Processes are great when you have the right behaviours to match

The faster the competition gets, the anxiety within organizations builds, trying to keep up. The need to be just as quick and nimble as everyone else can sometimes create a knee-jerk reaction to make changes for the sake of making changes. In doing so, they could be going down a path that could slow them down more than making small improvements.

The article below discusses the scaling of agile development processes to meet the needs of the organization, whether it is top-heavy and pairing down, going bare bones, and adding or trying the middle of the road and see what is going to happen.

All three applications have benefits and drawbacks. It is all up to how the organization wants to move. Something is missing, though, and this is where making a change could not have the results that senior management expected.

RIGHT-SIZING YOUR AGILE PROCESS? START IN THE MIDDLE

Scott Ambler Adoption, RUP, Scrum, Uncategorized May 1, 2015

What is missing out of all of this is culture, behaviours and messaging. The following of steps in an Agile Development methodology does not mean you are “Agile.” There needs to be more. The principles of how everything in Agile Delivery has a more philosophical paradigm shift in how overall organizational mindsets need to be to succeed. It must be organization-wide to reap the benefits of being agile.

Now there are times when a change is needed to provide added value to their clients. Teams grow, products change, there is a disruption in the industry that requires quick organization-wide turnaround, or new product integrations come into play that doesn’t fit with the current processes. Methods and methodologies are tools and depending on the job; those tools need to change.

Using the tool analogy, if you are using a screwdriver to put screws into a board, you do not grab a hammer halfway through to do things faster. Yes, eventually, you would still get the screw in, at what cost? Frustration, slowdowns, and an impact on quality. When you could use a power drill with the right bit, sometimes seeing what others are doing could be a good thing to learn, emulating what they are doing because it is what they are doing could be costly.