Can Organizations Handle True Agility?

Can we (people, teams, organizations) handle true organizational agility? 🤔

I frequently read articles claiming Scrum has had its longest time. In a few years, Scrum is gone. Scrum is dead ☠️. It’s something Christiaan Verwijs and I recently discussed as well. These articles aren’t new. For years, people have already made bold claims about Scrum’s lifespan.

Some time ago, I already wrote two articles about it:

• Agile Is Dead (part 1)
• Agile Is Not Dead, It’s Evolving (part 2)

Chances are that Scrum remains a widely used framework. I don’t believe this because I’m a fan of Scrum. I like it, but I’m also a supporter of XP, Kanban, and Lean.

I believe that Scrum remains widely used because…
✅ it’s lightweight
✅ it’s simple
✅ it’s a framework

I will generalize here, but in my experience, people love things that are simple to understand. People like simplicity. Offering only a few roles, artifacts, events, rules, values, and principles makes Scrum simple to understand (yet challenging to master).

People also like clarity; they want to know what’s expected of them. That’s precisely what Scrum as a framework offers them: a frame with clear boundaries in which teams can self-organize & self-manage work.

The same goes for SAFe. It’s super comprehensive but, at the same time, easy to understand. Implement these roles, do these events, use these artifacts, and you’re Agile… right? 🙄

An empirical approach enables organizations to navigate complexity. Frameworks — like Scrum — can be a great starting point for using empiricism and increasing organizational agility. In the end, a more agnostic approach and a mixture of all of the above is what organizations actually need. This will be unique for each organization.

I have noticed that while I’m moving toward an agnostic approach with empiricism & complexity thinking at its core, I get more pushback. It’s considered too vague, too abstract, and not specific enough. 🤷‍♂️

At some point, organizations might discover that the constraints frameworks offer are too narrow. They still need constraints (rules, principles, boundaries), but they need different ones or expand them and use different ones for different parts of the organization. Or let teams figure out their own constraints, framework, or methodology. That would allow them to thrive! 🚀

This is what organizational agility is about, but it is often perceived as way too messy & chaotic.

“Let’s aim for true organizational agility while safely staying within the boundaries of frameworks like SAFe, Scrum, etc…”

Yeah, right…

What if…

What if organizations allow teams to choose the framework, method, or process they believe suits them best? A way of working that enables them to deliver value to their stakeholders. Some teams might prefer Scrum, others Kanban, and others experiment with a combination of different approaches.

What if organizations use one model as the glue that binds them together? A model that enables organizations to improve on a predefined set of factors that offers teams the freedom to use any framework that suits them best. Despite all the different approaches being used on the team level, everyone uses the same model as a starting point.

I’m referring to the Agile Team Effectiveness model. With this model, we offer organizations a process and a set of factors for continuous inspection and adaptation, regardless of your specific framework or methodology.

If teams use Scrum, Kanban, SAFe, LeSS, or a tailormade framework across the broader organization, our model fits seamlessly 👌.

The model is part of Columinity, a pioneering tool that helps teams improve by continuously illuminating the quality of their teamwork based on scientific insights. With Columinity, you can diagnose one or many teams, receive evidence-based feedback, and resolve broader organizational issues.

Our tool doesn’t offer yet another framework or method. It does help you improve the factors that matter most to team effectiveness, increase stakeholder satisfaction, and improve team morale.

Sounds interesting? Check this 1-minute video to learn more. Why don’t you give it a try to trigger real organizational agility?