Agile: Changing the Organization

by David Spann

In a recent discussion about introducing agile into an organization, a manufacturing company COO remarked, "I like agile methods, especially as they may apply to my R&D engineers and our IT group, but shouldn't we think about how to integrate those operations with the lean manufacturing process in the plant?" I was obviously impressed and excited by the COO's thoughts about integrating agile at a functional level and throughout the organization. But I was further impressed by his broader understanding of what such an endeavor might really entail (i.e., much more than simply training everyone in agile concepts and methods).