Agile Coach: What is agility?

"Agile" means agile, nimble, eager and fast. Applied to companies, agile coaches and teams, this means that they are able to react quickly to new events, such as changes in customer purchasing behavior. The agile structures and processes required for this are created through an interplay of agile values, principles, practices and methods.

Agility and agile business processes go back to the Agile Manifesto from 2001. In it, the founders of the so-called "agile movement", 17 renowned software developers, set out basic rules of conduct and values for agile teams and agile coaches. Although these focus on teams for software development, they can also be formulated more generally and adapted for practically any area.

  • Agile valuesAgile values, such as openness, tolerance, a sense of responsibility, the desire to learn and the courage to try new things, are the basis for the success of agile teams and agile coaches.
  • Agile principlesThe agile manifesto lists 12 principles, the rules of the game, so to speak. Some examples are: Personal and direct communication, simplicity, customer satisfaction, continuous review and adaptation, openness to change and frequent delivery. The latter describes, for example, the process of repeatedly presenting interim results to the customer instead of waiting for completion. In this way, agile coaches can incorporate customer feedback on an ongoing basis and avoid errors (iterative approach).
  • Agile practicesAgile approaches include a targeted, clearly regulated and iterative exchange, planning and organization within the team. Specific practices for agile coaches are, for example, daily, sprints, planning, review and retrospective.
  • Agile methods(also known as frameworks): They provide a specific framework for team collaboration based on agile principles. The best-known such frameworks are Scrum, Kanban, Design Thinking and Lean Development.

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