Transformation Tuesday - Agile: Mindset Over Methodology?

Upper Case Agile:

As I’ve recently discussed, the words ‘Agile’ and ‘Transformation’ have become household buzzwords, used ever more frequently and often bolted onto one another.

But what does it mean to be truly Agile? After all, the very nature of ‘Agile Methodology’ is that is a set of principles to follow to effectively manage projects. I’ve always felt that this still sounds a little rigid in itself and that maybe it’s oxymoronic to use the word Agile in line with something that is in essence, still a framework. After all, the word Agile implies flexibility and nimbleness, which in my head contradicts structure and set patterns.

Many of our clients have often philosophised about becoming ‘fully Agile’; eulogising about how it will change everything and transform the way they work, but often focusing on how they are executing projects rather than just delivering with a mixture of methods. Often this assimilated approach is coined as ‘Wagile’ (a hybrid of Agile and Waterfall), or sometimes even ‘Fragile’ if the state of a project is in real dire straits!

We have definitely seen a shift in the market, and I would even observe that it’s started to go full circle, and that people are no longer so hung up on the act of being Agile; they are just conscious of the need to deliver.

Lower Case Agile:

However, let’s get out of this discussion around principles, frameworks, and methodology because I guarantee when project leaders are talking about the need for agility, more often than not they are actually articulating the desire for people to adopt agile mindsets – the ability to think quickly and decisively and pivot (another buzzword I know) and be nimble.

The reality is that when individuals are hiring for their organisation’s project teams it would be far more valuable to have people who think with an agile mindset, over and above simply conscribing to a framework or set of principles.

It is also important to note that an agile mindset is not something that can be taught and that it is something inherent that grows environmentally over time; whilst the principles of Agile are set patterns that are followed in a prescriptive manner.

How is this playing out in the market?

As the market starts to once again shift towards being one with more candidates than job vacancies, those who can adopt more of an agile mindset than others will continue to grow and develop their careers along a positive trajectory. Building more sustainable futures for themselves, because the more you can pivot the more indispensable you make yourself.

From a hiring perspective, we should be looking for and testing these natural traits rather than simply studying what kind of projects people have worked on and what their specific role has been. Think about what someone can achieve and wants to achieve rather than what they have achieved. After all, if we’re always looking for the same qualities and hiring a certain mould of person, how do we then arm ourselves with diversity of thinking? People talk about diversity as if it is exclusively about age, disability, gender, race, religion or sexual preference but we need diversity of thought too.

What is refreshing to me is that companies seem to be adopting an agile mindset and are thinking bigger picture when building out their teams, nurturing talented individuals who can think outside the box and be dexterous enough to add lots of value outside of a narrow focus. After all, everyone has had to take a different approach given the market we were subjected to for the last 2.5 years, with more jobs than people. But hopefully, as we move into a more challenging market for candidates, with fewer jobs than people, this approach continues.

Maybe more lower case agile is needed than upper case Agile? Maybe it’s mindset over Methodology?

For the record, this set of thoughts entered my mind on a treadmill. For anyone who knows me, you’ll know that I’m not overly keen on running, but I was adopting an agile mindset.