Being a part of the Agile transformation of one of Jamaica's oldest organisations is such an eye-opening experience. One thing it does, within a short window of time, is unearth inefficiencies that have become norms, for justifiable reason. My colleague, Angelee Crooks, sums it up quite simply as, "Common sense isn't common practice".
On my own Agile journey, I have been irritated countless times during our discovery or problem-solving sessions as utterances are repeated that ‘we do things this way, because it’s always been the way we've done it’. These norms, many times (if not all the time), do not consider what's best for the customer; the lag time between getting a complaint and actually fixing that problem or irritant; nor even how long we generally take to add value to our customers and our business.
Then, in walks Agile.
Before I say anything else, let me say this - AGILE is not a remedy. It simply promotes a mindset shift that keeps the customer at the fore of every process we design or redesign. It empowers people to make decisions and push for policy changes, in favour of what will bring the best experience or value to the customer - simply because it makes sense. And when inefficiencies are unearthed, it provides an opportunity to use "common sense” to challenge the status quo, which will then, over time, become common practice. It opens the door for change to come in and take a front seat by starting conversations and transformations that, otherwise, had to be started from the top down. Now it's starting with whoever has discovered an inefficiency and giving them a seat at the table to effect change. Oftentimes it results in the simplest, quickest decision the organisation can make to effect immediate positive change and benefits to our customers.
Being a champion for Agile however, does not mean that you use it as an excuse to launch a campaign or go on a crusade to immediately fix ‘every opportunity for improvement’. Any newly formed team will have to realize that you have to prioritise to ensure that you focus on delivering the highest value to segments of your customer base. After all, that’s the reason solutions are developed iteratively and incrementally [but that’s a post for another day].
If you are truly being agile, eventually, day by day, you will realise, that you are slowly effecting change in the right direction - and soon enough, common sense will become common practice.
What are your thoughts?
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