Every once in a while I’m reminded of the very important question: WHY?

If you are considering SCRUM, XP, Lean or any other Agile Framework, or if you are considering using OpenAgile which is an Open Learning System, you will be changing the organization.

Many people think they can do “Agile in a bubble” and therefore not interact with the rest of the organization. You will likely find that you will quickly run into obstacles to using the Framework.

Just the iterative process alone will change the way stakeholders interact with teams, meeting rooms are scheduled, vacation schedules, communication requirements, team spaces and/or seating, the responsibilities of stakeholders, and even the interactions between team members and other departments. Because of this, working towards Agility WILL change your organization.

You may start out with an aggressive framework such as XP(Extreme Programming), or something a little more gentle such as Kanban or Lean (which let you start out as you are and visualize your process). However, please don’t kid yourself; you will eventually need to change the way things get done in the company.

Whether you are the OpenAgile Growth Facilitator, a Scrum Master trying to introduce Agile from the grass-roots, or if you are the CEO or CIO trying to introduce change from that level, you will eventually need to address the WHY for the change.

Managers and employees alike need to know why they are being asked to leave their comfort zones. In some cases they will be going against everything they have learned in the past about people management or how they should work. They need to know the reason.

Whatever level you are in at your company, please be ready to explain why you are making the change to an Agile Environment. Something like “to be more efficient”, isn’t really going to cut it.

Is it to be more competitive against other companies breaking into our market and you need to change quickly to stave them off? To give this message, you would need to let people know that you are concerned about this. This is part of the Transparency of Agile. If you know this, but are not willing to pass this on to your managers or teams, you will have struggles when managers don’t know why you are changing their environments.

Is it to stop the high level of turnover in your company ? You will be changing to a more team-focused environment which might seriously change the way Project Management or even H.R. does things. For this also, you will need to explain your changes to help you get support.

I could think of many other reasons. You should have your OWN reasons.

If you started an adoption or transformation a while back, it’s a good idea to restate this every once in a while (if even for yourself). It will remind you why you are continuing to improve and learn every iteration.

Asking yourself once in a while will also allow you to improve your message which will likely change slightly over time as the market and your environment changes.

Please, go home TONIGHT and ask yourself WHY are we transitioning or continuing to work towards being more agile. You will need to answer this for others more than once as you continue on your journey.

If the answer to yourself is “this is our last chance to make sure we don’t disappear as a company”, that revelation is a good one as well, and you will know why you need to stand strong on the changes you are making. Either way, it all starts with the same question.

Please make sure you always know the answer to the question “Why?“.

References:

OpenAgile, Growth Facilitator
XP (Extreme Programming)
SCRUM
Kanban, Lean