4 Things to Look at When Agile Isn’t Working

In the present time, Agile development has become quite popular among many organizations. This is the reason why professionals who have a good amount of experience in this field are quite in demand. However, it is also true that not everything is perfect in this case. Agile cannot be considered as a perfect way of getting good results.

The delivery times are not quicker than what it was before. Plus, quality has not increased significantly too and customer satisfaction is also not quite at a high level. So, what should one do if the Agile method is not working anymore?

Well, there are four methods available for the same. Let us take a look at them.

Focus on what is causing the slowdown

It is vital to get in touch with the Agile manager of the organization and try to uncover what obstacles or hindrances might be slowing down the speed of the organization. When you get into this discussion, you must listen carefully and try to understand the obstacles in more details.

Some of the common hindrances that most organizations face are-

• Trouble getting the software into action, mainly because of dependencies on the up or downstream
• Insufficient tools
• Not enough time available to deal with the technical debt
• The management is putting a lot of unnecessary pressure on the teams
• Not all team members are doing their job properly

When it comes to removing obstacles, the role of a Scrum Master becomes highly important. But, it is also vital to ensure the Scrum Masters are empowered in the right way. Creating an environment in which the obstacles can be easily exposed is vital.

Focus on metrics that matter a lot

Your company is packed with skilled and knowledgeable workers who are trying to fix complex problems. Some organizations try to implement metrics with the aim of assessing the productivity of such workers. But, this is absolutely a bad idea. If you really want to do that, you may have to take away the aspect of creativity and transparency from your company.

As a matter of fact, agile metrics that you should care about comprise of two categories, which are- delivery metrics and value metrics. The purpose of each metric is different. Let us talk about delivery metrics first. It involves aspects like defect count, test code coverage, burn down charts, and velocity. These are very important, as their mission is to bring in empiricism in the teams that are self-governed. In this way, it becomes possible for the organisation to assess their improvement.

On the other hand, metrics like lead time, customer satisfaction, and user adoption come under the value metrics category. It helps in figuring out the value we have delivered to the customers.  However, it has been seen that not many organizations opt for the implementation of the value-based metrics. When these metrics are not implemented, it often becomes difficult to figure out the reasons behind these issues.

Provide proper and timely training

It is important for organizations to have a fixed budget for the yearly training of all professionals. In addition, it is also vital to ensure that professionals take advantage of it. However, it is not easy to find people who are lifetime learners. For the success of an organization, individual knowledge growth is highly crucial. It helps in making an organization more agile.

You might be thinking that sending your people to scrum training is enough to ensure things run in a smooth manner. But, it only half the job is done, and in order to see good results, you must empower your professionals with books, new courses, and conferences. So, do provide timely training to your employees, and ensure they imbibe the knowledge and skills properly.

Employ an organizational change structure

In this regard, there is no dearth of organization change structures that can be taken into consideration. The option of evidence-based change is preferred by a lot of organizations; after all, it makes use of Scrum in order to deliver improvements of change. In addition, it also has metrics attached to it. Apart from framework or structure, it is also vital to include a guiding coalition. It is vital to make sure the change team is provided with the chance to holistically take a look at the organization, which in turn will help them deal with tougher problems.

So, those were the four aspects to look at when agile is no more working for your organization. Hiring experienced experts who have obtained CSM certification can also prove to be quite advantageous in this regard. Hence, keep the above-mentioned aspects in mind and make your organization more productive and successful.