The ten stages of the Agile transformation journey

Abstract

Purpose

Soon leaders in many top-down managed organization may face the necessity of undertaking a company-wide Agile transformation.First adopted by digital innovation teams, the Agile mindset is spreading to middle management operations and top level leadership initiatives in many established organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

A guide to the ten stages of implementing an Agile mindset and practices through out an organization are detailed.

Findings

For traditionally managed hierarchical organizations, the transformation will include radical shifts in power, attitudes, values, mindsets, ways of thinking and ways of interacting with stakeholders—customers, employee talent, shareholders and partners. The goal is to enable the organization to generate instant, frictionless, intimate, incremental, risk-free value at scale, and to gain the financial rewards that flow from that capability.In the race for such outcomes, rigidly hierarchical firms are at a disadvantage.

Practical implications

The idea of Agile itself will continue to evolve as it is adapted by the organization. The process is not a matter of crafting a plan and then rolling it out across the organization. It’s not a mechanical eight-step program. It requires continuously adapting the idea to the circumstances of the organization. As the organization and everyone in it adapts the Agile approach to their own context, each individual needs to own it.

Originality/value

This map of the Agile implementation process enables top management and Agile champions to envision how to prepare an organization to change to a customer-focused, business that operates with Strategic Agility.

Citation

Denning, S. (2019), "The ten stages of the Agile transformation journey", Strategy & Leadership, Vol. 47 No. 1, pp. 3-10. https://doi.org/10.1108/SL-11-2018-0109