“In the global, technology-driven, and rapidly changing marketplace, organizations must lead change or be left behind.” As a business consultant, international speaker, and co-founder of the Agile Project Leadership Network (APLN), Pollyanna Pixton advocates Agile methods as a way to achieve change. Read what she has to say about Agile.
Q1: Why use Agile methods?
Agile embraces change. Today, in the global, technology-driven, and rapidly changing marketplace, organizations must lead change or be left behind. An organization does not become a market leader by keeping pace with the status quo. Companies use Agile principles such as short iterations, brutal prioritization, and frequent delivery to deliver improved business value, make go/no-go decisions early, and course correct often as a means of staying tightly aligned with changing market needs. Agile methods incorporate and anticipate change in the definition of business value, project results, and the balancing of portfolios.
Agile concepts of team ownership and collaboration, pushed out across the enterprise, improve efficiency so we do much more of the high impact activities by doing much less of the low impact activities. With improved focus, we deliver the right product right in less time. Research by the Standish Group in 2002 states that 64 percent of developed features and functions are rarely or never used. Using multiple iterations and re-prioritizing the remaining work based on business value at the end of each iteration, we minimize the delivery of unwanted, unused, and low value features.
Q2: Biggest challenge of implementing Agile methods?
We need strong leaders experienced with leading collaboration. Since Agile addresses collaboration and team ownership, leaders must create open environments, convene the right people, and let them decide what needs to happen and by when. Then, leaders must step back and let teams deliver.
Agile methods are common sense but not common practice in contrast to many of the product and software development methodologies we have historically used and that we know. Likewise, we often think that Agile methods work only in certain situations (but not in our current situation). As is often the case, it is difficult for us to change our behaviors, particularly when Agile is very different from the familiar methods.
Sometimes, opponents of Agile claim that while Agile methods work on small, simple projects, the principles do not translate to large, complex projects. From experience I have learned that Agile methods do work on such projects. With high complexity and uncertainty, leaders break the functional areas into smaller units and subsets for Agile teams to deliver. Using a collaborative leadership style (open, inquiring, and transparent), leaders work with their teams to figure out together how to apply Agile principles to their specific projects.
Q3: In what environment will Agile be most successful?
Agile works well in environments that require internal and external feedback, shortened cycles, high quality, and projects that deliver business value all with limited resources. For example, on the project to build the Electronic Stock Exchange for the Swiss banks, I started by creating a collaborative environment. Among a project team of 120 persons, agile methods emerged: iterations where six weeks long, people programmed in pairs, four prototypes of the user interface were developed, and tests (which were, in reality, success criteria) were written first. As a result of using these Agile methods, a project that had failed its two previous attempts was delivered on-time with higher than expected adoption rates.
Agile relies on an environment that is open and trusting. Leaders ask questions to create focus and listen as teams deliver. It will not flourish if the leadership style is command and control. Because Agile depends on high levels of collaboration and communication, it does not scale well with functional teams of more than 150.
Agile is no longer restricted to software development and IT. We have seen profit improvements through introducing Agile methods into non-technology companies such as architecture firms and the coal-based synthetic fuels industry.
Q4: What is the future of Agile?
The use of Agile principles and methods will expand beyond software development. Agile principles, when used in the entire organization, improve efficiency, innovation, and enable companies to lead in their marketplace. Agile assists leaders in overcoming the barriers to innovation by decreasing development times and breaking down silos that hamper results.
Q5: Can you recommend a book, blog, podcast, website, or other information source to our readers that you find interesting or intriguing right now?
As partner of Accelinnova, a consortium of thought leaders in the Agile community, we created frameworks based on Agile concepts to address corporate needs of strategic intent, collaboration, project and portfolio management, business value models, and real options. On our publications page, http://accelinnova.com/publications.html , you will find some of the most interesting and exciting work in this area. Feel free to contact me via email at ppixton@accelinnova.com .
About the Author
Pollyanna Pixton is President of Evolutionary Systems ( www.evolutionarysystems.net ) and co-founder of Accelinnova ( www.accelinnova.com ), business consulting firms providing frameworks for implementing agile practices at senior leadership levels in all types of companies. Pollyanna used her models of collaboration to implement large scale agile projects such as leading the development of the Swiss Electronic Stock Exchange. She speaks internationally on her models of collaboration and collaborative leadership, teaches at the University level, and is the Director of the Institute for Collaborative Leadership ( www.collaborativeleadership.com ). Pollyanna co-founded the Agile Project Leadership Network (APLN) and serves as an officer on that board.
Copyright © 2007, Robbins-Gioia, LLC. All rights reserved.