In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, organisations are prompted to constantly adapt, transform, and be receptive to change in order to keep pace with the latest developments.
Sept. 03, 2024
From modernising legacy applications, integrating cutting-edge technologies, facilitating cross-functional synergies, to streamlining service desk operations, agility has become part and parcel of how organisations function on a day-to-day basis.
Transitioning away from the traditional Waterfall methodology, 71% of businesses today have adopted an Agile approach across their software development lifecycle (SDLC). Since the inception of the Agile Manifesto in 2001 that outlined its 12 core principles, Agile project management has continuously evolved over the years and has several variations today that are being used by organisations across a plethora of industries. Commonly used Agile methodologies include Scrum, Kanban, Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), Lean, Extreme Programming (XP), Adaptive Project Framework (APF), Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM), and Feature Driven Development (FDD).
Anticipating the Future of Agile
While staying true to its essence of being iterative, feedback-driven, flexible, and collaborative, market-leading businesses are continuously tweaking and tailoring how they drive their Agile transformation. This is key to remaining in sync with ever-changing customer expectations and disruptive technologies. What worked yesterday doesn’t always work today, requiring organisations to own and embrace change as the only constant.
As we navigate an era of rapid digitalisation, the future of Agile cannot be predicted with absolute certainty. Yet, there are three key trends that are likely to dominate the discourse moving forward.
1. Agile is no Longer Confined to IT - it is Well and Truly Mainstream Across Sectors
In its nascent years, Agile was a term that most people would strictly associate with the SDLC and the world of IT. Today, Agile methodologies are being increasingly adopted even in non-IT disciplines and sectors including the likes of banking, finance, healthcare, defence, and retail. Hospitals are adopting Agile practices to streamline their patient treatment process and reduce long waiting times. Law enforcement agencies are using Scrum and Kanban boards to optimise their day-to-day operations, increase efficiency and transparency, and reduce their incident response times. Banks are adopting Agile practices to ensure that their business-critical regulatory projects get delivered on time to avoid incurring hefty financial penalties. FMCG and luxury retail brands are using Agile methodologies to enhance quality, expedite the release of their products to their customers and consolidate their market share. The list of applications is endless.
The expansion of Agile across different sectors is a by-product of the increased adoption of Agile across non-IT functions within individual organisations. While IT teams continue to be the biggest champions of Agile with a 70% adoption rate, more than half of product, R&D, and engineering teams use an Agile framework in some shape or form. Agile adoption rates have also increased within business operations and marketing teams to 28% and 20% respectively – with these numbers expected to be on an upward trajectory in the years to come.
2. As Agile Transcends Teams, the Tone Needs to be Set at the Top
No longer confined to project teams, Agile is quickly emerging as an enterprise-wide phenomenon. More than a project management approach, agility is being instilled as a culture and mindset across the board. Driving substantial and sustainable business growth is possible when there is shared ownership and a collective commitment towards being user-centric, receptive to change, and working collaboratively rather than in silos – all hallmarks of Agile.
One of the main reasons why organisations fail in their Agile transformation efforts is the lack of a clear direction and buy-in from the top management. In fact, 41% of employees believe that the participation of their C-level leadership in bolstering their Agile practice is insufficient. The message is crystal clear. As Agile becomes mainstream across all levels of an enterprise, it is imperative that the top leadership and middle management set the tone and lead by example. They are the biggest drivers and enablers of change, and the nature of their commitment and investment into Agile transformation is what ultimately gets trickled down all the way to employees at the grassroots.
3. AI and ML are Being Increasingly Embedded into Agile Project Management
Although it feels like only yesterday when Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) took the world by storm, their integration into Agile project and product management has been years in the making. Off the back of the intersection between DevOps and Agile, AI-powered Agile is likely to gain stronger momentum, as organisations implement AI tools into their digital and operational ecosystem. Leveraging Generative AI use cases and other cutting-edge ML algorithms, Agile project teams can better plan, forecast, optimise resources, and save time and cost in doing mundane, manually-intensive tasks. This can also help in generating real-time insights and facilitating data-driven decision-making, thereby accelerating the fulfilment of key milestones. Once the ethical concerns and implementation bottlenecks pertaining to AI and its subsets are ironed out, organisations can unlock the unbridled potential of AI-powered Agile.
Agile is evolving, as are organisations that implement it. While the road ahead is filled with uncertainties, the future belongs to those who successfully tap into the underlying opportunities and are bold enough to adapt and pivot when the time comes. Once you are equipped with the right Agile tools, processes, people, and mindset, the sky is the limit.