A Closer Look: Obstacles to Agile

The Agile Manifesto offered a philosophy for accomplishing technical work efficiently; The Agile Enterprise builds on the previous text and outlines how to apply Agile concepts throughout an organization. Filled with real-world examples, this book will show students how to break large problems down into smaller, manageable ones; assist managers in finding their value with self-managing teams; and help executives track and recognize success in their businesses. Several methodologies are outlined to help teams operationalize Agile ideas. Organizations should adapt these methodologies to their own circumstances and remember that, with Agile, individuals and interactions are the key, not tools and processes. Chapter 5 discusses Agile obstacles in depth. In order to achieve agility, companies must first recognize and address the problems that prevent heads-down work in the business; this may include the danger of multitasking. Tactical emergencies might force teams to change direction mid-sprint, which could make the sprint immeasureable and cause cognitive overload. For smaller companies, fires-such as server failures or technical breaches-are typically all-consuming events; however, this response to fires derails progress and is ultimately unsustainable. Managers should strive to discover the cause of fires and determine whether or not they actually stem from previous problems that were not addressed properly. While fixing the root cause of a problem can be very expensive, more fires will occur if root causes are not dealt with.

• Collaboration and teams
• Agile project management
• Crisis management
• Business management
• Crisis prevention
• Enterprise agility