An Agile organization strives to move away from traditional “Plan and Execute” culture and move towards continuous “Sense and Respond” culture
Executing plans made out of partial, incorrect or outdated information is not likely to produce the desired outcome.
Replace static plans with continuous planning that takes the latest information into account.
Be able to sense areas that need more attention and respond accordingly.
Create stable teams, systems, and an infrastructure that can respond to complexity and uncertainty with ease.
VALUE-BASED DELIVERY
An Agile organization is committed to delivering the Right Value to the Right Customer at the Right Time
The customer is whoever consumes the value. The better we define and understand our customers, the more value we can add to their lives.
Customers pay for and use what is useful to them and not what is given to them.
The “right value” is delivered when the value makes economic sense for both the consumer of the value and the producer of the value.
The right value is said to be delivered when the value makes economic sense for both the consumer of the value and the producer of the value.
Value needs to be delivered at the appropriate time (not too early, not too late) to remain valuable.
Organizations need to be creative in finding what is useful to their customers to avoid waste.
SYSTEMS THINKING
An Agile organization is committed to applying Systems Thinking to all of its systems
A system is a community of interconnected components. Each system needs an owner to be accountable for it.
An organization should be aware of all its systems and system owners.
The total value produced by a system is more than the sum of the individual outputs produced by its components.
A system must be managed. When left unmanaged, the components of the system can become self-centered and destructive.
Contributions toward the overal creation of value are just as important as the individual output of the components, if not more important.
SELF-MANAGED TEAM
An Agile organization is committed to developing high-performing, self-managed teams
Self-management works best for teams made up of knowledge workers who deliver value collaboratively rather than individually.
For a team to self-manage, its roles, goals, and norms must be clearly defined.
Focus should be on the overall performance of the team and on individuals’ contributions toward the team’s performance.
The work structure of a team mirrors its communication structure.
The team’s overall cognitive intelligence is the core asset of a self-managed team and should be preserved.
The right coach can greatly enhance team improvement and performance.
LEARNING AND GROWTH
The team’s overall cognitive intelligence is the asset of a self-organized team and should be preserved
Every human being is naturally inclined to learn and grow, which motivates them to produce and contribute more.
Working environments should be designed to promote the learning and growth of all workers
Learning at work requires physiological safety as well as dedicated time and space.
The shorter the cycle of experience and reflection, the faster the learning.
Team members should learn from their failures and collaborate during setbacks.
SERVANT LEADERSHIP
An Agile organization is committed to Servant Leadership
Leaders who serve create a natural powerful force that empowers their team to overcome the challenges and impediments they may face.
Command and control-style leadership isn’t effective for knowledge workers.
Leaders need to share their vision instead of reinforcing hierarchies, relinquish control instead of taking it, and create more leaders instead of followers.
Servant leaders sees more potential in their people than they see in themselves.
