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I’ve written previously about my allergic reaction to process maturity models for Agile development. Based on 5 years of empirical feedback being a part of or watching what succeeds versus falls back, I do not believe their is a “cookbook” for Agile adoption. Of course, the question then becomes:
If there is no cookbook, then what is the best approach to succeed with my Agile adoption?
Enter the crib sheet for Flow-Pull-Innovate, which is a guidepost for the key transitions in Agile organizations based 
on proven bottom-up success. Because the hurdles and challenges are unique for each organization and code base, this is not a prescriptive approach. It’s a framework to thinking about how to approach Agile adoption incrementally and iteratively and is essential to establishing quick wins that create a virtuous cycle of success to keep the ball rolling.
The three phases of Agile maturity are based on work by Jim Womack in his book Lean Thinking. However, Jean and I thought it was appropriate to substitute “Innovate” for “Perfect” in Agile organizations. In IT/high-tech, it seems more about continuous innovation than the ultimate pursuit to “resource” efficiency.
Getting Over the Hump - Critical Step #3
Over the past 5 years, our focus at Rally has been getting our customer’s successful at Step 3, which we call Multi-Team Program Pull. (See our whitepaper on Leaning IT and moving to Program Pull.)
We focused on this step because at Program Pull, whole software products or major IT systems come to market typically 50% faster, according to the QSMA studies included in the Agile Impact Report. However, in this tough market and with mainstream Agile adoption, more and more organizations are adopting Agile at scale, making it important to light the path beyond Program Pull and into Organizational Pull and Organizational Innovate.
What do think of the crib sheet for Flow-Pull-Innovate? Do you agree with the key metrics? Are these failure signs you’ve experienced? Would your organization be willing to stand behind items in the commitment needed column?
About the Author: Ryan Martens is a trail runner, founding board member of the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado, and Founder and CTO at Rally Software Development. Subscribe today to get free updates by email or RSS.
