What is the purpose of this initiative?
Reimagining Agile: Refresh, extend, and make Agility accessible to all.
What is the scope of this initiative?
- To remind us about the historical intent of the Agile movement (partly so that newcomers might better understand).
- To accelerate the future of agility enterprise-wide by solidifying the foundation of Agile values and principles.
- To hear from organizations that have been successful at allowing agility to flourish so that we may learn how and what helps make that happen.
- There is no intent by this launch group to publish a document or update the Agile Manifesto—the Agile community has grown too large for a single document to be effective.
- Results or outcomes depend on the context in which they were created.
- The initiative is intended to evolve in an “Agile” way – Decentralized network, self-organizing, organic, not top to bottom but horizontally from node to node.
- All individuals, organizations, and associations are welcome. We hope each will honor a spirit of collaboration and acceptance of different views.
- Welcome: discussion, points of view, constructive criticism, opinions, differences of opinion, collaborative and respectful debate.
- Un-welcome: guess?
Launch coordination activities
- Announced the initiative via LinkedIn Posts
- Response: 180,000 impressions, 1,400 reactions, 314 comments, 244 reposts
- Vast majority positive, 50% wanted to help
- Discussed the launch group’s role
- Promote the idea behind Reimagining Agile.
- Connect people and organizations that support the initiative.
- Agile Alliance strongly supports this Reimagining Agile initiative and plans for presentations at Agile2024 in Dallas. We encourage other Agile conferences to include this initiative in their plans.
- Established a “Reimagining Agile” (RA) group and a hashtag on LinkedIn.
- Jon Kern is working on a basic website. Secured an appropriate website domain name. Reach out to Jon with your ideas.
What can you do?
We have some ideas about creating a global space where we can collaborate, float ideas, conduct experiments, share results, have reference material, etc. But until the smallest first steps of the future website come to life in early 2024, here are some things to consider in the meantime.
- Post discussions about your thoughts on RA. A good example is Chris Stone’s.
- Build and Post a list of other people’s Posts that speak to you about this initiative.
- Comment on someone else’s Post.
- Conduct a Podcast with RA as the subject, like this one from the Agile Coaching Network.
- Speak about your Agile journey to reimagine at a conference. How about the Agile Conference 2024, or one of the Scrum conferences, etc?
- Launch an initiative in your association or enterprise. Jon’s company is contemplating such an initiative.
- Design a logo for the initiative.
- What would you like to do? How could the Launch Group support you?
Launch Group
The people in this Launch Group met at Agile 2023 in Orlando in July. We have met in person once since then and have had two Zoom meetings. We see our effort as getting the ball rolling, and it’s up to others to catch it and pass it along.
Jon Kern, Agile Manifesto Co-author, Agile Consultant Adaptavist
Heidi Musser, Board Chair, Agile Alliance, CxO, Board Member & Advisor
Sanjiv Augustine, CEO, LitheSpeed, Author
Jim Highsmith, Agile Manifesto Co-author, Author
Individual comments (obviously, we don’t agree on everything)
Sanjiv: I would ignore the infighting since I believe it is happening due to a vacuum of leadership in the Agile movement. As a stake in the ground, here’s an abbreviated message:
In 2001, Agile was born with a small community and a focus on software development. Today, with the rise of AI and the need for adaptability in all aspects of business, agility is paramount.
Being able to navigate constant change is the key competitive advantage of the 21st century.
The bottom line: Resilient digital capabilities are essential for success, and Agile and Agility are core to modernizing enterprises to keep pace with technological innovation and ongoing disruption.
We propose two steps:
- Strengthen Agile fundamentals for accessibility.
- Extend Agile in areas such as Agile Product Manifesto, Lean Portfolio Management, and Adaptive Governance to address challenges in 2024 and beyond.
Join us on this journey to Reimagining Agile. Let’s make agility accessible, relevant, and thriving for all.
Jim: Don’t we have “bigger fish to fry,” as the saying goes, than squabbling over whose version of Agile is best, better, etc.? For example, how could an Agile mindset help leaders approach the climate change crisis? I believe the Agile community still has a common goal—Balancing Performance (delivering outcomes) and People (creating healthy workplaces). Furthermore, whether an enterprise or an individual, you have to chart your own journey based on the context you find yourself in. So, let’s moderate the Agile infighting. For those who want to reimagine Agile, jump on this bus. For those who have given up on Agile, jump off the bus; just don’t stick around and throw stones.
Jon: It is clear to me that organizations and teams that are Agile have more success, more fun, and they have happier customers. The more that people can learn ways to allow agility to flourish, the better off we’ll all be.
I am looking forward to successful Agile orgs and teams stepping forward to help share their journey. What sorts of “meta” things can people do to achieve an environment that permits and encourages agility?
I envision a collaborative workspace (more to come in the coming months) that we collectively build and contribute to so that we can make Agile accessible to everyone. A place where people can contribute what works for them. Others can run experiments and report back. Good ideas bubble to the top. And reference material can be shared for all.
Heidi: As Board Chair of Agile Alliance, based on the response to our LinkedIn posts, Reimagine Agile: Back to Basics, Forward to the Future, this is clearly an important topic for the global Agile community!
Shortly after the Manifesto for Agile Software Development was crafted, Agile Alliance was formed as a 501(c)6 non-profit organization to disseminate information about Agile. Today, our mission is to support people and organizations who explore, apply, and expand Agile values, principles, and practices. We are absolutely committed to supporting this Reimagining Agile initiative by creating safe spaces to learn from each other.
As a retired C-level executive, I believe Agile and agility matter more than ever. It is decidedly NOT dead! For people-focused and product-driven businesses, these are the keys to operating at market speed – the speed of technological innovation! The ability to adapt to constant change will play an integral role in determining the winners and losers in this next economic revolution.
Reimagining Agile is NOT about the fear of change; it’s about embracing change! This is not about the fear of irrelevance; it’s about embracing our relevance! This is not about 17 middle-aged white men having a conversation about how to ensure organizations get value out of their investments in software and other projects; it’s about including the voices of the global community and coming together to assess what we’ve learned (do more of what works, less of what doesn’t), continue innovating based on what we’ve discovered, running more experiments, and making agility accessible to everyone!
And isn’t that what this journey is all about: uncovering better ways of doing things and helping others to do it?
Leave a comment below, or join the Reimagining Agile LinkedIn Group and continue the conversation.
#ReimaginingAgile #agile #agility #agilealliance #embracechange #agilematters
