Agile - it ain't our culture revisited...

Thanks for all of the responses to my last blog "It ain't our culture..." - I obviously hit a bit of a nerve.  I'm not the only one who's getting fed up with the "Corporate Clone" culture where we think that everything will work out ok if we just keep trying the same thing again and again... 

Other examples that I've had sent to me include:

Confusing

"Your problem is that you're too focused on delivery and that's just not the way that we do things around here..."

"We don't manage stakeholders... we control them..."

Downright sexist

"Don't get me wrong... Proper project management needs a strong manager - I think that Agile is more fluffy and people focussed - a more female way of delivering projects..."

Misguided

"You've been lucky in the past because we know that you can't deliver anything if you're going to concentrate on business value.  I mean if the customer is part of the project team and they just deliver what they want you wouldn't need project managers would you?"

The problem as I see it is that people are struggling with the changes needed to get Agile working.  It is different, you do need a different attitude and the change to make it work at an Enterprise level is significant.  As luck would have it there are two people who can explain far better than me.

The first is by Gregory Smith - Creating an Agile Environment  and the second is Kane Mar - Impediments to Enterprise Agile.

Two very different articles but one clear message.  You need to look at your own attitudes, views and approaches and change them fast.  If Agile "ain't your culture" then you'd better make sure you make it your culture soon if you want to keep up with your competition.