I work for a large multi-national org that thinks it IS agile yet the hierarchy here is at times stifling. I am constantly focusing on breaking down barriers, working on continuous improvement/lean and this seems to land well. It has taken me time to build my relationships with various leaders, so that's positive that they are open to things. All this tests my courage! so that is my current situation. I love what you say and know you DO have experience with helping large organizations find their ways to better ways of working. They are seriously contemplating implementing SAFe and I have no voice in this and I feel like running away but I won't. How does one adopt positive ways of thinking facing such things?! Ha, longer comment than I expected to post but I am quite interested in your newsletters. Thank you for all that you share and might share!
Hi Deanna, I can follow you. Companies think they are agile, but in fact they are still running waterfall with hierarchy patterns sometimes. On the other hand pulling large transformations with scrum is not really they way to do it.
From my experience agile, waterfall or other methodologies all have there benefits and pros and cons. The real question is the right methodology for the right purpose.
Hey there, thanks for sharing insights always and your continued efforts for and with the agile (!) community. I feel you. With all the "agile is dead" thinking and old fashioned management believing they're agile, while being stuck in the old (like "before agile") world. Agile always has been "about people". And the "about process" folks have never got that and likely never will. Regardless which name we hype. To me: Jumping on the agile bandwaggon now would feel weird. Sticking to the name with a track record of "being on board for decades" gives credit to the movement, while showing your own wealth of experience.
I simply don't buy that "being product centric" is The New Thing. On the contrary, I believe it's one of the most overlooked (and underinvested) existing agile body of knowledge for implementing an agile way of delivering valuable products and services. Excluding the transformation of how a company approaches their product invention/discovery/design funnel is simply putting a BWUF (big waterfall upfront) to any shmagile implementation process after that!
I'm making up that this divide started when the corporate world started swallowing the "fancy framework & certifications over measurable improvement" pill and was lulled into agile-is-an-IT-thing la la land by consultants more interested in their market share than in transformation of the deliver-value-to-a-volatile-market process. [The public infighting among agile zealots about the purity of their religion did not help, of course.]
I'd encourage you to continue advocating what's close to your heart, we need mentors who are wise teachers and avid learners at the same time, and you seem to be part of that rare species.
I feel you 100% Sir. It's such a pity losing the word agile will kill the rhyme "Ageling on Agile" ;) On a serious note though, I agree with dropping the name Agile so people won't be blinded by it and focus on value instead. We have an "Agile Accelerator" newsletter in my department (PMO!) but I'll propose a name change as well. The topics should remain of a similar taste bcos you're addressing the real things. Name proposal: "Ageless Value" :)
Thank you for your feedback. The next thing is already here. It's all about being product-centric these days. When you unpeel it though, you find it's Agile they are talking about, while avoiding that word.
I work for a large multi-national org that thinks it IS agile yet the hierarchy here is at times stifling. I am constantly focusing on breaking down barriers, working on continuous improvement/lean and this seems to land well. It has taken me time to build my relationships with various leaders, so that's positive that they are open to things. All this tests my courage! so that is my current situation. I love what you say and know you DO have experience with helping large organizations find their ways to better ways of working. They are seriously contemplating implementing SAFe and I have no voice in this and I feel like running away but I won't. How does one adopt positive ways of thinking facing such things?! Ha, longer comment than I expected to post but I am quite interested in your newsletters. Thank you for all that you share and might share!
Hi Deanna, I can follow you. Companies think they are agile, but in fact they are still running waterfall with hierarchy patterns sometimes. On the other hand pulling large transformations with scrum is not really they way to do it.
From my experience agile, waterfall or other methodologies all have there benefits and pros and cons. The real question is the right methodology for the right purpose.
Hi Deanna,
Thank you for sharing this. I recognize so much. I certainly have thoughts about this and you inspired me to write about it.
Hey there, thanks for sharing insights always and your continued efforts for and with the agile (!) community. I feel you. With all the "agile is dead" thinking and old fashioned management believing they're agile, while being stuck in the old (like "before agile") world. Agile always has been "about people". And the "about process" folks have never got that and likely never will. Regardless which name we hype. To me: Jumping on the agile bandwaggon now would feel weird. Sticking to the name with a track record of "being on board for decades" gives credit to the movement, while showing your own wealth of experience.
Thank you for the feedback!
I simply don't buy that "being product centric" is The New Thing. On the contrary, I believe it's one of the most overlooked (and underinvested) existing agile body of knowledge for implementing an agile way of delivering valuable products and services. Excluding the transformation of how a company approaches their product invention/discovery/design funnel is simply putting a BWUF (big waterfall upfront) to any shmagile implementation process after that!
I'm making up that this divide started when the corporate world started swallowing the "fancy framework & certifications over measurable improvement" pill and was lulled into agile-is-an-IT-thing la la land by consultants more interested in their market share than in transformation of the deliver-value-to-a-volatile-market process. [The public infighting among agile zealots about the purity of their religion did not help, of course.]
I'd encourage you to continue advocating what's close to your heart, we need mentors who are wise teachers and avid learners at the same time, and you seem to be part of that rare species.
Thank you for your kind words. I'm also sceptical about "being product-centric".
I feel you 100% Sir. It's such a pity losing the word agile will kill the rhyme "Ageling on Agile" ;) On a serious note though, I agree with dropping the name Agile so people won't be blinded by it and focus on value instead. We have an "Agile Accelerator" newsletter in my department (PMO!) but I'll propose a name change as well. The topics should remain of a similar taste bcos you're addressing the real things. Name proposal: "Ageless Value" :)
Nice suggestion. Thx!
Write about what you care about. The name will come over time. :)
You can change the name of your newsletter but you cannot change yourself by that.
My prediction: There will be a next hype with the same content with different jargon but same issues.
We should solve the root cause in the system.
Would be happy to see that in evolving steps
Thank you for your feedback. The next thing is already here. It's all about being product-centric these days. When you unpeel it though, you find it's Agile they are talking about, while avoiding that word.