Agility - Chasing a Moving Target

We hear lots of buzz about Agile product development and businesses undergoing Agile Transformations but what does it mean to be agile and why is it so important? We all understand that the world is changing faster and faster.  This means that our markets are changing and, for us to be competitive, the solutions we offer to the markets must change just as quickly.  Here is where I draw a distinction between Agile product development and more traditional Waterfall approaches. With Waterfall we assume the target is stationary, but in Agile we assume the target is moving.

I'm not condemning Waterfall as a valid approach to running projects.  It may be a fine approach for internal projects that solve known problems for organizations, i.e. operational efficiency projects, or regulatory compliance projects where we set an objective and then plan and execute to achieve that outcome. I would still caution about assuming the target is stationary.  Long running projects of any kind are going to encounter changing requirements so even internal projects should be no more than 6 months in duration to increase the odds of a successful outcome.

That said, when we are doing product development we need to be like the cheetah.  We need to move fast, adjust to the terrain, and keep an eye on that moving target. This is what it means to be Agile. Product development, and I include all digital interfaces we have with our customers under that heading, has to evolve quickly and continuously.  This means always moving forward with our eyes open, observing the terrain and scanning for targets.  It is a hunt and we are also being hunted.

I lead a panel discussion about Agile metrics recently at a conference in Hong Kong.  We talked about how we can measure our product development projects and our agility.  It is great to say "we are agile" and "we do Agile software or product development" but really measuring our agility at both the project level and organizationally is hard.  I'll save a deeper dive into Agile metrics for another blog and I'll leave you with this question for today.

Are you running your projects like the cheetah?  There should be a great sense of urgency and constant vigilance to observe and adjust as you move forward.  If you are standing still you are easy prey to be taken by another hunter.  Every move you make doesn't have to be successful.  Learn, try again, and do it quickly.