Agile Champion Level 1: Origins of Agility

Agile Champion Level 1
Origins of Agility
You learned that methods and frameworks for agile product development emerged in the 1990s, when
people started to apply Lean principles to software development. Software development experts started
rethinking their ways of working and a number of new agile methods appeared in a short time. These are
still evolving in an empirical manner. Agility is about accepting change rather than suppressing it:
transparency, inspection and adaptation are key to this.
All agile methods share the following attributes:

1. Incremental: Small and viable releases are made early and frequently.
2. Collaborative: Teams and customers work closely together which enables fast feedback.
3. Lightweight: The method is simple and easy to learn, and modify.
4. Adaptive: Easily and quickly handle changes to products or services and processes.
5. Based on self-organisation: The people involved own the process and continuously adapt it to
produce more customer value.
Agile Values and Principles
You also learned that seventeen prominent representatives of the software development community
created the “Manifesto for Agile Software Development” (shortly, the “Agile Manifesto”) in 2001 that
consists of four values and twelve principles that together summarise agile thinking. Agile thinking can
be applied to environments outside of IT, too.
Agile Mindset
An agile approach embraces empiricism. We experiment to find our way to the next improvement,
embrace failure, and learn and evolve over time. An agile mindset also challenges us to align with
values that emphasise some core character traits that help us to strive for excellence. An agile mindset
can be summarised as follows:
● Focusing on value
● Making work transparent
● Collaborating with all relevant parties
● Embracing uncertainty and becoming resilient
Different Types of Process Control
You learned that when developing a product or service, there are different ways to control the process
and flow of work through the system. Selecting the appropriate form is based on the task to be done and
the overall environment.
Defined Statistical Empirical
Applicable to the We already know how Tasks that are based Tasks where the
following tasks to do things – because on recurring or expected final result is
we have already done repeating patterns not detectable
them – which makes beforehand but will
processes mechanical emerge based on
and repeatable real-time data collection
Preferable Environment of low Environment of Environment of high

environment variability that can be moderate variability uncertainty
easily predicted and uncertainty
Outcome Potential deviation and Quantitative analysis Qualitative analysis and

root cause analysis and deviation feedback
Example of an Output of a production Forecasting sales Developing a new

application line numbers product
Iterative and Incremental Development
An iterative and incremental approach allows one to deliver value in small increments and short intervals
of time. This approach addresses the risk of delivering unsatisfactory outcomes by allowing regular
touchpoints for customer interaction during the product development process. Increasing the frequency
for customer feedback on a potentially shippable product reduces the risk of getting it wrong and
provides direction for the next steps in development. This validation of assumptions is based on
qualitative feedback which allows us to better understand the customers’ needs and maximise the
amount of work not done. This leads to a faster delivery of value to meet customer expectations.
Push and Pull Systems
The way of how work is distributed to people is a key characteristic of systems.
Push Systems Pull Systems
...allow for strict process planning ...allow for innovative and creative solutions
...focus more on compliance ...focus on teamwork, collaboration and value

delivery
...can create a competitive behaviour as it ...can increase engagement and motivation

compares individuals to each other
…work well in manual, menial work or where ...work well in complex environments where one
competition is a healthy motivator person does not have all the knowledge and skills
to complete the work and where the task involves
solving unknown problems
Funnelling and prioritising the customers’ demands via a Product Backlog allows us to transfer a
push-based external environment to a pull-oriented value creation process. The customer facing role of
a Product Owner supports an agile team by ordering items in the backlog according to the highest value
to the customer.
Lean Thinking
Lean Thinking has its origins in Japan. Starting in the early 1930s and evolving more rapidly after World
War II, Kiichiro Toyoda, Taiichi Ohno and others at Toyota started looking at how to improve both
flexibility and flow in their factories. The focus on flow, customer value and removal of waste allowed
Toyota to develop the famous Toyota Production Systems (TPS) which is still today the foundation of
manufacturing.
The core idea behind Lean Thinking is to focus on customer needs, and meeting those needs should
drive all efforts to optimise flow of work. Within this framework, three major sources of waste have been
identified: muri, mura and muda.
These can and should be removed from the system. However, they are interconnected with one another
and often removing one causes another one to emerge. The path towards perfection requires
continuous optimisation which goes beyond the problem-solving approach and requires the courage to
challenge everything we do and how we do it. Lean Thinking requires everyone to take time to reflect
and focus on continuously improving their processes.
Agile Frameworks and Methods
Agile values and principles describe guiding constraints and underpin how people can interact effectively
with each other. However they are quite high level and don’t tell us what to do specifically or how to do it.
This is where agile frameworks and methods step in.
Agile frameworks like Scrum provide a basic structure for collaboration. They are intentionally
incomplete and do not specify all the steps required to create value. Even if this provides a degree of
flexibility, frameworks provide rigid boundaries that serve a specific purpose.
Agile methods are even more specific and describe how to do something. For instance, Kanban defines
its own principles and practices that help improve service delivery.
Agile@JTI
Agile is a better way to organise how we work in a world where complexity and uncertainty is the new
norm. Agile is about how we prioritise work and deliver greatest value to our customers and consumers.
It’s also about how we allocate resources, both people and investment, behind these priorities. Agility
starts with each and everyone of you and it’s going to require you to rethink and adapt mindsets and
behaviours. Without these, Agile becomes a buzzword – merely a collection of tools and practices. While
these are important, it has to be accompanied by these new mindsets and behaviours if we want to
ensure a resilient organisation and coherent culture.

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Agile Champion Level 1

All agile methods share the following attributes:

Defined Statistical Empirical

Preferable Environment of low Environment of Environment of high

Outcome Potential deviation and Quantitative analysis Qualitative analysis and

Example of an Output of a production Forecasting sales Developing a new

Push Systems Pull Systems

...focus more on compliance ...focus on teamwork, collaboration and value

...can create a competitive behaviour as it ...can increase engagement and motivation

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