I recently read an article by Steve Denning in Forbes Why Agile Needs To Take Over Management Itself.
Steve Denning opens with this statement, which I have freely translated:
Let’s face it. The age of agility has not arrived. The 20-year effort to convince large companies to become agile enterprises has largely failed.
This article was a comforting read for me.
One of the reasons described in the article, on which I very much agree, is the way in which agility is proposed, of too much of a software-related setting.
The typical Agile training that is done in companies, several clients tell me, is very similar to the Scrum Master certification path, which is completely decontextualized from business reality, especially in the field of physical products.
This reading adds to a series of reflections that emerged in me last year, especially during and after attending the certification course on business agility that I did with Emanuele Moscato.
I was particularly struck by the story of the executive, who told us that he had just completed an MBA at a major training school in which agility was not mentioned at all (to his and our surprise).
I also inquired about other tracks on project management and innovation management, and it is really surprising that agility is devoted no more than one module or even no mention of it.
As I described in my newsletter Exploration or Exploitation? , the prevailing culture in business is one of efficiency, where error is seen as waste.
This is incomprehensible to me in a world, that of product development that everyone I meet agrees that introducing agility into their organization is critical to responding to today’s VUCA market.
How to use an Agile process for hardware development?
In my direct experience, the workshops where I present and propose the agile approach to hardware development work very well, managers and executives seem enthusiastic (Piergiorgio Lovato for learning experience design).
But then, after a few months, some projects stall due to unwitting self-sabotage by some managers who have not yet internalized the values of the agile approach.
Trust, delegation, and tolerance for error can only be acquired by a personal path, which cannot be imposed from above, but must be perceived “within” one’s business context as necessary.
If we add to this the concepts of human-centric Industry 5.0, I can only agree with Steve Denning when he suggests that we need to reinvent the concept of management, and management schools can play a very important role, to create the basic culture that fosters agility.
Shall we talk about this (partial) failure?(I ask for a friend).
I would like to see a discussion about how to transition agile to the business level in product development.
