The allure of agile is irresistible. Short sprints. Continuous improvement. Faster innovation. Who wouldn’t want a slice of that agile pie? But while agile principles took software development by storm, non-software teams have struggled to bite into agile’s benefits. Marketing, HR, facilities, and other departments face hurdles in implementing agile frameworks like Scrum or Kanban. However, with care and creativity, these teams can adapt agile methods to their unique needs. This requires rethinking what agile maturity means for non-software groups. By customizing agile maturity models like the Agile Maturity Index (AMI), non-software teams can chart their own agile path.
The Limits of Existing Agile Maturity Models
The Agile Maturity Index emerged as a tool to assess an organization’s agile fluency. Developed by consultants from ProjectManagement.com, the AMI covers 5 levels across 8 dimensions like Leadership Support, Program Management, and Development Process. The rubric provides helpful guidance for software teams transitioning to agile. But it harbors blindspots for other functions. As an exemplar of common agile maturity models, the AMI exhibits 3 key limitations for non-software groups:
1. Software-centric assumptions
The AMI embeds software-specific language and criteria. For instance, the Release Planning dimension references “continuous integration of code, features, and functionality.” This jargon bears little meaning for marketing teams focused on campaigns, not coding. The AMI also stresses engineering practices like test-driven development, pruning weak assumptions early, and maintaining a prioritized backlog. While these principles have analogs in non-software domains, the terminology and specifics fail to translate.
2. Rigid leveling structure
The AMI defines 5 incremental levels of agile fluency. Moving from Level 1 (Impulsive) to Level 5 (Optimizing) reflects increasing mastery. However, this linear progression assumes a uniform path to agile adoption. For non-software teams, agility permeates different dimensions at varying paces. A marketing group may exhibit advanced customer collaboration (Level 4-5) but lag in its governance model (Level 2-3). Forcing diverse teams into rigid maturity levels hinders more nuanced evaluation.
3. Narrow focus
Spanning leadership, program management, and development, the AMI overlooks activities like collaboration, communication, and organizational culture. But these human factors prove critical for non-software teams adopting agile. Without assessing cross-functional coordination or stakeholder partnerships, the AMI misses maturity indicators integral to marketing, HR, and related groups. The emphasis resides firmly on process over people.
By clinging to software-specific practices, foisting inflexible levels, and downplaying “soft” skills, prevailing agile maturity models constrain non-software teams. But by adjusting these 3 areas, organizations can design maturity models to unlock agile beyond IT.
Customizing Agile Maturity for Non-Software Teams
While the AMI falls short for many non-software groups, its strengths should not be discarded. The model offers a helpful starting point to define agile fluency for diverse teams. With care and creativity, the core principles of the AMI can be customized across 3 areas:
1. Use accessible, non-technical language.
Jettison software jargon and tailor terminology to resonate with non-technical groups. Finance departments relate better to budget owners than backlog prioritization. Marketing understands campaigns, not continuous integration. Ensure maturity criteria employ accessible wording tied to each team’s domain.
2. Build flexible fluency levels.
Rather than force teams into rigid levels, allow organizational areas to develop agility at different paces across dimensions. HR may exhibit advanced collaboration but basic metrics-based adjustment. Support flexible level combinations that honor a team’s unique journey.
3. Add “soft skill” dimensions.
Supplement process and project management dimensions with “softer” skills like organizational culture, inter-team coordination, and stakeholder communication. For non-software teams, these human factors prove integral to agile adoption. Expand maturity models to evaluate how well an organization listens, collaborates, and adjusts across boundaries.
With these adjustments, the underpinnings of maturity models like the AMI can be reimagined for non-software groups. For a marketing team, an appropriate version may include:
Dimensions:
- Leadership & Culture – Both executives and staff embrace agile values. The environment promotes cross-functional collaboration.
- Strategy & Vision – Campaigns align to audience-centric goals versus rigid legacy plans. The strategy allows rapid adjustment to feedback.
- Team Empowerment – Squads exhibit autonomy on campaigns within guardrails. Leadership avoids micromanagement.
- Customer Centricity – Voice-of-the-customer steers campaign priorities. Customer sentiment metrics shape adaptation.
- Governance & Metrics – Light governance model empowers teams without sacrificing strategic coherence. Holistic success metrics look beyond cost and conversions.
Fluency Levels:
- Level 1 – Practices siloed to few teams or campaigns. Progress depends on individual agile fluency.
- Level 2 – Initial support from executives. Some recurring cross-functional collaboration and feedback loops.
- Level 3 – Broad cultural buy-in across multiple teams and levels. Agile practices permeate central initiatives and processes.
- Level 4 – Strong leadership commitment and strategic alignment to agile principles. Widespread autonomous teams driving customer-focused innovation.
With customized dimensions and levels, this model provides a more meaningful maturity yardstick for a marketing department than the AMI. This example highlights the importance of aligning agile maturity to a team’s unique context versus forcing a one-size-fits-all software model.
Essential Steps for Customizing an Agile Maturity Model
How can non-software groups follow this example to build an agile maturity model tuned to their needs? Here are 5 key steps:
Step 1: Assemble a Cross-Functional Design Team
Avoid an insular perspective by including a diverse mix of stakeholders. Seek representatives from executive leadership, middle management, project/program managers, and on-the-ground specialist teams. Cover multiple organizational levels that influence agile adoption.
Step 2: Align on Core Values and Principles
Discuss which agile values and principles resonate for the target department. Highlight ideals to anchor the model like customer focus, feedback loops, empowered teams, iterative delivery, and lightweight governance. Use language meaningful for the organizational culture.
Step 3: Brainstorm Relevant Dimensions
Tap into the design team’s functional expertise to identify which dimensions best reflect agile maturity. Consider factors like collaboration, culture, team empowerment, and strategy in addition to process-oriented realms like delivery and planning. Cover both the human and operational sides of agility.
Step 4: Define Flexible Fluency Levels
Sketch 2-4graduated levels that demonstrate ascending agile fluency without being overly prescriptive. Enable teams to progress across dimensions in a nonlinear path based on their circumstances. Focus levels on outcomes indicating cultural permeation of agile principles.
Step 5: Socialize for Iterative Refinement
Solicit feedback from a broader swath of the organization. Ask pilot teams to apply the draft model and suggest improvements to enhance utility. Be ready to iterate the model collaboratively based on real-world usage and input.
By following these steps, non-software departments can sculpt agile maturity models that accelerate their agility journeys. The perfect model for marketing likely differs from legal. But maintaining fidelity to values and leveraging cross-functional perspectives prevents models from devolving into divisional echo chambers. Customizing for contextual needs while preserving core agile principles can unlock maturity insights for teams enterprise-wide.
Bringing the Model to Life
An agile maturity model provides limited value as a static document. To catalyze change, organizations must operationalize the model across 3 key domains:
1. Evaluation & Benchmarking
Conduct periodic assessments to gauge agile fluency, highlight successes, and reveal gaps. But avoid rating for the sake of ratings alone. Focus evaluations on progress across dimensions, not an absolute score. Maintain a growth mindset.
2. Roadmapping & Planning
Let maturity evaluations shape pragmatic roadmaps for improving agility. Bring together leadership, mid-level managers, and teams to analyze results and co-create programs targeting priority dimensions. Guide teams to progress self-directedly versus mandated transformation.
3. Training & Coaching
Use maturity models to develop relevant training that prepares both leadership and staff for agile adoption. Create coaching programs to help teams apply learnings within their unique contexts. Position the model as a playbook for skill-building versus compliance.
Woven deeply into these practices, a thoughtfully customized agile maturity model evolves from a static checklist into a living framework that develops an organization’s agile muscles. As teams internalize agile principles and see their impact, reliance on models fades into the background. By shepherding teams gently through the early stages of agility, customized maturity models provide scaffolded structure where it is needed most. Once core agile values take root, prescriptive models give way to flexible intuition.
An Agile Mindset Goes Beyond Models