Agile is broken.
Most Agile transformations struggle. According to an Allied Market
Research study, "63% of respondents stated the failure of agile
implementation in their organizations." The problems with Agile start at
the top of most organizations with executive leadership not getting what
agile is or even knowing the difference between success and failure in
agile.
Agile transformation is a journey, and most of that journey consists of
people learning and trying new approaches in their own work. An agile
organization can make use of coaches and training to improve their
chances of success. But even then, failure remains because many Agile
ideas are oversimplifications or interpreted in an extreme way, and many
elements essential for success are missing. Coupled with other ideas
that have been dogmatically forced on teams, such as "agile team rooms",
and "an overall inertia and resistance to change in the Agile
community," the Agile movement is ripe for change since its birth twenty
years ago.
"Agile 2" represents the work of fifteen experienced Agile experts,
distilled into Agile 2: The Next Iteration of Agile by seven members
of the team. Agile 2 values these pairs of attributes when properly
balanced: thoughtfulness and prescription; outcomes and outputs,
individuals and teams; business and technical understanding; individual
empowerment and good leadership; adaptability and planning. With a new
set of Agile principles to take Agile forward over the next 20 years,
Agile 2 is applicable beyond software and hardware to all parts of an
agile organization including "Agile HR", "Agile Finance", and so on.
Like the original "Agile", "Agile 2", is just a set of ideas - powerful
ideas. To undertake any endeavor, a single set of ideas is not enough.
But a single set of ideas can be a powerful guide.
