Fixing the Agile Coaching and Agile Transformation

In the past three years, we have seen a steady decline and spikes in the need for agile coaching and agile transformation in general for organizations. Why does this happen? Will there be any recovery and bring the situation to normal?

This article addresses certain questions from my own experiences and interactions with leaders, management and teams.

Why Agile?

First of all, organizations adopt agile for adaptability and agility, the capability that can only be built over a period of time with agile practices and a careful plan for sustainability in the value delivery and people growth.

What is Agility anyway?

Agility refers to the ability of the organizations that implement agile practices via a mindset approach or by a thinking approach that helps them to look at the value of being agile in the ways-of-working, in other words, if we apply agile mindset to the current ways-of-working or current state, we would be able to uncover some better ways of working. This better approach will help us as an organization to deliver value quicker, with high quality or required quality, and ability to cater to the needs of the market and consumers and prepare the organization for future changes.

What is the problem if agile practice is working well?

While there is no one single problem to say, it could be a combination of problems which works well in one organization that does not work at all in other organization. The other surprising fact is that, some organizations don't budget and spend on the agile transformation, but they simply agile with their agile mindset and lean thinking creating their ways-of-working with a perspective for continuous improvement.

Here are the common pitfalls that can work or does not work for an organization

The fluctuations in the need for agile coaching and agile transformation can be attributed to several factors:

1. Economic Cycles: The demand for agile practices often correlates with broader economic conditions. When companies are doing well, they may invest more in agile transformations to enhance their capabilities. Conversely, during downturns, budget cuts may reduce investments in such initiatives.

2. Maturity of Agile Practices: As organizations mature in their agile journey, the initial high demand for external coaching may decline as internal capabilities grow. Companies may start relying more on in-house expertise, reducing the need for external consultants.

3. Market Saturation: As more organizations adopt agile practices, the market for agile transformation can become saturated, leading to temporary declines in demand for external services until new markets or needs emerge.

4. Variation in Implementation Success: The success of agile transformations varies widely between organizations. Companies that fail to see immediate benefits may cut back on further agile investments, affecting the overall demand for agile coaching.

5. Changes in Agile Trends and Tools: Agile practices are constantly evolving. As new methodologies or tools become popular, they can shift the demand for specific types of coaching and transformation services.

Recovery and Stabilization

Recovery and stabilization in the demand for agile coaching and transformation depend on several factors:

- Economic Recovery: As the economy improves, companies may increase investments in agile practices to gain competitive advantages.

- Evolution of Agile Practices: Continuous evolution and the introduction of new agile methodologies can revive interest and demand for coaching.

- Increased Awareness of Benefits: As more success stories emerge, companies may be more inclined to invest in agile transformations to reap similar benefits.

- Tailored Agile Solutions: Offering more customized and organization-specific agile solutions can help meet the unique needs of different companies, potentially stabilizing demand.

• Also unable to implement a good scaling or agile framework via simple platform tool at organization scale affects the required customization for each team and organization context, which often ignored by the IT support and CoE, if they do see value in creating a tool or requesting their software vendors to provide such a context-based tool, we will see more traction in the buy-in to adopt agile practices pragmatically than as simple checklist.

Overall, while there might be fluctuations in the demand for agile coaching and transformation, the underlying principles of agility—such as adaptability and continuous improvement—are likely to remain valuable. Organizations that can demonstrate clear benefits from their agile practices are more likely to sustain their commitment, contributing to a stable demand for agile transformation services.

What you see in this article? Please suggest your feedback and thoughts, I appreciate. Thank You.