Are you "Doing Agile" or "Being Agile"

(co-authors Kishore Joshi, Harleen Suri)

Covid-19 has changed the ways we live and work, of course with the receding instances of new cases in most countries, we hear “back to normal” more often now. Professional life is still virtual and business organizations continue to invest heavily on their digital transformation. In this VUCA world, organizations are now moving toward “Business Agility” instead of limiting their transformations to just IT delivery. Most of the organizations across the globe are on similar transformation journey. Their focus is growing beyond IT delivery, towards empowerment of teams and individuals to create a psychologically safe environment that leads to innovation and growth. This has led to unprecedented demand of Agile coaches and scrum masters.

There is no shortcut to change the culture of an organization or mindset of an individual. There must be conscious and continuous efforts to bring these changes. Adopting Agile ways of working is the first step towards business transformation. Proper adoption may lead to faster adaptation, provided, you are clear with the differences between Adoption (Doing Agile) and Adaptation (Being Agile). In this article, we'll try to explain the differences between the two and from where to start your Agile transformation journey. 

Doing Agile or Adoption is the first step towards the transformation. This phase is more focused on tools, processes, governance, and practices to be followed. Usually, organizations hire agile coaches and/or consultants to establish their adoption strategy by defining their ground rules, framework, governance, and execution model. Unfortunately, most of the organizations end their transformation journey at the adoption phase itself thinking that just by “Doing Agile” they are transformed.

However, Being Agile is more about the cultural and mindset changes. This phase focuses on changes in behavior (of entire eco-system and not just selected teams or individuals), continuous inspection and adaptation. Many organizations have even established dedicated teams to bring in the cultural change anticipating faster Adaptation.

Being Agile is the key to success since culture, mindset, values, and principles are more powerful than any tools and processes. It's a journey that encourages you to embrace the teaching of the Agile manifesto to all levels. 

Figure: "Doing Agile" Vs "Being Agile"

The figure "Doing Agile Vs Being Agile” explains the differences through agile onion layers. The following Agile Principles indicate why business and IT teams need to work together and list the practices to be followed for Being Agile:

• our highest priority is to satisfy the customer
• business and IT teams must work together throughout the project to deliver working software frequently
• simplicity - the art of maximizing the amount of work not done is essential
• Build project around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done

Effective implementation of Agile principles and values leads to productive and cost-effective delivery. You end up establishing a culture where the team is empowered to become self-organized. Like giving time to new joiners to adjust and settle down, organizations must let their teams adjust to the newly adopted agile ways of working. Organization need to understand that initial investment (mostly in tools and technology) is more towards “Doing Agile” properly and later investment (the human aspect) is on “Being Agile”.

For this, your organization need to be ready for the short-term impact on productivity during the adoption phase. It is not the right time to embark on transformation journey if your organization is not ready to bear this cost.

The journey from Doing Agile to Being Agile is full of challenges and risks, but highly rewarding with empowered teams that #collaborate, #trust, #respect, innovate, and celebrate the success together.

Reach us if you really want to check whether you are "Doing Agile" or "Being Agile".

Enjoy your transformation journey!

#culturalchange #trust #respect #doingagile #beingagile #rajeevjain