I have always answered the question “Where does Agile not work?” with the answer: “We have customers in all forms, geographies, and technologies working in Agile. It works everywhere!“

Of course that is my Agile Convert persona coming screaming through…

In his article “Agile Processes Go Lean” on the Dr. Dobbs portal, Forrester analyst Dave West does a great job illustrating the true challenges and roadblocks in successful Agile adoption beyond the team. His research across numerous sources, collaboration with Tom Grant and ability to synthesize these concepts makes this article a must-read for executives in software development organizations.

Dave sums it up nicely:

“The problems, broadly, tend to be technical, cultural, or organizational. Technical problems relate to infrastructure, tools, and architecture, and are often the most visible of the changes involved. But many companies find the cultural and organizational issues are the hardest to resolve.”

“When a development organization uses the approach to transform itself, it often runs into problems with other parts of the company that haven’t undergone similar transformations. Clashes come with the business operations, governance, and organizational structures, among other areas. For example, hierarchical organizations may struggle with agile development’s quick, iterative review cycles and decision making.”

In the past few months, I’ve talked with Dave and Tom about the opportunities and success of large-scale and successful Agile adoptions (beyond single teams and beyond simple flow) using examples from our customers and even our own internal processes. I’m excited to see analysts tackle the meaty topic of scaling Agile and Lean with real data and customer stories.

Further Reading:

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