Do Agile Organizations actually exist?
We've grown accustomed to hearing all sorts of Agile adoption stories: the successes and of course the failures.
Let's take the successes with a grain of salt. We often hear about these "successful" adoptions just to be disappointed as none of them came close to the quintessential "Agile Organization." Honestly, we are not even sure anymore what a real agile organization looks like or means. We don't pretend to know and would bet that a fair share of our elite agile gurus know even less.
Even if we can agree on the characteristics of this elusive animal the dearth of them tells us either they are the 21st century version of the Holy Grail or are ridiculously hard and fragile to accomplish at scale. Can any of our readers honestly say they are working for a real Agile organization that has more than...ummmm...let's say 50 people?
Hey listen…we are not down on Agile adoption at all. At the end of the day we all know companies that have honestly pushed this agenda have improved; some more than others and that is understandable. Perhaps that is really all one should expect. We are okay with that as it is progress right?
What we are saying, however, is that this community needs to start being more transparent about our ignorance on the topic of what is an "Agile Organization" and how to achieve it. The Agile community ether simply doesn't know or has not explained it well enough.
Yes we know that few blogs have described perfect characteristics but this is not terribly helpful as we are not living in a perfect world. Kudos to them as at least they have tried but when you are in the trenches it is hard to relate to a set of perfect ingredients. After trying for a while, most people will realize they will never be able to replicate these criteria. There must be something more concrete here that we all can apply to majority of organizations.
The following article is a parable on Agile adoption and what we believe to be the core reason why the vast majority of companies will never become true "Agile organizations"...whatever that means.
Let us know what you think and where your company stands? Do you recognize your company's Agile journey in the story at all and what city from the parable, if any, best describes it?
Start reading Randerfall: An Agile Adoption Parable
Comments
I think this is what the author is calling out a key issue...we as a community are not actually able to fully describe what it is. There are few shining examples and people tire of the endless journey.
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