How to Scale Agile: Simple Ideas for a Complex Problem

Most organizations want to improve their agility to be more responsive to customer and market changes. They want  to  build  on  the success they have had with scrum at the team level and apply it across the whole organization. And while they might like to be more like Apple, Netflix or Airbnb, their challenge is that, unlike Silicon Valley
startups and tech giants, they are not starting from a clean slate. Instead, they are trying to change from a traditional, process-centric, hierarchical organization into something else.

Their challenge is compounded because there isn’t a repeatable process for this transformation; everyone starts in a different place and has different goals. The word “transformation” is itself part of the problem; it implies moving from one state to another. Perhaps a more realistic description is that the organization must evolve from one
that values processes and standards to one that values learning and flexibility. Evolution takes time and is ongoing. While standards remain important, even more important is to achieve quality in the products and services delivered.