I recently had a thought that I'd like to share with others
regarding agile thinking.
I believe that agile maturity can be thought of in three
levels:
1) Level 1 is where agile is thought of as a way to allow
change through adaption and inspection.
2) Level 2 sees agile as proactive in it's ability to
change: it not only allows change, but proactively positions the
organization to expect and anticipate changes, in part by actively deferring
constraining commitments.
3) The most mature agile organizations must seek out change,
not just passively await it. The example
is organizations that foster change through techniques such as hack-a-thons or
innovation days.
I've come to see these levels by watching multiple companies
introduce Scrum and the supporting agile mindset without seeing product
innovation. They simply wander to the same general destination as they
always have, minimizing risk and reducing waste, the only innovation being in
the minor details. That’s a pity, but often the best you can hope for until the
organization matures.
These levels are not meant to relate to Shu-Ha-Ri nor the Dreyfus
model of skill acquisition. It’s just
way of progressing a company to higher levels of empirical processes based on
their attitudes of change. It works for
me.
Have you experienced the same?
