Continuing an old conversation…is there ever a situation or an environment where it would be preferable to merely “adopt” agile development practices as opposed to “transform” into an agile delivery organization? I’ve had this conversation with a few people, the jury is still out…
Adoption vs. Transformation?
ryan
#2
I forget exactly what I said when we spoke about this last time, but realistically I have seen and heard both terms used almost interchangeably. At the end of the day, if you are changing mindsets to embrace the lean and agile principles and not just applying new labels to an old process, then I think either is acceptable. The issue is when organizations “go agile” and assume rebranding work is what agile is. Proper transformations are never done. There is a continuum of learning and transformation that happens every day.
JayH
#3
I don’t think they’re interchangeable, though. That’s my biggest issue…
“Adoption” is changing what you DO in order to accomplish X. Stand ups, retros, pigs and chickens, cross-functional co-located teams, etc.as opposed to your standard waterfall practices.
“Transformation” to me is changing all the parts of your organization/culture to utilize Agile practices and as a result change what you ARE. It’s changing your mindset and the paradigm shift that goes along with it.
I have worked at places where I think they could benefit from adopting agile practices to recognize some real growth, but due to culture/environment/company norms I think they would bomb out with trying to transform to agile, and then they’d be another “failed agile adoption”. Maybe a potential solution would be to adopt agile, let that marinate for a bit, and then move to an agile transformation?
I could be COMPLETELY off base here…but I’m thinking that one potential track to take in order to minimize the number of “bad agile/failed agile” instances at companies might be to split the adoption/transformation into two pieces and tailor a timeline that works.
My two cents.
dmahlitz
#4
I think you may be on to something here @JayHorsecow. I’ve seen over my 7 years some good things from just adopting agile practices, it can improve teams/organizations in many ways. Where I’m at now it’s a very large 100+ team organization that’s so rooted in waterfall style that its a real struggle day to day to ‘transform’ the culture here, that said getting them more predictable and transparent via adoption has definitely helped.
mccallam2
#5
I was wondering when someone was going to crack this one back open…
Ironically, the word transformation is not well suited for organizations transitioning to Agile. It gives the impresson that there is an end state which we know is never true for an Agile organization; it is a never ending journey of continuous improvement, as @ryan eluded to.
So when I think of transformation, I think of mindset and embracing the values and principles. For me adoption is about practices.
With that said, I would caution to say they are interchangeable. Instead, I say that companies adopt Agile practices with the hope that they will one day lead to transformation of mindset and culture.
Scrummando
#6
I would Iike to do Agile Transmutations…
Transmution - the conversion or transformation of one species into another.
BrettM
#7
Adopt - Sounds like a practice and something that you could stop. e.g. The team are going to adopt using story points.
Transformation - for me its a complete change that will alter the state of how you think and behave. It is more complete and long term.
So we are mincing words here, which is nice to play with; however the more important thing is one is starting on the agile journey.
