Can We Do Agile? Barriers to Agile Adoption

“Can we do agile?” is a question often asked by individuals enviously looking at the impressive results reported by other organizations that adopted agile practices. What they are usually concerned about are the commonly perceived barriers to agile adoption: large scale, legacy architecture and tools; and demanding governance and compliance practices. Yet, despite these perceived barriers, many organizations with these challenges do agile. Others wonder why, after all their training and shiny new tools, they can’t do agile. What they’re not seeing are the real barriers to agile adoption—the social barriers that impede fast decision cycles. Steve Adolph introduces a fast decision cycle model, explains why social factors are the dominant determinant of agile success, and provides a configuration guide to help participants identify and evaluate these social impediments. Using a case study of a “high ceremony” organization, you and Steve work together to find ways to resolve impediments to doing agile.