Agile 2 The Next Iteration of Agile

Agile 2 Is an Improved Agile

The Agile movement took us away from big plans, micromanagement, and projects-by-numbers. It shifted the focus to small teams, to incremental deliveries, and to collaboration and self-sufficiency.

But it dismissed the importance of leadership, structure, forethought, and individual differences. It defined one-size-fits-all practices, often favoring some styles of work over others. Despite its technical roots, Agile also quickly devalued the importance of engineering; and it did not even mention the importance of information and data – things that are so critical today.

These are not small things. A fresh start was needed — a “reboot”. A team of fifteen experts in product design, program management, system engineering, leadership, business, human resources, learning theory, and of course Agile and DevOps came together to consider, What about Agile is important? What needs to be updated? and What is not quite right, but needs to be adjusted?

The book Agile 2: The Next Iteration of Agile introduces and makes the case for why this approach is needed, explains Agile 2’s big ideas, and shows how those ideas play out in an organization.

Perfect for project managers of all sorts, team leaders, department heads, executives, and managers in organizations that have attempted to implement Agile, and the individual members of Agile project teams.

Agile is broken.

Most Agile transformations struggle. According to an Allied Market Research study, "63% of respondents stated the failure of agile implementation in their organizations." The problems with Agile start at the top of most organizations with executive leadership not getting what agile is or even knowing the difference between success and failure in agile.

Agile transformation is a journey, and most of that journey consists of people learning and trying new approaches in their own work. An agile organization can make use of coaches and training to improve their chances of success. But even then, failure remains because many Agile ideas are oversimplifications or interpreted in an extreme way, and many elements essential for success are missing. Coupled with other ideas that have been dogmatically forced on teams, such as "agile team rooms", and "an overall inertia and resistance to change in the Agile community," the Agile movement is ripe for change since its birth twenty years ago.

"Agile 2" represents the work of fifteen experienced Agile experts, distilled into Agile 2: The Next Iteration of Agile by seven members of the team. Agile 2 values these pairs of attributes when properly balanced: thoughtfulness and prescription; outcomes and outputs, individuals and teams; business and technical understanding; individual empowerment and good leadership; adaptability and planning. With a new set of Agile principles to take Agile forward over the next 20 years, Agile 2 is applicable beyond software and hardware to all parts of an agile organization including "Agile HR", "Agile Finance", and so on.

Like the original "Agile", "Agile 2", is just a set of ideas - powerful ideas. To undertake any endeavor, a single set of ideas is not enough. But a single set of ideas can be a powerful guide.