“Agile is so great we need to use it for EVERYTHING” “Agile is so much overhead, we stopped using it for ANYTHING” Are you also trying to navigate what to do with Agile? Whether it’s worth the overhead? After years of helping a diverse group of organizations figure out where and how to use agile methods, here's what I've learned... If you want the TL;DR version - Agile has the potential to shine when ….
What this also means is that in the absence of the need for iterative collaborative work, no matter how streamlined and effective your agile process is, it might not be worth the time Read the full When is Agile worth the Overhead article to explore some example contexts where Agile might or might not be applicable. It’s all about Intent and ContextHere’s the thing. Applying a cookie cutter approach for everything might seem more straightforward and more consistent, but requires a frustrating uphill battle to conquer a hill not worth conquering. In my experience, aligning on the intent and then focusing on relevant contexts creates much healthier, gratifying, and impactful change. PS I also find this framing when navigating the human/people aspects of another capital A adoption. |
Are You Struggling to Scale Your Organization ? Need agility but dubious of process BS/dogma? I share reflective, pragmatic, principled takes on how to approach scaling your organization leveraging the essence (rather than theater) of product operating models, agile practices and frameworks, and business operating systems such as EOS and OKRs.
Hi Reader, Are you a Head of Product, Engineering, Technology, or Transformation? Are you working to evolve your organization from a Product Theater / Feature Factory towards becoming more scalable, outcome-oriented, empowered, and evidence-driven? If that sounds familiar, you’re exactly who I want to hear from. I’m building a new masterclass for leaders like you- those navigating the messy, high-stakes shift from project/feature delivery to true product operating models, often in founder-led...
I talk quite a bit about the notion of "Developing your company like a product". One of the obstacles I see in the adoption of this concept is that's hard without having the "Developers" and "Product" people that consider the company their product... What I've seen in companies I work with is that there are MANY Ops teams - RevOps, EngOps, ProdOps, DevOps, PeopleOps. Too often these teams are too focused on the respective tools. Worse than that, they are often siloed - optimizing locally for...
On Tuesday, driving back from college, my daughter asked me what Agile is. Here’s what it isn’t. It’s planning to record a video podcast while walking around the block and realizing 15 minutes (and a few kilometers) later that the iPhone camera stops recording video when you switch to a different app (Perplexity, let’s say…). Doh Well, it would have been worse if it had been 60 minutes. And it would have been better if I had recorded a minute, then stopped to review the result and adjust...