A Peak into the Future of Agile

Are you an individual who is excited by change? Do you believe that managing change is a mindset? Then you will identify with the principles of the Agile framework.

The Agile beginning

Agile methodology was primarily detailed out for software development. It grew out of the concept of Lean and was detailed in the Agile Manifesto in 2001.

As the years went by, the world saw Agile as a concept, foray into different industries like manufacturing, retail, strategy, human resources. Agile was considered a response to a huge change in the market when the power shifted from the producer to the consumer. Some of the benefits of agile were continuous improvement, disciplined execution, iterative feedback, stakeholder satisfaction, increased transparency and efficient communication with employee engagement.

Agile also grew in scope where it began to extend beyond teams, domains into a methodology with which an organization could be run. It was regarded as an enabler for business agility.

Where is Agile headed?

While now there is conversation on where Agile is heading, let us first understand what purpose agile first served when it was originally presented.

The ‘Agile way’ of thinking emerged when software development was following the ‘Waterfall model’. The waterfall model was linear and rigid. It made software development both difficult and risk laden for all its stakeholders. At this stage, the Agile Manifesto came up with an innovative set of ideas in the form of protocols. These rules helped all stakeholders overcome what seemed like their biggest challenges at that time.

Scope of Agile framework

Today, the world is moving towards a data driven approach where there is a question of how relevant Agile might be. To answer this question, let us understand the scope of what is considered Agile.

Even though it has been adopted by many professionals, everyone who uses agile is not clear about what exactly Agile is.

Agile is a mindset. It is an umbrella which encompasses a set of values and principles. When these values and principles are implemented in a flow or process, that flow is called Agile. Hence there is tremendous scope for it to grow across other businesses as it is a great asset that enables a business to come up with new products/services. It is the nature of the agile mindset which will enable its survival as it is not built on any one trend in business, but on the fact that trends are subject to change.

In the context of software development, this ‘Agile mindset’ can be applied to many other methodologies namely Kanban, Spiral or Scrum.

Agile: One step ahead of the future

Embracing the Agile mindset has always been a learning curve for organizations especially the ones with complex processes involving approvals and people. A recent McKinsey article refers to it as a ‘change in a firm’s fundamental DNA’. The journey that firms like Microsoft have had with the Agile mindset, tells us that the change is possible yet takes time, patience and a certain vision of courage. Such a massive change has taken a decade for Microsoft.

Hence there is a narrative that traditional organizations may balk at the magnitude of changes adopting an agile mindset could entail. This is because the agile mindset challenges some of the basic assumptions that prevail in traditional organizations. ?Agile makes processes more efficient by seemingly making them more iterative. Though this feels counter intuitive, it produces results. Agile leaders are seen as nurturing a culture than commanding an army of accomplishers. Till the benefits can be quantified, a level of trepidation from the managerial community is inevitable.

Ending Note

Change is the only constant. Flexibility is the tool that helps organizations ride the wave of change to their advantage. It is this flexibility that the Agile mindset enables us to have, to counter growing complexity.

So it is safe to say that we are at an inflection point where the future of the Agile mindset is just blooming.