Dr. Marcus Raitner
For abilities to become effective skills, we have to practice a lot, make mistakes, and gain experience. What is intuitively understood for riding a bicycle or for craftsmanship is grossly underestimated and sometimes completely ignored in the agile transformation of organizations. Popular models and frameworks are good starting points, but at the core it is about learning new skills of collaboration jointly.
What do User Stories, Story Points, and Objective & Key-Results (OKR) have in common? The obvious answer that all three have something to do with Agile is too simple…
When agile methods encounter encrusted structures of traditional organizations, one cannot automatically expect a sustainable transformation. It is much more likely that the new practices will be integrated into the existing structures as smoothly as possible through assimilation. As an Agile coach, you might feel as secure and effective as Jean-Luc Picard in the captivity of the Borg.
Longing for simple solutions on the individual level in the face of complex problems may be understandable and seem optimistic. Still, it is just cruel because the likely failure will also be attributed to the individuals and their “mindset.”
The often heated discussion about the proper agile method or the right framework for scaling obscures the view of what is essential: the empowerment of employees to organize themselves.
Agile frameworks are collections of generalized solutions to typical problems in agile organizations. Applying these solutions works best when the pain of the problem is felt instead of just understood theoretically. An agile transformation is not an introduction of a framework but a joint journey on which obstacles are discovered and solved with the help of the known frameworks.
Agile methods do not directly affect efficiency. Agile stands for nimble. Agility ensures effectiveness through nimbleness. This adaptability minimizes the risk of unnecessary work and rework. The efficiency of agility comes only indirectly through reducing risk and avoiding waste.
When a complicated problem stubbornly resists attempts to solve it, it may be more complex than initially thought. In this case, a change of method from analytics to empiricism, from a plan-driven to a more agile approach, can work wonders. In this way, a layman in the field of aircraft construction succeeds in doing what legions of engineers before him have been unable to do.
There are many agile methods and frameworks, but what is the essence of agility? And how can one describe it without resorting to the terminology of Scrum & Co?…
The end of the year is the time of appraisal interviews. Usually the performance of the individual is evaluated. However, the creation of value in organizations and especially in agile teams is actually always the result of teamwork. This focus on individual performance leads to loose groups of mediocre soloists instead of excellent team performance.
When people talk about agility, some rave about customer orientation and speed, while others invoke the self-organization and autonomy of the team. Mostly these and some other concepts float more or less incoherently in a mystical cloud around the central concept of agility. An attempt to put these ideas into a logical context.
For your agile transformation you have to think big to break up silos, but at the same time start small to learn together without imposing a predefined solution. Crucial to this is the promotion of an open learning culture beyond information hiding and cover your ass.
In retrospect, I consider it one of my biggest mistakes to have always categorically rejected metrics for the agile transformation. Although I still see the danger of an explosion of cargo cult if phenomena of agility are measured and rewarded instead of the essence, I would consciously take the risk today. For sooner or later, in every transformation, there comes a time when the question is raised very insistently as to what all this is meant to achieve and what it brings. And then you have to beat the system with its own weapons.
Every transformation entails friction with the status quo. Those who simply accept the practical constraints that are brought into play dilute the transformation. The new is then only somehow amalgamated with the collective without bringing about a significant change. The transformation itself is transformed and its protagonists are either assimilated or repelled.
The credo of the start-up culture, “Fail fast, fail cheap”, still has the bland aftertaste of sloppiness for German engineers and their managers. This typical German fixation on gap sizes prevents agility and slows us down.
Digital transformation is not about technology and agile transformation is not about processes. Both are rather about culture and above all a cultural fight against silo thinking.
Although the SARS-CoV‑2 virus is certainly not a welcome but nevertheless a good reason to reflect on how to deal with complexity and decision-making in complex to chaotic situations. The Cynefin framework by David Snowden provides a very helpful framework to this end.
Agility is often associated with speed and efficiency. In fact, agility accelerates learning in uncertain and complex environments, but not the delivery of a well-planned scope.
Agile transformation is not a change project designed by consultants and ordered by top management, however much some people selling panaceas may propagate it. Agile transformation is a joint learning…
The biggest hurdle for companies undergoing an agile transformation is the perceived loss of control. At its core, agility means self-organization. The more decentralized decisions are made, the…
How can we become (more) agile? Many of my conversations begin with this question. So someone wants to work differently, wants to become agile or more agile. The…
Servant leadership in general and the misunderstood role of the Scrum Master in particular is mostly underestimated. The effect of this kind of leadership is rather indirect; like…
The term dichotomy goes back to the Greek dichotomía (διχοτομία) and means dividing in two. A false dichotomy is the suggestion that there are only two mutually exclusive alternatives…
Anyone who imitates Spotify or introduces SAFe or obtains imitated or falsified agile frameworks and disseminates them as best practice will be punished with futile ritual practices of…
Several so called agile transformations ultimately end with people dancing rock ’n’ roll instead of a slow waltz in Titanic’s ballroom and some beautifully decorated deckchairs. And even if…
Agility requires orientation. It’s exactly this alignment that enables effective autonomy and decentralized decisions, which make agile organizations so adaptable. But agility also requires common standards and conventions…
In a few hundred years, when the history of our time will be written from a long-term perspective, it is likely that the most important event historians will see is…
Agility hinges on the prevailing assumptions about human nature in the organization. Wherever people are generally distrusted and where the belief prevails that people must be motivated to…
From his decades of experience with the agile transformation of organizations and in particular with the introduction of the LeSS framework developed by Bas Vodde and himself, Craig…
Not everything that has transformation in neon letters on its cover actually is a transformation. It all starts with the erroneous assumption that agility can boost employee performance just…
Who decides and how can good decisions be taken? For a long time, this question did not even arise in many hierarchical organizations. In case of doubt, the decision…
Agile organizations are lean, flexible and adaptable. This is accomplished less by “agilizing” existing structures and processes but rather by consistently questioning these. The solution, of course, is…
When it comes to agility, many people think in terms of methods such as Scrum on a small scale, frameworks such as LeSS on a large scale or tools such…
There are many good reasons to consider agility. For instance, you could believe in the largely untapped creativity, motivation and self-responsibility of employees. Or you could recognize that…
User Stories are maybe the best known concept from agile software development. Unfortunately it is also one of the most misunderstood concepts. Let’s clear up the three most…
In order to understand agility from a historical perspective, it is important to go back to the principles of lean management. Agility in the sense of the Agile Manifesto…
Successful agile organizations are strongly oriented towards a common mission despite the guiding principle of self-organization. Autonomy requires orientation, otherwise it leads to chaos. Of course, all other organizations…
Agile organizations rely on the principle of subsidiarity. Decisions are always made as decentralized as possible. The next higher or next larger unit only takes action if the…
Originally, court jesters were not entertainers or jokers, but serious characters. They had an important task and were an integral part of the court. Their foolishness, however, relieved…
In most hierarchical organizations the spirit of absolutism still prevails. All power is with the boss. He or she manages and controls, imposes rules, monitors their compliance and…
Scrum is a deceptively simple framework for agile product development. Besides the development team there are only the roles Product Owner and Scrum Master. The process is lean and…
Agility means adaptability. First and foremost with regard to the product being developed. Step by step, usable interim products are created, which help to explore the problem domain…
How to eat an elephant? Exactly: In small slices. With this salami tactics you can master big tasks. Many recognize the iterative-incremental nature of agile methods like Scrum…
Without a culture of trust, no agility. Cargo cult yes, but no agility. And without agility there is no chance of at least surviving digitalization, let alone benefiting from…
There is a fundamental misunderstanding around agile. This misunderstanding begins with the title of the Manifesto for Agile Software Development. For too long, many considered software development to be…
One of the four main propositions of the Manifesto for Agile Software Development is “Customer collaboration over contract negotiation”. And then one principle behind the manifesto say: “Our…
When it comes to agility, most people think of Kanban or Scrum at the team level. And then of course the many scaling frameworks come to mind like…
Copying Spotify or simply implementing any other blueprint of an agile organization is a fundamental mistake. Not because the models themselves were poor, but because implementing a model of an…
We really don’t lack opportunities and choices. There are always more ideas than can actually be implemented. This is true at the level of the individual as well…
How do people cope with change? Family therapist Virginia Satir has provided an interesting model that can also be applied to organizational changes. A stable status quo is challenged…
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