Welcome to AGILE BEYOND SCRUM! On this blog site it’s all about business agility. or how organizations can adapt and succeed in turbulent conditions. You are kindly invited to this Agile Discovery Tour by reading the published and upcoming blogs.
Whenever I visit companies and talk with people about agility, most of them associate Agile with Scrum. Even when working with managers, I often find that their understanding of agility is rather vague and limited to some basic agile practices. However, they are not alone. Even the well-known Forbes magazine titles „The End of Agile„. Yet, when reading the article carefully, it turns out that the criticism only refers to practices in agile project management. Limiting the understanding of Agile to Scrum and a few related ‚doings‘ is sad, as the true potential of Agile is largely neglected. Moreover, it might be dangerous, since it invokes disappointed expectations on the impact of agile activities due to an improper use of the methods.
In my years of research and practical experience as an entrepreneur and consultant, I have discovered so many fascinating facets of Agile which I want to share with all who are interested in this subject or those who want or have to achieve higher levels of agility in their organizations.
I absolutely support Van Schooenderwoert and Shoemaker (2018) stating that “agile may sound simple, but that doesn’t mean that it’s easy”. To apply the concept of agility successfully, it requires a deeper understanding of the elements of this complex concept, their mechanisms, and an idea of their origins. Only then, you will be able to apply Agile effectively and to adapt its practices to the specific circumstances in your company.
The contributions of this blog site highlight some crucial insights about organizational agility that might inspire your view on Agile and hopefully your way of working. All contents are based on my research in this subject, however, I decided not to highlight all the references, as it provides a more comfortable reading experience. Nevertheless, if you should be interested in scientific details or backgrounds to special issues, don’t hesitate to contact me. In addition, all blog posts are published in English to make sure that a broad readership can benefit.
Hope you enjoy reading and that you visit my site from time to time to discover new contributions, and of course, I appreciate receiving your comments and feedback.
Joachim