Previously, we showed you when and why a company that wants to be well-positioned in the future should be working agile. This blog highlights a topic that most consulting firms are unlikely going to tell you; Getting the right mindset. So why is it important to focus on the mindset in order to achieve success in agile management? Let’s have a further dive into this topic!

Beware of wrong assumptions!

After reading the last blog, you have now realized that you and your company would like to become agile. The next big question is “How?”. Surely you have already heard a lot about how agile companies work; Self-determined, transparent, motivated. You are maybe familiar with terms like error culture, customer-centric, or methods like Kanban, Scrum, or Design Thinking. But most of these, especially the methods, are things you can observe from the outside. Here, we illustrate this phenomenon using a model called the “Agile Onion”.

Just like an onion does, this model is divided into several layers. When we observe modern successful companies, we tend to overlook the other stuff and focus only on the “Practices” and “Methods” layers. A common management mistake such as “We’ll implement Scrum in all teams within 6 months!” is an example of people blindly doing something without knowing what it means. Or, when companies try to imitate the famous “Spotify Agile Model”, which is quite worrisome, as people think they can just copy and implement a framework, even though it might not even work for them. But what are the typical reactions in organizations that you have to know before starting a transformation? They are called “Larmans Law of organizational behaviors”:

  1. Organizations are implicitly optimized to avoid changing the status quo of middle- and first-level managers, “specialist” positions & power structures.
  2. As a corollary to (1), any change initiative will be reduced to redefining or overloading the new terminology to mean basically the same as the status quo.
  3. As a corollary to (1), any change initiative will be derided as “purist”, “theoretical”, “revolutionary”, “religion”, and “needing pragmatic customization for local concerns” — which deflects from addressing weaknesses and manager/specialist status quo.
  4. As a corollary to (1), if after changing the change some managers and single-specialists are still displaced, they become “coaches/trainers” for the change, frequently reinforcing (2) and (3).
  5. Culture follows structure (in large established orgs), and in tiny young orgs, structure follows culture.

Keeping these 5 points in mind and facing them is crucial if you want to make changes!

  1. Organizations are implicitly optimized to avoid changing the status quo of middle- and first-level managers, “specialist” positions & power structures.
  2. As a corollary to (1), any change initiative will be reduced to redefining or overloading the new terminology to mean basically the same as the status quo.
  3. As a corollary to (1), any change initiative will be derided as “purist”, “theoretical”, “revolutionary”, “religion”, and “needing pragmatic customization for local concerns” — which deflects from addressing weaknesses and manager/specialist status quo.
  4. As a corollary to (1), if after changing the change some managers and single-specialists are still displaced, they become “coaches/trainers” for the change, frequently reinforcing (2) and (3).
  5. Culture follows structure (in large established orgs), and in tiny young orgs, structure follows culture.

Keeping these 5 points in mind and facing them is crucial if you want to make changes!

Getting the right Agile mindset

So what is the best way for agile transformation? Even though many promise it, those who have initiated and accompanied successful and sustainable agile transformations will tell you right away: There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Every company is different, which also indicates that each has its own corporate culture. This means that there is not and will not be a model solution here. If you really want to be agile, you should consider these 4 agile values instead:

  • Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

  • Working software over comprehensive documentation

  • Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

  • Responding to change over following a plan

Even though these values and principles can be applied to any company, the vast majority of companies, if they are honest, will have to admit that they do not adhere to these values. Once you have internalized these values and principles, you will quickly realize that you don’t need a ready-made method at all, you will find the best method for your company and your situation by taking small iterative steps. Sit down with your colleagues and managers and think of these two things:

What is your company’s mission?

Your mission is the reason why your company exists and should remain unchanged. Have a look at this mission of a large online mail-order company “We strive to offer our customers the lowest possible prices, the best available selection, and the utmost convenience”.

What is your company’s vision?

Let’s stay with the mail-order business as an example “To be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online”. As you can see, the vision itself is already a high goal but it’s only a part of the mission. The vision can be achieved and represents the lighthouse to guide where the company is moving. The mission is the reason for existence.

Conclusions

There is no point in copying other company’s successful agile methods, as they might not work for you. Instead, find your own best method and take these things into consideration:

  • Define a clear vision and mission for your company, so that everyone can move in one clear direction.

  • Don’t be afraid to make mistakes: on the contrary, “fail fast, learn fast” is something that many companies find difficult.

  • Empower and trust your colleagues, instead of introducing more control mechanisms. Agile in essence means that you have an adaptive and proactive organization, you should be a role model and not a manager in the classical sense.

  • Replace rigid rules and processes with your values, goals, and most importantly: have fun doing what you do!

Hopefully, I have brought the term “agile mindset” a little closer to you, as Ron Jeffries once said, “Agile is simple – it just isn’t easy”. If you have any questions, suggestions, or need help in agile transformation, we’re are always ready to exchange ideas with you!

This blog is written by Dirk Börnert – Agile Coach and IT Consultant at Mediaan Conclusion.