How major corporations are making sense of Agile

Abstract

Purpose

“Agile management” refers to a set of management goals, principles, values and practices that emerged to speed up software. Now its tools and culture are spreading to all kinds of organizations throughout the world—from R&D to top management teams. As some corporations race to become “agile” they can lose sight of the essential ideas and practices of Agile methodology

Design/methodology/approach

In September 2016, a group of large firms came together in New York to see whether they could agree on what Agile stood for in their own organizations. They aspired to create workplaces that draw on everyone’s creative talents and kindle everyone’s potential in workplaces that respect individuals and are highly productive and profitable. The firms involved were members of the SD Learning Consortium (SDLC)—a non-profit corporation.

Findings

As it is being adopted in a wide variety of corporate settings since 2001, the core concept of Agile has evolved.

Practical implications

To be fully entrepreneurial, the whole organization needs to embrace the Agile mindset and function as an interactive network, not a top-down bureaucracy with just a few teams implementing Agile tools and processes.

Originality/value

As Agile is being increasingly adopted by all corporate functions and levels of management it is essential to focus the whole organization on creating value for the customer.

Citation

Denning, S. (2018), "How major corporations are making sense of Agile", Strategy & Leadership, Vol. 46 No. 1, pp. 3-9. https://doi.org/10.1108/SL-11-2017-0104