In A Nutshell

Organisations plan for their future. However well formulated the plans are, and however well they are delivered, there will always be the unexpected. The resilience of the organisation reflects how well it is able to cope with the unexpected as it happens. It reflects how well the organisation recovers following sudden, unexpected changes.

One key aspect of resilience is the avoidance of single points of failure. Traditionally, organisations, especially technically oriented organisations, have encouraged deep specialisms. This is reflected in the large number of specialist role titles we see in many IT (and other) organisations. In contrast, anAgileMind resists the idea of the specialist. T-Shaped skills profiles, cross-team accountability in strongly integrated teams and the rejection of Jedi Councils all reflect the desire to spread skills more evenly across the organisation. To avoid single points of failure.

The ability to pivot is highly valued in agile organisations. Again, many of the values and behaviours of anAgileMind have a direct impact on the team’s or organisation’s ability to pivot. Focusing on short-cycles of work where value is delivered to the customer in small increments means that we are not committed to long-term investment the value of which will be lost if we need to pivot.

Seeking frequent and regular feedback will, perhaps, give early insight to the looming need to pivot.

The agile mindset gives the capacity, the opportunity and the means to pivot in the face of challenge and change. It gives the organisation resilience.