Why is Agile Software Delivery so hard?

So back to the purpose of this post: Why is it so hard to do agile software delivery? If I was able to do it without any training, why can't some teams get it straight when there is so much documentation out there to help?

I see it as a couple of things: Taking things too literally and organizations not accepting to be utterly agile in the work they do.

Taking things too literal is an easy discussion to have. People take a look at the Manifesto and treat it as gospel. Hence where the cowboy comment from earlier came. I have seen teams that treat Agile as a free for all and that they can do whatever they want. When in actuality, Agile needs discipline.

Yes, teams will have to act fast on stuff that may come in from Business, Clients or senior executives. It is going to happen. It is how the team reacts that is key. Not every moment is a "drop everything that you are doing and work on this." When stuff happens, it is up to the team to analyze, collaborate and ensure there is a complete understanding of what impacts there are to adjust. Taking work out of a sprint so as not to impact capacity, move it to the next race as it is not as critical as initially thought or prioritize for future releases.

Or the teams will throw in much work in the sprint without adequately following an effective and consistent pointing process or they don't understand their velocity. What happens with that is usually the Burndown chart looks more like a city skyline then a slope with a considerable drop at the end because incomplete tickets move to the next sprint. From there, it just snowballs out of control, which impacts everyone in the team. The sad thing is that it becomes the norm, and people become complacent.

It is not a matter of throwing work in and seeing what comes out. Speed is high, and eventually, a good running team will be able to accomplish great things on a faster schedule. It is about setting a good foundation to get there. Getting speed for the sake of it will lead down a road that will not end well for anybody involved.

The organization is not set up

The fear of change is compelling. Usually, humans don't like to do something different. As long as they are comfortable, they are right. "It has worked before, why do something new?". Jeff said it best in his book "Change or die." Going on a deeper level, it is evolution. We all know we can't stop that from happening in the world, so why be so closed-minded to evolve the organization? It is more than just having teams running sprints and developing code while the rest of the organization is not in the same mindset. Think of it like two cars going down a road, and they have to go at the same speed. Now one of those cars is the new Lamborghini Vision GT V12, and the other is a 1985 Chevette. Yes, they will be able to get to the destination, just not as fast as they could go. So to partly evolve won’t help things, in the end, will only slow down the value that it could achieve while competition could pass.

I had similar fears, and I overcame them. There are some of my former coworkers that would be pretty impressed that I have become an Agilist.  How did I overcome it? Well, one, as stated earlier, I did it and two education. Reading, courses, and talking to others have given me the insight to see the benefits and how to apply proper change management to get others down the path.