. As a company you might eg. implement Scrum to guide your development teams, but that alone will not make your teams agile.

Don't stop at transition, but acknowledge the importance of transformation as well. Give the necessary time, space and support for people to fully understand and embrace agile values and principles, that is where the magic (true benefits) happens, I promise you ;)

/Jacob Kingo