The Agile Organization
Key Insights
- “Digital transformation” is two words; people often get the “digital” and forget the “transformation.” Many companies focus on accelerating technology through agile project management without understanding or acting on the cultural and organizational requirements for effective digital transformation.
- Alignment and communication of vision, priorities, and strategy is the critical enabler for success in both agile and digital transformation. It’s difficult to eliminate people’s sense of being threatened, but it’s possible for leadership to minimize inadvertent obstructionism through clarity and communications.
- Start small, and protect. Agile approaches will run into tremendous friction in almost every organization: It’s important to give the new teams time to form and perform before trying to scale.
- Every company’s digital journey is unique, but it’s still important to follow the agile playbook. The defined structures and processes of agile turn out to really make a difference in success: Disregard them at your own risk.
- Millennials are living in a world that is re-shaping individual priorities, behaviors and expectations. Like everyone else, they want security, advancement, and recognition. Unlike the four older generations with whom they’re shoulder-to-shoulder in the new workplace, they’re willing to pull the ripcord if their expectations aren’t met.
- The hardest part of becoming agile is scaling from pilot to organization. Most people, including executives and middle management, aren’t ready. Sophisticated thinking about where to focus, and with whom, is critical to success.