Is There a Blueprint for Building an Agile Culture?

Abstract

Establishing agile principles and values requires time becoming part of the organizational mindset. One approach is implementing selected agile methods first and waiting for the agile culture to emerge and mature. Nevertheless, it remains unclear if there is a way to improve the culture-building process by emphasizing factors that foster an agile culture. Research on factors that support a systematic development of an agile culture is rare. Hence, we aim to shed light on how an agile culture can be developed in a systematic way. To investigate approaches to initiate and stabilize a cultural change towards agile, we conducted a semi-structured interview with eight agile coaches. Our results comprise 50 factors that influence culture development. Furthermore, we identified two major phases of an agile transition. Even though different focal points are set, early and continuous management involvement is key to a successful transition. Nevertheless, our results do not indicate a generalizable blueprint-like approach for establishing an agile culture.