There is a lot of talk around being an “agile” organization these days. Since COVID began so abruptly last spring, many organizations are reconsidering how they adapt to change, and being “agile” sounds appealing. Leaders are asking their teams to be more agile, but what should teams count on those in a leadership role to do in an Agile organization?

Have you ever wondered where the term "Agile" came from? This word has been thrown around as a buzz word frequently of late. As in: "We need to be Agile," or "Our organization's agile approach allows us to be flexible." This article discusses the origins of Agile, what it is, and our key take-aways about what Agile means.

Agile is actually a collection of frameworks that have their roots in Lean manufacturing. Using Agile, just like Lean, should be part of an overall execution strategy - and should be considered in the right context. If your company has knowledge workers, there is a good chance that some Agile frameworks that are focused on planning and execution and can help visualize capacity, especially when it is hard to "see" work in the form of tangible goods, work-in-progress, or materials.

Given the inevitability of change, creating a static “Waterfall” schedule with all tasks and dependencies fully known at the outset of a project seems antiquated at best. Here is how we recommend generating a tried-and-true Milestone Schedule in an Agile fashion – specifically by creating an Agile Project Backlog.

This describes AJC’s value of Foster Accountability. We have executed projects and change before and can help our clients’ teams create and visualize the path. At first, all they need to worry about is visualizing working with our team. We will help them create and follow the path so that over time, they will be able to see the path for themselves and can execute on their own the next time.

If a project is worth doing, it is worth doing well. Project Management does not just “happen” without intention. Here is a 5-step Process to starting your project out on the right foot.