Agile Mixology: A Guide to Creating Your Perfect Agile Mix

The Agile Manifesto may be universal, but context is key when it comes to working out the details. Agile works best when it is contextually adapted, and to adapt it effectively, you need to know what you’re hoping to achieve. So, we wanted to show you how we combine the best ingredients, based on the desired outcome, to create a personalized recipe for success. Agile frameworks don’t have to be applied by the book and often we see successful Agile organizations using a mix of multiple frameworks.

The same concepts that apply to drink mixology also apply to organizations or teams adopting Agile approaches. The flavor profile is instead the goals and outcomes you look to achieve from an Agile adoption. Whether you think Scrum, Kanban, or any other Agile methodology is right for your organization, you may find that your implementation of a single framework doesn’t fully achieve the goals you’ve set out for your Agile adoption. Once you’ve set your eyes on the desired outcomes, different organizational and team ingredients (approaches, techniques, practices, etc.) can be experimented with and combined to help achieve them. This is Agile mixology.

The recipe for creating a perfect Agile mix includes:

• Exploring organizational goals and getting an understanding of the steps you need to take to achieve them
• Training employees as necessary and helping them understand their part in creating your perfect Agile mix
• Coaching team members to reinforce their learning and help them make necessary and specialized adjustments that help drive towards your goal
• Evolving your approach with the organization’s needs as they change over time

Crafting a specialized Agile project management framework recipe will ensure your Agile adoption moves smoothly, swiftly, and aligns with the outcomes you want to achieve. The key to all of this is experimentation and a willingness to adjust the pieces of each framework that may not fit your company’s vision.

See the recipes of success for organizations who have implemented a custom Agile approach and are using:

• Self-Organized Scaling to Accelerate Delivery of Value
• Agile Business Intelligence to Make Faster and Better Decisions
• Visualization and Workflow Management to Switch from Client-Driven to Value-Driven