Be Agile. Hack Your Space.
How empowering people to change their workplace can accelerate the adoption of Agile
- Introduction
- Designing for Agile
- Exploring Agile with Your Teams
What if you could improve productivity 300 to 400 percent? It can be done by working in Agile ways and doing a great job implementing Scrum, a common Agile framework. That’s what Jeff Sutherland, co-author of the Agile Manifesto and co-creator of Scrum, has learned through extensive field research. Information technology teams are seeking to capture this speed and dexterity as they are pulled front-and-center within their organizations racing to capitalize on digital transformation. How can companies help set the right direction amidst a chaotic background?
“Complexity has dramatically changed in just a few decades,” says Stefan Knecht, manager for Munich-based it- economics, an Agile consultancy operating across Europe. “Things used to be easier. Now, we have smartphones in our pockets that have more computing power than Apollo 11. Complexity requires a different procedure. Agile methods systematically reduce uncertainty in situations that you cannot plan for. Conventional methods can’t do that.”
“The design team drew inspiration from urban planning to create an environment that encourages a dynamic, innovative culture.”
Steelcase has developed key concepts for a workplace in transition, seeking simplicity on the other side of complexity. To accelerate the execution and development of new ideas, Steelcase IT teams are starting to work in more Agile ways. Some are adopting Scrum. Agile can take a long time to perfect and teams are always improving their practice. A profound experiment is underway within Steelcase to help people understand and embrace these new ways of working and to learn how place can help the culture change and adapt more quickly. With a commitment to prototyping new ideas within the company first, the IT team set out to improve learning and innovation in a quest to make lasting changes internally and share what they learn throughout the journey.
NEXT CHAPTER — Change Everything at Once