Why Having One Agile Framework Across An Enterprise May Not Be A Good Thing

Organizations need to be using agile methodologies to keep up with clients/customers’ needs, rapidly changing regulations, and keeping up or staying ahead of the competition. It is a natural evolution of business. Over the past 15 years, more and more organizations started their agile journey.

As time passes, not only did software development teams transform to using agile methodologies, organizations started to get other divisions to transform as well. They saw the value of agile and wanted to achieve more with other groups. All parts of the evolution make sense due to the ability to lean out some red tape and bottlenecks. They would take the methodology used with the development teams and apply it to those departments. Unfortunately, that decision could create more frustration and failure to use those methodologies effectively.

Reason? Agile frameworks are tools used in an agile mindset that meet the needs of the team. Suppose the needs and flow does not fit what the framework can support. That doesn’t mean that other departments can’t be agile; what it means is they need the right tool to get it done. Imagine an organization like this toy.

Each piece has a specific place to fit into, and departments within an organization are the same; they have differences. The size of an organization does impact; the smaller the organization, there could be less of a need to implement different methodologies. There is still a chance that multiple methodologies need to be in place.

There are plenty of frameworks out there; depending on the list, a range of 20-30 doesn’t include any mash-ups organizations may have created. They are all tools and need to be treated as such. What is important is the behaviours, actions and outcomes of those that use the tool. Luckily there is a way to determine the viability and effectiveness of the frameworks and their behaviours. An Agile Performance Holarchy© Assessment is a framework-agnostic assessment that can help identify gaps and provide recommendations to get organizations on a clear path to agility. Click below to start the conversation on forging that path.