Why has agile been adopted to the extent it has?

Well, it’s not a mystery – the evidence is clear! The many benefits of adopting agile are compelling and strategies that help organizations achieve those benefits are well understood.

Let me share with you five big ones:

1. The first significant benefit is the ability to manage changing priorities. Agile methods allow an organization to adapt to what they are seeing in their marketplace. That is critical in today’s fast paced, constantly changing world
   
   
2. Agile methods and practices increase visibility to the work being done. Frankly, organizational leaders have no stomach for the traditional project driven world where project problems surfaced only after they were doomed to fail. Metrics tracked in the agile world communicate real progress, or lack of progress, and in a timely manner that allows for course correction.
   
   
3. Agile methods have proven to accelerate product delivery. With market cycles shrinking, it’s critical to get your products to market as quickly as possible and give them lots of time in front of customers unencumbered by competitive products. Agile practices provide you that opportunity. They allow you to build products faster and get them to market much sooner.
   
   
4. Agile methods increase team productivity. For 30+ years, we’ve heard the mantra: “do more with less”. The singular focus on creating demonstrable solutions while leveraging an agile mindset and agile methods allows teams to create tangible outcomes, faster than ever before.
   
   
5. Imagine a high performing team with a singular focus – to create great outcomes. This team is self-motivated and it’s self-managed. Team members know what they need to do, and they self-select work from a prioritized list. They also support each other’s success by rallying around challenges that hinder team progress. That’s your typical agile team. They are galvanized by the goals and objectives that have been set and empowered to deliver them. That is incredibly motivating.

Organizational leaders tell us that these benefits are critical ingredients for today’s successful organization. So, the question becomes: Why hasn’t your organization adopted agile practices?

Tune in to our August podcast on Agile