What does "agile" even mean?

We throw the word “agile” around a lot.  I thought it might be a good idea to get back to the basics, so we can move forward with a shared understanding on it really means.

Let’s start with the word agile.  (Can we all agree that dictonary.com is a good source of pure definition?  Good!)

agile [ aj-uhl, -ahyl ]

adjective

·   Quick and well-coordinated in movement

·   Active; lively

·   Marked by an ability to think quickly, mentally acute or aware

·   Noting or relating to a philosophy of product development and production intended to create and distribute batches of working products in a short period of time with subsequent batches planned in a cyclical schedule of improvement, production, and distribution

noun

·   Sometimes Agile - an iterative and collaborative philosophy of rapid product development and production

Ok.  That’s a great place to start because it reinforces something really important for us to come to an agreement on.

You’ll see there is an adjective version and a noun version of the word agile.  The adjective version describes something that is nimble, quick, aware, able to adjust and coordinate quickly.  Even that last line in the adjective section:

Noting or relating to a philosophy of product development and production intended to create and distribute batches of working products in a short period of time with subsequent batches planned in a cyclical schedule of improvement, production, and distribution

Kind of a word-salad, I know but basically even this part of the definition is a philosophy… a mindset or way of approaching the creation and deployment of valuable things.  In the transformation world, we call this being agile. 

• Believing that solutions can and should be designed, built and delivered in small batches by people who understand the product, the problem and the customer or user.  
• Believing that the only way to know if a solution will solve the problem is to make something and put it out there to see how it’s used, and if it solves the problem.
• Believing that by putting the decision making on the people closest to the users and the product is the way to get the most out of the investments we make.
• Believing that you build strong cross-functional teams with the necessary end-to-end capabilities and then give them challenging problems to solve, or challenging outcomes to achieve.

Which brings us to the second part of the definition of agile, the noun…

an iterative and collaborative philosophy of rapid product development and production

Believe it or not, this is the easy part.  In the transformation world, this is what we call doing Agile.  This is where you take that cross-functionally capable team, and you give them the tools to really unlock the potential in them. 

• You help them to eliminate the artificial boundaries between them.
• You help them find ways to learn their way into a batter product or solution.
• This is where one of hundreds of different frameworks can be applied, be it scrum, or Kanban or SAFe or LeSS or Bob’s your uncle. 

This part (doing Agile) only provides you value if you have leaders and team members who have the adjective form of the word firmly ingrained in the way they show up every day.  To truly work, this often requires organizations to redefine what “team” means. 

As an example - In traditional organizations, teams are usually formed around the manager, with the manager telling the teams what to work on, and how to work on it. 

In organizations that embrace agility, managers provide talented people to cross-functional teams formed around solving a problem, or achieving a goal, or servicing a customer – with the “what” and “how” coming from the team, not the managers.

Oh – and one last thing to clear up before I wrap this post up - agility is not just for technology or IT or IS or techies or code jockeys. These concepts can, should and do apply to every part of an organization – from finance, to risk, to strategy to human resources.  If the only people trying to be agile are the technology folks, well – you’re leaving a lot of potential value locked up in sub-optimal ways of working, and you know who loses when you do that?  Your customers.

We all win together.