Evolving Beyond Agile

The truth is that in many instances we’ve already evolved beyond agile. Or, more specifically, we’re evolving our practices in ways that leverage agile principles and practices, but also include so much more.

I’ll explain; folks have realised that for all the benefits it provides, agile practices are only one aspect of our professional lives – there are many more issues that we traditionally faced that aren’t improved by agile methods per se.

It’s well accepted that other disciplines (i.e. principles and practices) like Lean Systems Thinking and Human Centred Design compliment agile practices (well, at least the light-weight versions of HCD do), but more are emerging.

And it’s fantastic to see. We’re inspecting, learning and adapting.

Increasingly we’re hearing about:

• Product Management – how aspects of traditional Product Management have been merged to form Agile Product Management, which has helped evolve and improve the effectiveness of the Product Owner role.
• Management 3.0 – whether agile methods existed or not, there’s massive benefit in adopting the MI3.0 practices; the principles upon which they are based are simply brilliant and work so well alongside agile
• The Growth mindset – the work of folks like Carol Dweck and Robert Kegan have been developed over many years of research (i.e. independently of agile practice), but helps us cover off the important aspects of ‘mastery’ within the agile context
• Psychological Safety – the research from Google, and subsequent work of others also lends itself perfectly to agile practice. The respective principles and practices simply compliment agile so well.

So, you can see why organisations baulk a little at labeling modern transformation as ‘agile’ – while agile principles and practices are an important aspect, they are not going to solve all of our problems. Therefore, agile methods fit squarely into the old saying, that they are ‘necessary but not sufficient’. So, in these modern times, only focusing on an ‘agile’ transformation means you are likely being myopic and perhaps less likely to achieve real success.

So, how do you label (or brand) your organisational transformation? Some folks are using terms like ‘New Ways of Working’ or ‘Future Ways of Working’; I don’t suppose it matters a great deal as long as it’s not too specific to imply a narrow focus, and gives us scope to include the aspects we deem important.

So how do we know what to include? The above listed items are a start, but I suggest you do your research – examine the latest thinking in a range of areas. But, most importantly, be led by the principles – not the practices per se. Make sure you understand your own circumstances / pain points and determine what principles fit – then start a program of work around helping folks understand those principles and what excellence looks like for a new set of behaviours (i.e. cultural) and practices.

What else do folks believe compliment the above set if disciples? What else can form part of a successful transformation?