Should We Adopt Agile?

Following on from my previous post concerning surfacing and reflecting on shared assumptions and beliefs about work, here are ten reflective questions for an executive considering flexible software development approaches:

1. What are our priorities – speed, adaptability, innovation, quality, predictability? How should our processes align*?
2. Do our teams thrive with more autonomy, or require structure from leadership?
3. Are staff skills best leveraged through specialisation or multi-skilling and cross-functional collaboration?
4. How much do we value rapid delivery versus long-term planning and building of long-term capabilities?
5. Can our culture accept constant change versus needing firm commitments to e.g. delivery dates, feature sets, etc?
6. Is our leadership comfortable ceding some control over how work gets done?
7. Do our metrics reflect outcomes, outputs, value delivered, or needs met? Should we measure differently?
8. Is transparency into work progress more valuable than formal milestones?
9. Do we believe in Minimal Viable Products over Big Design Up Front?
10. Are we open to new ideas or convinced our current ways of working work best? How much research have we done?

*I.E. What approach will best ensure our organisation’s processes, systems and structures are optimally configured to support our priorities and goals, around both software development and our wider business?

Note: Many more than these ten questions could be relevant to the headline topic. I encourage and invite you to try asking your favourite chatbot for more questions to consider.

Also note: Given the preponderance of proselytisation for the Agile approach currently found on the Internet, I would not recommend asking your chatbot “Should we adopt Agile?” directly. Unbiased and considered advice will NOT be forthcoming.