Many boards still have doubts about the introduction of Agile within their organizations. This is of course also fueled by reports such as “Agile projects are more expensive in practice than projects that are carried out in the traditional way”. The disadvantage of this type of research is often that it is not entirely clear what exactly was measured in the research. It is possible that an Agile process is more expensive than a traditional process, but that, unlike a traditional project, the Agile process has delivered exactly what the customer needed. How do you include this in an investigation?
Also McKinsey & Company This has not escaped notice and they recently described a nice study about companies that have implemented Agile widely and well. What turned out? These organizations were able to respond faster and more successfully to the Corona crisis than companies that had not implemented Agile or had not implemented it adequately.
A conclusion from this study conducted in collaboration with the Harvard Business School: "Companies that scored higher in managing the impact of the COVID-19 crisis were also the companies that more fully integrated Agile into their business models." (translated)
Essential in this part is that these companies have really integrated Agile within their business processes compared to other organizations that only have a number of teams work with Scrum. Because in these organizations the authority to make decisions (within predetermined limits) lies within the different teams, these decisions could be taken more quickly. These teams were also able to adjust their priorities quickly and smoothly and to implement new working methods.
An important starting point for the implementation of Agile is not only to look at the short term expenditure, but also what it can mean for the organization in the longer term. Personally, I am convinced that most management boards within companies will have to admit that there are more advantages than disadvantages to the introduction of Agile.
Many boards still have doubts about the introduction of Agile within their organizations. This is of course also fueled by reports such as “Agile projects are more expensive in practice than projects that are carried out in the traditional way”. The disadvantage of this type of research is often that it is not entirely clear what exactly was measured in the research. It is possible that an Agile process is more expensive than a traditional process, but that, unlike a traditional project, the Agile process has delivered exactly what the customer needed. How do you include this in an investigation?
Also McKinsey & Company This has not escaped notice and they recently described a nice study about companies that have implemented Agile widely and well. What turned out? These organizations were able to respond faster and more successfully to the Corona crisis than companies that had not implemented Agile or had not implemented it adequately.
A conclusion from this study conducted in collaboration with the Harvard Business School: "Companies that scored higher in managing the impact of the COVID-19 crisis were also the companies that more fully integrated Agile into their business models." (translated)
Essential in this part is that these companies have really integrated Agile within their business processes compared to other organizations that only have a number of teams work with Scrum. Because in these organizations the authority to make decisions (within predetermined limits) lies within the different teams, these decisions could be taken more quickly. These teams were also able to adjust their priorities quickly and smoothly and to implement new working methods.
An important starting point for the implementation of Agile is not only to look at the short term expenditure, but also what it can mean for the organization in the longer term. Personally, I am convinced that most management boards within companies will have to admit that there are more advantages than disadvantages to the introduction of Agile.
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