Agile is the big word being thrown around these days, especially in the federal government; agile, adaptive, efficient, and effective are all words used to describe the development processes and outcomes that Agile espouses. We see a groundswell of movement away from the traditional waterfall methods of developing software that have proven to be time consuming, linear, process-centric versus customer-centric, and on top of it all, expensive. As we move towards Agile we are sold on the promise of delivering value through a focus on reducing overhead, faster time to functionality, and at a lower cost.

However, the reality is organizations are experiencing resistance and running up against barriers that have been built and reinforced over many years. We continue to underestimate the array of impacts that Agile has and the changes it creates within IT and beyond. VersionOne’s annual survey ‘The State of Agile’ has for the past three years sited, “Ability to change organizational culture” and “General resistance to change” as the top barriers to agile adoption. This underscores the importance of cultural awareness, culture change, and change management competence when implementing agile.

Whether you’re thinking about moving to Agile or have already started your journey, here are 5 tips for helping you succeed:

1. Agile produces a culture shift – At whatever stage of adoption, know your culture and how it compares to one that supports agility. Organizational cultures take years to change (sorry to say it!), however a cultural assessment will provide you with the insight and ability to align aspects of your culture that support agility and pinpoint attributes that do not.

2. Agile requires new management approaches – Traditional, top-down, command and control management approaches are not well suited for Agile. Agile software development has emerged as a shining example of knowledge work – where the information you have and new ideas you develop and share, equates to the business value you create. New approaches for managing knowledge workers include breaking down information silos, creating an environment where new ideas can flow and flourish, building trust, and improving the link between individual effort and organizational success.

3. Agile moves your seat – the design of your office space most likely will need to change. Agile teams work collaboratively in open settings, where information is radiated for all to consume.  And how the team works – even the hours they work – are designed and decided by the team members. When you have some agile teams, though not all agile teams, other people in the same division or department will see their colleagues working in drastically different ways. Make sure communication is flowing and management is supportive because this is an area where you will start to visibly see the changes agile requires.

4. Agile hinges on open communications – Most, if not all, organizations struggle with effective communication. Left over control mechanisms from traditional hierarchical, command and control style cultures encouraged gated oversight in order to decide what information would be released and to whom, or it is withheld all together. Agile requires proactive communications, open dialogue and information sharing with a wide range of individuals; colleagues, leadership, stakeholders, customers must be in the know in order to realize success.

5. Moving to Agile requires change management – Going from waterfall to agile is not necessarily an easy change to make.  But it’s not just about process change. In fact Agile impacts the whole organizational system.  To be successful in agile transformation, organizations must build and deploy change management competencies and practices and frameworks to guide their efforts. Effective change management is iterative, adaptive, and measurable and relies heavily on leadership, sponsorship and ongoing communications.

To recap – agile is more than just a process replacement; it represents a new and different way of thinking, or mindset, that counters many of the organizational norms of the 20th century. It takes time, some monetary resources, a learning curve, and some pain. But with the right insights, flexibility and focus on managing the shift to agile as a change, agile can become a key differentiator within IT departments and across the enterprise.

Sara Kindsfater-Yerkes Vice President TeamCatapult