Agility is an Infinite Game

ATTENTION AGILISTS!!

We are our own worst enemy sometimes. We are causing the confusion that we are supposed to be alleviating.

In the last few weeks, I have been invited to numerous webinars to discuss the “Phases of Agile Maturity”. While I understand the desire of consulting companies and their “agile coaches” to quantify agility, it is a glaring reason why so many companies are starting to turn their back on agile and agile coaches.

I am sorry to break this news, but agile maturity is never achieved. It is an infinite game (https://youtu.be/tye525dkfi8).

It becomes the standard approach for the company. They don’t think about it anymore, they just do it.

The phases of business maturity, supported by agile practices, are:

Try

Fail & learn

Try again

Fail less and learn more

Try again

Fail & learn faster

Repeat until you figure it out

Get comfortable, for a moment

Then expect the market, customer, or world to change and start back on step #1

We don’t measure project management maturity. We don’t measure leadership maturity. We don’t measure marketing maturity. Why are we doing this with agility?

If the business is getting better over time; if our customers enjoy doing business with us; and if our teams are becoming more effective (not just efficient) over time, then you are practicing agility.

It is like practicing law. The law changes constantly. No lawyer is always 100% up on the law. It would be impossible.

Agility is the same way. Once you get “good” at it, something changes. The market changes, a competitor comes and disrupts, or the product ages out.

The agile organization is built to handle all the uncertainty and can maximize the value of the market change.

Can we please stop trying to sell agility and focus on selling the business benefits of agility? It’s a subtle change, but it will make a world of difference.

Have a valuable day!

Your friendly neighborhood product owner, Tom.

Questions or comments? Let’s connect at Tom@AuldLLC.com

Have you seen our video series on the “Fear of Becoming Obsolete”? Check these out and stay relevant at work!

https://www.youtube.com/@fearofbecomingobsolete

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“I was nervous that my team would find it hard to focus for 3 days of training. Tom’s approach kept us physically moving and mentally engaged. We learned a new technique and then instantly translated it to our daily work. The Team overwhelmingly agreed that the training instantly added value to our Team.”

- T.L.

VP, Manufacturing R&D Team

“Auld Consulting created the framework to create a globally successful product from a speck of an idea.”

- H.T., Agile12 Director

Energy Company

“Agile12 took a team that was struggling to get anything done to a team that was releasing a product update every 4-5 days! Our customers can’t believe all of the new functionality we have given them in the last two months.”

- L.R., EVP

Digital Transformation Retail Organization

“In 90 days we followed the Product Owner Blueprint for 16 Product Managers in our Team. This helped us instantly see where our lack of focus was costing us money on a daily basis. By adjusting our focus to fewer products at a time, it led to 4 product releases in 4 months. More than we have EVER had. This is awesome!”

- A.S., SVP

Product Development; Financial Services

“Auld Consulting gave me the coaching, training and tools to build our approach to agility.”

- R.S., Agile Leadership Coaching VP

Consulting Firm

“After 18 months, $1.5MM spent, and zero results, Agile12™ delivered our product in 6 months for $300K.”

- H.H., Product Owner Blueprint SVP

Financial Services

“I was nervous that my team would find it hard to focus for 3 days of training. Tom’s approach kept us physically moving and mentally engaged. We learned a new technique and then instantly translated it to our daily work. The team overwhelmingly agreed that the training instantly added value to our team.

- T.L., VP, Manufacturing R&D Team

“Auld Consulting created the framework to create a globally successful product from a speck of an idea.”

- H.T., Agile12 Director, Energy Company

“Agile12 took a team that was struggling to get anything done to a team that was releasing a product update every 4-5 days! Our customers can’t believe all of the new functionality we have given them in the last two months.”

- L.R., EVP, Digital Transformation Retail Organization

“In 90 days we followed the Product Owner Blueprint for 16 Product Managers in our Team. This helped us instantly see where our lack of focus was costing us money on a daily basis. By adjusting our focus to fewer products at a time, it led to 4 product releases in 4 months. More than we have EVER had. This is awesome!”

- A.S., SVP, Product Development, Financial Services

Auld Consulting gave me the coaching, training and tools to build our approach to agility.”

- R.S., Agile Leadership Coaching VP, Consulting Firm

“After 18 months, $1.5MM spent, and zero results, Agile12™ delivered our product in 6 months for $300K.”

- H.H., Product Owner Blueprint SVP, Financial Services

“Everybody is on the same page because we are all working off of the same list of work items.”

Product Owner for a Retail Company

“Team members go out of their way to help each other because Tom helped them understand how important that was for our company.”

Product Owner for an Energy Company

“Defects are down, which is massive for our profitability.”

QA Manager

“Our teams are always focused on the most important things.”

Senior Director

“Helping us understand how to adjust our funding model, made us nimbler and more sustainable as a company.”

- CFO

“Tom only cared about us meeting our business goals.”

– CTO

“Tom allowed for us to try new ideas and build the skills that will make our company a long term success.”

- COO

“Tom helped us focus on what was important by using data to help us prove out our ideas.”

– CEO

“Internal customers love working with us because they know we will meet their expectations and their deadlines. That is not normal around here.”

- Designer

“I got to build my skill set to get promoted from a tester to a designer much faster than I was originally expecting.”

– Tester, now Designer

“We were empowered to make our own team rules. We didn’t need the leaders to tell us how to do our work.”

- Designer

“Taking the training together got us all on the same page for the first time.”

- Designer

“We knew there was a better way for us to get work done, but we didn’t know how. Tom made it straightforward and fun. I cannot think about working a different way again.”

- Designer

“I was nervous that my team would find it hard to focus for 3 days of training. Tom’s approach kept us physically moving and mentally engaged. We learned a new technique and then instantly translated it to our daily work. The Team overwhelmingly agreed that the training instantly added value to our Team.”

- T.L., VP, Manufacturing R&D Team

“Auld Consulting created the framework to create a globally successful product from a speck of an idea.”

- H.T., Agile12 Director, Energy Company

“Agile12 took a team that was struggling to get anything done to a team that was releasing a product update every 4-5 days! Our customers can’t believe all of the new functionality we have given them in the last two months.”

- L.R., EVP, Digital Transformation Retail Organization

“In 90 days we followed the Product Owner Blueprint for 16 Product Managers in our Team. This helped us instantly see where our lack of focus was costing us money on a daily basis. By adjusting our focus to fewer products at a time, it led to 4 product releases in 4 months. More than we have EVER had. This is awesome!”

- A.S., SVP, Product Development, Financial Services

“Auld Consulting gave me the coaching, training and tools to build our approach to agility.”

- R.S., Agile Leadership Coaching VP, Consulting Firm

“After 18 months, $1.5MM spent, and zero results, Agile12™ delivered our product in 6 months for $300K.”

- H.H., Product Owner Blueprint SVP, Financial Services

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