The Agile framework is a precision tool to enable continuous software deployment. This blog has focused on ways to misuse this tool, or try to force aspects of this tool into another framework nullifying its purpose and its efficiency. There are also ways to use this tool properly to get the most out of it to improve productivity, efficiency, and ROI. Perhaps it is time to focus on companies that get things right.
At Netflix, the core values of Agile are present in the culture of the company.
The Netflix culture wasn’t built by developing an elaborate new way of managing people; we did the opposite. We kept stripping away policies and procedures. We realized that the prevailing approach to managing people is as outdated as product innovation was before the quickening pace of disruption demanded the development of agile, lean, and customer-centric methods. 1McCord, Patty
The culture at Netflix actively encourages self-regulation, self-improvement, honesty, communication, teamwork, and innovation 2; all of which are necessary for Agile development. Of course Netflix started out as a unique and dynamic company that disrupted an industry. It makes sense that a dynamic company and a dynamic development framework would go hand in hand. What about other companies?
Ericsson is 140-year old Swedish telecommunications company with approximately 100,000 employees. In 2011, Ericsson began transitioning to Agile. This transition took Ericsson from building its systems on a five-year cycle, with a unit housing several thousand employees to having over 100 small teams working with its customers’ needs in three-week cycles. Originally, when the system was finally built after 5 years, it would be shipped to the telecoms, then the system would have to be adapted to fit their needs. After the Agile transformation, development is faster and more relevant to the needs of the customers. The client gains value sooner. Ericsson has less work in progress, and is deploying one-two years earlier, so that its revenue comes in earlier as well. 3
One of the core principles for companies to remember about getting Agile right is: balance. Every company “must be good at operations. Every company must also change the business, continuously introducing not just new products and services but also new operating methods and procedures. It must be good at innovation.” 4 Not everything a company does is right for Agile development. “Agile teams are best suited to innovation.” 5 Understanding the right balance, how to communicate within and between the different types of teams, and how to bring everything together marks the success of a truly balanced and Agile organization.
Netflix and Ericsson are simply examples on the extreme ends of the Agile spectrum. These companies show that if the leaders in a company understand their company, their vision, and the trajectory the want their company to be on, being Agile is only a matter of implementation.
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