Agile is not just for IT

IT professionals have struggled valiantly for many years to spread agile principles outside of IT, but with very limited success. Even at the tactical level, it is often hard to get the business to provide a true product owner for an agile team. The business is too busy with the day-to-day work operating the business and can't find the time to spend with the team. That leads to the common agile antipattern where the product owner is the least productive developer armed with only the skills a two-day "product owner" course can impart. 

To allow IT to work in a somewhat agile fashion even if the business is not supportive, we have implemented waterfall-agile hybrid workarounds like Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe). It sure doesn't look agile, but at least there are agile teams hidden in a corner. 

The Corona crisis has suddenly put a premium on business agility. Operational excellence is no longer sufficient, and squeezing a few more cents out of a supply chain by adding another vendor at the end of the world was seen as best practice. Being able to quickly adapt to new circumstances is now a crucial skill, and your company leadership is learning. Be prepared to show how IT agility can support business agility in the future.

If you're not seeing increased agility in your business, print out a few copies of "The Agile C-Suite" from the latest issue of Harvard Business Review and leave them in the execute restroom...

Sten Vesterli helps IT organizations succeed by providing great business value.