What Is the Agile Mindset?

The word mindset is elusive. Maybe you’ve heard people say “agile is a mindset” or “you need to understand the agile mindset to BE agile” (as opposed to just DOING agile). So what do they mean? And what exactly is a mindset? My answer might surprise you as I don’t necessarily agree with other depictions online (though I do love the perspectives written by Steve Denning in his 2019 Forbes article “Understanding the Agile Mindset”.)

The word mindset is defined as a set of beliefs and attitudes that determines how someone thinks about something. If one has a ‘growth mindset’, for example, they believe that they can improve their abilities and intelligence through dedication and hard work, leading to a love of learning.

The phrase about BEING agile vs. DOING agile is directly related to this idea of grasping and embracing the agile mindset. If you are simply taught some of the mechanics (have a big agile board with stickies, do daily stand-ups, move cards across the board, call requirements user stories instead…) you will not unlock the full potential of the agile process you are trying to follow.

So what is the agile mindset? And… is there just one?

Before I answer that, let me share a belief I have about mindsets in general. If a mindset is an individual’s beliefs, attitudes, and perhaps behaviors, then I posit that the definition of culture is a group of people’s collective beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. I’ll explain why I share this fact after another quick thought about this important (and also elusive) word culture. A smart person at Chef who I worked with (probably Jez Humble or perhaps Nathen Harvey, I don’t recall) said that:

Culture is nothing more than the sum total of all of the conversations between the employees at a company.

This was such a profound statement to me, and now, upon reflection it occurs to me that these two definitions basically mean the same thing. Our culture is who we are, what we believe, and what we say and do.

So, back to the agile mindset. I actually believe there is more than one mindset or culture we need to understand, learn, and internalize in order to really embrace the agile mindset completely. I like to think of the agile mindset as an umbrella above and representing many related concepts. To appreciate the nuances of embracing the agile mindset, there is, of course, one definitive book as a source I’d recommend from my agile friend Gil Broza :“The Agile Mind-Set”.

Here are the mindsets and cultures I believe a team... or company needs to embrace in order to truly BE agile and realize the benefits of the “new ways of working”. Each of the following seven concepts are broad and deep topics. Collectively, I believe these encompass all of the concepts you’ll find in the Agile Manifesto and its 12 Principles as well as the key concepts and values across Scrum and Kanban.

• An Iterative Mindset. Create value in small, iterative steps allowing for early and frequent feedback on each piece of work, which helps eliminate waste and build better products faster. Be data-driven, evidence-based and use that data to decide what to do more of and what to do next.
• A Product Culture. Form long-lasting, durable, product teams that reflect the company’s focus, vision, and purpose. Have a top-down vision that influences the teams’ roadmaps and day-to-day work. Prioritize diligently. Build and support only so many products and services, and do them well.
• A Customer-Centric Mindset. Include the big picture, product vision and an appreciation for WHY it matters to users before doing anything. Don’t guess what customers want, be customer-driven and empirical about it.
• A Culture of Learning. Team members share knowledge, make learning a priority, and invest in communities that grow people and skills that benefit the company. All failures are opportunities to learn something.
• A Culture of Experimentation. A Design Thinking mindset is utilized from idea formation through delivery. Instead of requirements, think hypotheses. What’s the smallest thing we can do to learn something?
• A Culture of Continuous Improvement. Teams are empowered to change and improve their own process. Self-reflection, transparency, courage, and respect lead to sustainable value delivery and better results.
• A Culture of Psychological Safety. People will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with any ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes. This breeds greater innovation, inclusive collaboration and a greater flow of ideas that can impact our products, people, and company.

These seven mindsets and cultures are the most important things a company and its employees should embody in order to be agile. The agile mindset is the combination of all these concepts and they represent the key tenets of the new ways of working.

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Hi, I’m Brian Link, an Enterprise Agile Coach who loves his job helping people. I call myself and my company the “Practical Agilist” because I pride myself on helping others distill down the practices and processes of the agile universe into easy to understand and simple common sense.

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