Companies need to understand that agile is an attitude that must pervade the social, cultural and political dimensions of an organization. Choosing to be agile is a commitment to an effort. Becoming agile is a process of change that emphasizes collaboration, empowerment, respect and humility, courage, honesty and trust. Ultimately being agile is all about people.
I have no doubt there are benefits adopting only the agile development practices, e.g. test-driven development and continuous integration to name but two. Indeed, there will be some benefit when only a handful of agile development practices are adopted. But so much more can be achieved when people liberate themselves from the shackles of traditional software development approaches and live by agile values, rely on their knowledge, experience and instinct and be guided by agile principles.
The full benefit of being agile may only be realized when an organization’s culture is an outward demonstration of the agile values.
