How to swap the traditional approach for agile development!
Challenges you might face while doing the right thing...
Much has been said about the implementation of Agile Methods in corporate environments with the aim of streamlining and simplifying existing processes in the workplace organizational environment. However, before deploying, it is necessary to reflect on some problems that will certainly be faced during this process, especially in those companies that wish to migrate from traditional to agile methods.
Traditional methodologies are focused on following an initial plan, building detailed documentation, giving more value to tools and processes, and negotiating contracts. Agile methods, on the other hand, seek fast adaptation to change, customer collaboration, as well as giving more value to individuals and interactions, as well as the progress of the product or service being developed.
In the face of this conflictive scenario, agile methods face several barriers to penetrating culturally traditional environments. Maybe that's the biggest challenge, cultural change!
In other words, it is necessary to know the environment well , that must undergo changes and to know clearly what are the objectives of this cultural transformation. Change requires unlearning old values, premises, and behaviors before one can learn new ones.
The most important elements of this cultural change are: executive support and training. Here is another major problem faced by agile methods during their deployment. It is difficult to obtain support from the highest levels of the organization, but it is fundamental. Executives must lead the pack and the transformation by changing their own behaviors and thus inspire other employees. Especially, when you’re dealing with successful people, because as we all know: Never change a running system. So the highest priority must be to educate and incorporate.
Team management, the subject of great study these days, is also seen as another barrier. It is the most arduous and complex work to accomplish in this process. Given this scenario, the role of the aggregator and conciliator leader must be included, which motivates and inspires its leaders to form homogeneous teams with a well defined common objective. This is fundamental for the implementation of agile methods, since the teams will have much more freedom to propose solutions and to share errors and correctness than in traditional methods.
Interacting with other departments of the organization is another task that we must pay attention to in the migration to agile methods, since as we saw in the previous chapter, the agile model provides a much greater approximation of people, rather than following bureaucratic procedures. For this reason, the cultural change of the organization supported by the high summit of the company is fundamental. Creating a common language and attitudes that are understood by all facilitates the interactions between individuals of different natures. This helps create a climate of harmony and cooperation towards a common goal outlined in the company's strategic planning. But let's be honest. There is going to be a lot of fighting going on...but you will make it through eventually.
Another key point is the interaction with customers, because they are the ones who keep the company alive! Customers must actively participate in the process of building products, services or results, providing constant feedback. Just as in the relationship with the internal staff, the relationship must be of cooperation in order to produce the desired results. Avoiding conflicts and seeking joint solutions are relevant points of this relationship.
It is worth mentioning that these are the main, but not the only, challenges that must be faced to implement agile methods in traditional corporate environments. Therefore, it is up to those who intend to apply these methods in their work environment to be prepared for the various conflicting situations that will arise during this transitory process and to be persistent and determined.