Agile: The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review

Introduction

AGILE: HOW TO GET IN THE GAME (AND NOT GET IN THE WAY)

by Darrell K. Rigby

Ask general managers what they know about agile, and chances are they’ll respond with an uneasy smile and a deflecting quip such as “just enough to be dangerous.” They may pepper conversations with terms like “sprints” and “time boxes,” use agile as an adjective to describe some new initiative, and claim that their businesses are becoming more and more nimble. But because they haven’t studied the methodology behind agile practices or seen agile teams in action, they couldn’t really tell you what agile is all about or how it’s actually working in their organization.

What is agile? It’s a mindset and a method for improving innovation through deep customer ...