The Way of Working Should Be Fit for Purpose

An enterprise Agile coach wrote to me just as my fourth book came out: “Your book is timely.”

When I asked why she thought that, she answered: “The entire Agile community is struggling with how coaches, Scrum Masters, etc. define and deliver value.”

While the book certainly helps with that, a deeper issue is at stake, especially now.

20+ years ago, how did managers try to increase product development performance? Largely by maximizing adherence to a standard process and by “streamlining” and looking for “efficiencies.”

Agile was disruptive because it suggested that rethinking the way of working — not merely reducing its cost and variation — could create much better results. Coaches and Scrum Masters are there to help companies do exactly that.

However, many companies have implemented Agile structures and processes without really rethinking their approach to work. They’ve continued to seek performance gains in the classical (industrial) ways. The improvements they wanted haven’t materialized, and things have come to a head in 2023-24.

Deciding not to use Agile is fine. What’s not fine is when a company doesn’t have an intentional, reasoned, and systematic way of working that’s fit for purpose.

What many companies have instead is a mashup of ideas, project lifecycles, and practices. Staff and management are busy and mean well, but value delivery as a whole is not nearly as effective, efficient, and sustainable as they need it to be.

If you’re experiencing this situation, the book, Deliver Better Results, will help you. It will show you how to change your way of working so that it’s right for your organizational context, and how to gradually make it great over time.

Learn more about it at DeliverBetterResultsBook.com.