I have a hard time with the words ‘adopting Agile’ or ‘transitioning to Agile’. (Notice that I’m using Agile with a big ‘A’.) They suggest an end state, but I don’t think there is an end state. It’s certainly possible to be ‘not agile’. I believe agility is a scale measured by your ability to deliver value to customers in a continuous flow realising maximum return on investment for the business while dealing with change in a rational and empirical way, and having fun doing it . In my mind, achieving agility is simply a journey of continuous inspection and adaptation, and in lean terms, a journey of continuous improvement . It’s a journey without an end. And that’s no bad thing.
Many people are afraid of this "no end-state". Sometimes they use it as an excuse not to embark on the journey. Others simply invent an end-state (and stop trying to improve). I said before that we’re not limited by our abilities but by our vision . I see this thinking as a lack of vision. They’re not seeing all the step-by-step improvements for what they are: Tangible improvements that add value. If something moves you forward to something better and adds value, it’s got to be worth doing for those reasons alone. Who cares about an end-state?
As Chris Pitts says , there’s no time like the present. So, start your journey today and begin improving from here.
Thursday, 19 July 2007
A journey without an end
Posted by Simon Baker
