A change in thinking

Digitalization demands a rethink of how projects are managed. It requires competencies and trust in small cells of implementation. Are company managements willing to hand over control to the agile teams? Perhaps even to consciously forego knowing completion dates and fixed costs in advance?

Agile development teams in digitization not only build software, but also completely new business models. The following graphic from the book “The Agile Mindset” shows some basic assumptions in the mindset that are changing.

From the outside, agile development teams are often perceived as chaotic, because there is a lot of talking, little documentation, a lot of validation, discarding, and the product is created piecemeal. This is sometimes difficult to comprehend, especially when there are multiple teams working towards a large whole.

We offer the following thoughts, especially when agile teams function in hierarchical structures:

• If agile methods are already in use, then take a critical look at whether you have also aligned your company management with them and are also living the agile values.
• If you are starting with agile methods, then take the management on a journey to understand agile values and create the cultural conditions for it.

Test it and be happy about the intrinsic motivation of your employees – have courage to take the first steps. Go ahead, change always best starts with you.