Agile ways of working are by no means a new concept. Officially it has been around since 2001 but never has this way of working been so pertinent as now. Agile principles value close customer involvement in short planning and product development iterations. They seek continuous stakeholder feedback via working products or software and promote delegated leadership and self-organisation. Above all, they welcome changing requirements in what can be an uncertain world. Managers who are agile need to adhere to several concepts:
- Self-organising teams and distributed decision-making.
- The servant leader philosophy.
- Failing fast
- Short, iterative planning cycles.
Leaders who are curious about the benefits of agile working should take the time to understand the basic tenets of the methodology and then consider exploring which of the many approaches are the best fit for the context of their organisation.
