Agile Development improves work through adaptability, teamwork, and swift value delivery. Rooted in the Agile Manifesto, it emphasizes customer satisfaction, continuous software delivery, embracing change, and ongoing improvement. It’s benefits include faster customer-centric deliveries, higher quality, and reduced risks. Agile Transformation is not a linear journey and challenges can slow progress. This post presents a fictional yet relatable scenario that focuses on one potential obstacle: the Capacity Trap. Discover how this hurdle can hinder Agile Transformation and discover ways to navigate it effectively.
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- Sometimes, Agile teams are trapped in a vicious cycle due to goal conflicts and high pressure.
- Falling into this trap can impact the business outcome negatively.
- Our post provides valuable principles concerning how to navigate this challenge effectively.
The Capacity Trap: A Challenge in Agile Transformation
The Capacity Trap (as described by Repenning and Sterman, 2001) takes place when short-term objectives and high resource utilization overshadow long-term adaptability and performance. For Agile Teams, who rely on collaboration, learning, and adaptability, the Capacity Trap presents a substantial challenge.
Illustrated Scenario
(Note: The mentioned names are fictitious)
HermesEase’s journey into the Managed Service world began by identifying a market opportunity. Equipped with a business case, they outlined high-level requirements and purchased an existing software as a baseline. With an Agile Approach, the plan was to enhance the software capabilities and use them to deliver the new Service. A prospective client who sought to outsource their operations, lead the way for the service’s initial scope and pricing, a common industry scenario.
Unveiling the Challenge
With time, initial assumptions about processes, capabilities, and volumes proved to be misleading. Sales over-promised to clients, simplifying acquisitions but inflating service scope. A growing Capacity Gap and conflicting priorities left the Development Team struggling. Stress increased and motivation suffered.
Under pressure, management embraced the “Work Harder” approach. As the Development Team sought clear priorities and precise user requirements, users struggled with daily tasks and had no time to explain their needs. Unstable software deployments and resistance to change emerged.
Teams turned defensive, favoring “Looking Good” over “Being Good.” Management’s focus shifted to questioning why IT didn’t grasp business needs. Everyone attributed the Performance Gaps to the others, rather than to the whole organization as a system.
Our Approach: Working Smarter
“Working Smarter” is a valuable alternative to “Working Harder“. This entails halting the vicious cycle, reducing the Capacity Trap through smart scope reductions, Pareto Principle (20/80) prioritization, easing pressure on the Development Team and users and fostering the Agile Mindset. Opting for this path demanded courage, as it may meant lowering expectations, potentially leading to blame games. A practical approach in similar situations is applying the Dynamic Work Design Principles, elaborated in upcoming posts.
Conclusion
It would be fair to assert, that the described situation deviates from the ideal Agile way. Yet, Agile Transformation is an ongoing journey, where Capacity Traps are only one of many potential hurdles. Stay tuned. Subsequent posts on Dynamic Work Design will offer you a practical tool set for overcoming Agile Transformation challenges. Timodi GmbH specializes in Dynamic Work Design and supports you in the journey toward Agile excellence.
About the Autor
Itamar brings over 35 years of digital world experience, specializing in Agile Development, Digital Transformation, and Business Intelligence. He’s passionate about optimizing work flow through collaboration and solution co-creation. Outside work, he enjoys family time, cooking, mountain excursions, cycling, and capturing beautiful moments through his lens. Ready for business transformation? Meet Itamar at Hand-Shake-Meeting.
Sources and Additional readings