“We’ve mastered the Agile way of working. The teams will continue doing their work, whether you coach them or not.” I just started a new assignment as an Agile coach and did my new manager just tell me that I wasn’t needed?
Agile has been around for many years and some organizations are pretty far in adopting the Agile practices and mindset. Others are just starting and many are struggling to make it work. Analyzing the various organizations I’ve worked with, I distinguish three separate waves, each with its own challenges and scope. The waves overlap each other and each wave builds on its predecessor.
During the first wave, the main focus is on teaching Agile and training the teams. As progress declines, the second wave arrives, shifting the focus to cross-team alignment. There might be a small downfall in the perceived maturity as teams need to reorganize and adapt their way of working to align with the other teams, but this will enable a next growth spurt. The third wave comes with teams building a technical product and changing their focus to delivering value and boosting business performance. Again, there might be a downfall in maturity as more people in the enterprise get involved, but this will enable a further acceleration in business delivery.
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