Agile Transformation and Organizational Change Management

The Agile Community and Change Management communities have similar reasons for why change fails. Is there a relation between them? What can Agile learn from Change Management and vice versa?

Jason LittleApr 22, 20141 minComments (0)

The latest Version One survey cited these 3 main reasons for why organizations fail to further adopt Agile practices:

Inability to change the organization's culture
General resistance to change
Trying to fit "non-Agile" elements into an Agile framework

To me, those are all symptoms, not causes. Agile transformation is a trigger for an organizational change, not a destination. Many Agile practitioners would agree with that, yet most of the information coming from the Agile community is still skewed towards "being Agile" and "changing your mindset". Sometimes that is the right message for the organization you're trying to change, and sometimes it isn't. That said, can "Agile transformation succeed" without organizational change management?

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Jason Little

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