Below is a video of the session summary by Jason Little. Video courtesy of Selena Delesie:

This is the session formerly known as “Focus on Success over Focusing on ‘being Agile’”.   This talk was a response to the numerous blog posts, forum discussions and tweets themed around “are we doing [insert Agile practice here] right?”

Based on these discussions and talks I’ve had with clients, I find people focus too much on worrying about doing Agile the right way instead of focusing on why they wanted to implement Agile in the first place.  Success (whether it be bottom line, better working environment etc) seems to take a backseat in favour of making sure whatever process is being used is being used the right way.  I’ve heard many times from clients “are we doing the standup right?” or “I don’t know if this is the Agile way or not, but it seems to work ok…”

The key learning point of this talk was the reason for the title change of the session.  The values and principles are the foundation of Agile which need to be well understood by the organization implementing Agile however it may be best served to have Agile as the wrapper of the message instead of the being the message itself.

What that means is that organizations want to implement Agile for a reason.  The people in the organization that can influence change are often those who are ultimately responsible for getting business results and I have found that more support and understanding is given when talking about how Agile will help them and their organization become successful.

Thanks to Colin, Mishkin, Michelle, Ian and Gino for participating in the discussion! Check out my blog for more information!