What is Agile?

The Agile Mindset

At its core, agile is a mindset. It is about being flexible and constantly adapting to change. This means being able to respond quickly and effectively to new information and changing circumstances. Agile thinking is all about being proactive rather than reactive, and it’s this mindset that can help you be more successful in any area of your life.

These are broken down into three core beliefs

The Complexity Belief

In today’s world, many of the challenges we face are complex adaptive problems. These types of problems are difficult to solve because they are constantly changing and evolving. Yet we often try to do just that, applying tried-and-true methods even when they no longer work. This is where the belief in complexity comes in: the recognition that a problem’s inherent complexity means that a one-size-fits-all solution is unlikely to be effective.

Instead, we need to take a more fluid and flexible approach, experimenting with different methods and seeing what works best in each situation. There is no silver bullet for solving complex problems; instead, it takes hard work and dedication to keep exploring new possibilities until we find a way forward. The belief in complexity is a reminder that the journey is often more important than the destination.

The People Belief

It is widely believed that individuals are both independent from and dependent on their teams and organisations. While it is true that individuals can accomplish great things on their own, research has shown that they are also more likely to succeed when working collaboratively with others.
If teams and indivduals are given the right environment, trust to self organise and a motivating purpose, they need to achieve their goals.

The Proactive Belief

In a constantly changing and increasingly complex world, the ability to be proactive is more important than ever. Proactivity is the belief that you can always be doing something to improve your situation, and it’s this relentless pursuit of improvement that sets proactive people apart. Proactivity is not just about taking action; it’s also about having a positive attitude and being open to new ideas.

Proactive people are always looking for ways to improve their skills and knowledge, and they never give up easily. They know that success depends on their own efforts, and they are willing to work hard to achieve their goals. Proactivity requires dedication and perseverance, but the payoff is worth it: proactive people are more successful and happier than those who are reactive.

You can read more about the Agile Onion here

Values and Principles

In the business world, it is often said that “people are your most important asset.” And it’s true – a company’s success depends on its employees. But what about the company’s values? Aren’t they just as important?

In his book 5 Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni discusses the importance of values in a company. He says that if a company doesn’t have clearly defined values, it will be unable to function effectively.

Lencioni defines values as “the enduring beliefs that guide a person or organization.” He says that they are even more important and more intangible than skills and abilities.

So why are values so important? Values are what create the climate in a company. They define how people work together and how they view their roles. How do you define values at your company? It s also important to know that not all companies have the same set of values.

Agile provides this with four values:

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

Working software over comprehensive documentation

Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

Responding to change over following a plan

These statements are expressed in “X even over Y,” where X and Y could each be useful, significant pursuits. Both sides of the Even Over Statement have value, it is simply we value the stuff on the left more than the stuff on the right.

Principles

Each organisation is different, and the principles must align with its values. While Agile provides a set of principles, the organisation will need to align these with its own. There are a few key principles that are essential to success.

These principles can be things like completing all the work you start in a sprint or having a high priority. Completing all the work you start in a sprint is known as the principle of ‘commitment’. This means that you should always make sure to finish what you start, and not leave anything unfinished. This principle is important because it helps keep teams organized and on track.

Having a high priority is also important in business. This means that you should always focus on the most important tasks, and make sure they are completed before anything else. This principle is beneficial because it ensures that the most important things are always taken care of first.

For more on the principles of agile, it can be found here.

Frameworks and practices

There is a large number of frameworks, methods, approaches, and practices that make up agile ways of working.

A framework is a plan or model that provides a structure for thinking about or doing something. In business, it can be used to organize thoughts about what needs to be done to achieve specific goals. There are many different frameworks available and it is important to select the right one for the problem at hand.

A method is a procedure for solving a problem or accomplishing a task. When selecting a method, it is important to consider the resources available and the time needed to complete the task.
Approaches provide an overall plan for how something should be done.

• Scrum, Kanban, DevOps, eXtreme Programming, and Lean Start-up are a few of the highlighted sheets of business.
• LeSS, SAFe, and Scrum@Scale are a few examples of scaling/descaling frameworks, there is a breakdown to aid in facilitating a wider organization’s infrastructure.
• Holacracy, Humanocracy, and Sociocracy 3.0 are useful in assessing company agility in terms of implementing structural patterns that help with wider business agility. 

Practices – Provide techniques and tools that enhance or make up the structure within Frameworks and Methods. There are lots of practices that support Agile ways of working and depending on context and team maturity, the use of certain practices will change over time.

• User Stories, User Story Mapping, Value stream mapping, and Product Vision are practices that support product ownership and organization alignment
• Estimation, Agile Metrics are practices that provide metric-based feedback to help make better, informed decisions
• Test-Driven Development, Pairing, Refactoring, and Automation are development practices that ensure quality
• Communities of Practice, Learning Dojo’s build-up skills and personnel within organisation

Where do to get started with Agile

Below are a list of resources that will help start you on your journey to becoming more agile. If you are after a specific framework, our other pages will be of benefit.
Scrum
Kanban
It always helps to have a guide who can understand your organisation, what you are trying to achieve, and how to apply the right tools and techniques that your organisation will respond well to.

Mark Shead: What is Agile
Understand what is not agile, what the definition of agile is and the principles and practices that surround it. A really useful reference point, especially when introducing Agile to someone new.

Product Owner in a Nutshell: Henrik Kniberg
A fantastic explanation of the Product Owner Role, an absolute must watch.

Certification:

Scrum Alliance: Provider of the Certified Scrum training courses, Certified Scrum Master (CSM), Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) to name the entry level. Also hold the Scrum Gathering annually.

Scrum.Org: Training provider of the Professional Scrum Training Courses. Professional Scrum Master (PSM) and Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO) for entry level. Once achieved, they are life long certifications.

ICAgile: Provide an Agile focused training course in a number of areas. Learn about facilitation, coaching, devops and product ownership to name a few.

Other Resources

Scrum 2017 PDF: The exact definition of scrum and the first place to go to understand it. Scrum PDF 2017

Lean Principles: Understand the principles behind Lean and what makes it so effective. Lean Principles