The word ‘agile’ has different connotations to it – some are skeptical about it and may think of it as a passing fad, while others feel it is a ‘cool’ buzzword and find that associating with anything that represents agile adds to their ‘coolness’ quotient. Some may see the promise and potential, while some are very happy with the benefits of agile – the list goes on.

Your agile journey outcomes are a lot about how you feel about agile and your relationship with agile.

As in any relationship, you need to believe in it, you need to know ‘why are you getting into it’, validate if your expectations are right, understand the nuances of making it work successfully and be committed to the journey, which requires perseverance, resilience, patience, the right behaviors, the right mindset and understanding the right influences to make it successful for the intended purpose.

Getting into a relationship with agile with limited understanding, limited patience, not having time for the right conversations at the right time and focusing only on the exterior packaging (sticky notes, white boards, tick box ceremonies and so on) without understanding its true essence is not a relationship with agile, but rather a ‘fling with agile’ that will inevitably lead to a breakup. It is merely a matter of ‘in how much time’ and ‘at what cost’.

Your investment of cost, time, energy and effort is valuable. Do not waste it on a fling with agile. Understand what is means to have a serious relationship with agile. Understand its potential promise and benefits aligned with achieving your organisation’s goals and aspirations, providing you the much-needed competitive advantage in a VUCCA world.

Connect with the MAC-agile team to get into a serious winning relationship with agile to take your organisational and business success to the next level.