Agility is Nothing but Common Sense

In the realm of modern business and technology, “agility” has become a buzzword, often associated with frameworks like Scrum, Kanban, and SAFe. Organizations, teams, and individuals often equate agility with adopting these formal methodologies and tools. However, at its heart, agility is less about following rigid frameworks and more about applying fundamental principles that are often just extensions of common sense.

Understanding Agility Through Simplicity

Agility, in its essence, revolves around the ability to adapt, respond to change, and deliver value quickly and efficiently. If we strip away the jargon, processes, and roles defined in formal Agile frameworks, we are left with basic human principles that are guided by common sense:

• Deliver small, usable chunks of work: This allows for quicker feedback, reduces risks, and ensures that whatever is delivered has value.
• Collaborate and communicate effectively: Instead of operating in silos, teams and stakeholders communicate regularly to make informed decisions.
• Embrace change: Rather than resisting new information or evolving requirements, the mindset shifts toward welcoming change when it adds value.

These principles are not exclusive to Agile methodologies; they are extensions of common sense.

Key Elements of Agility that Align with Common Sense

1. Iterative Progress and Early Delivery
   • In the natural course of work, waiting until everything is “perfect” before delivering something creates inefficiency. Common sense dictates that breaking down large projects into smaller, manageable tasks helps people avoid bottlenecks and progress continuously. This is why in Agile, iterations or sprints are favored. The team delivers early and often, receiving feedback that helps them adjust and course-correct.
   Common Sense Insight: “Start small, deliver fast, improve continuously.”
2. Collaboration and Communication
   • In everyday life, poor communication leads to misunderstandings and delays. In a project context, lack of communication between teams or stakeholders can result in misaligned goals, missed deadlines, or features that fail to meet user needs. Agile frameworks emphasize face-to-face communication (or its digital equivalent), which encourages frequent dialogue between teams, stakeholders, and customers.
   Common Sense Insight: “Talk regularly, clarify expectations, avoid assumptions.”
3. Responding to Change Over Sticking to a Plan
   • Plans, in any form, are based on assumptions, and the world is too dynamic to assume that initial plans will always hold. Agile acknowledges this truth. Common sense tells us that rigidity in the face of changing information or circumstances often leads to poor outcomes. Flexibility allows us to pivot when necessary, ensuring that we are always moving in the right direction.
   Common Sense Insight: “Stay flexible; adapt when things change.”
4. Prioritizing People Over Processes
   • Processes and tools are necessary, but they should never overshadow the importance of individuals and interactions. It’s common sense to recognize that motivated, empowered individuals will produce better outcomes than those who feel trapped in rigid procedures. Agile’s core values focus on people – team members, customers, and stakeholders – and how their collaboration drives success.
   Common Sense Insight: “It’s people who deliver value, not processes.”
5. Transparency and Feedback Loops
   • Imagine a situation where you buy a product, but you’re unable to provide feedback or see its progress during its creation. This would lead to dissatisfaction or delivery of something that doesn’t meet your expectations. In Agile, transparency and regular feedback ensure that there is constant alignment between what is being built and what the customer wants.
   Common Sense Insight: “Show progress early, ask for feedback, and correct mistakes quickly.”
6. Continuous Improvement
   • The idea of continuous improvement resonates with all of us. If something doesn’t work perfectly the first time, we try again and learn from our mistakes. This simple, common-sense concept is embedded in Agile through retrospectives and iterative cycles. Every cycle is an opportunity to reflect, learn, and enhance performance.
   Common Sense Insight: “Look back, learn from mistakes, and improve moving forward.”

Common Sense in Everyday Applications

Agility, when seen through the lens of common sense, applies not only to software development but to every aspect of business and life. For example:

• In education, a teacher might introduce new content incrementally and gather feedback from students to assess their understanding, making adjustments as necessary.
• In project management, focusing on frequent communication and delivering smaller portions of work helps mitigate risks and aligns everyone on the same page.
• In customer service, listening to customer feedback and responding quickly to issues without adhering to rigid processes ensures satisfaction and loyalty.

In all these cases, agility is simply common sense – identifying needs, responding efficiently, and continuously improving.

Why Agility Often Gets Complicated

Despite its roots in simplicity, agility often gets complicated when organizations overemphasize the framework over the principles. Teams become bogged down in adhering to a particular methodology without understanding the real reason for adopting agile practices in the first place.

• Framework Overload: When teams focus too much on the framework (e.g., following every rule of Scrum), they often lose sight of why those rules exist in the first place – to deliver value quickly and adapt to change. The framework becomes a set of rigid instructions rather than a guide.
• Focus on Tools Over People: Tools can automate tasks, but they don’t replace the need for human collaboration, creativity, and problem-solving. When the emphasis shifts to using the latest tools, the common-sense principle of valuing people and their interactions gets lost.
• Misaligned Goals: Sometimes, organizations adopt agility without aligning it with business goals. The purpose of agility is to add value, yet if teams are focused on completing sprints or releases without considering how it contributes to business objectives, the practice becomes meaningless.

Bringing Agility Back to Its Common Sense Roots

To prevent agility from becoming an overly complex exercise, it’s essential to return to the basics. The key lies in shifting the focus back to the core principles and treating agility as a mindset, not a methodology.

• Understand the “Why”: Teams and organizations need to continuously ask themselves why they are doing something. If a particular process or practice doesn’t add value, it’s time to rethink it.
• Tailor to Context: Common sense tells us that what works for one team may not work for another. Agility is not one-size-fits-all. It’s about tailoring practices to the team’s context and challenges.
• Prioritize Learning and Adaptation: Agile processes are there to help teams learn and adapt. When things don’t go as planned, the common-sense approach is to analyze what went wrong, learn from it, and adjust.

Conclusion: Common Sense Is the Core of Agility

In essence, agility is nothing but a formalization of common sense – it’s about adapting to change, focusing on people, delivering value early and often, and continuously improving. When stripped of all the buzzwords and frameworks, agility remains a simple, intuitive way of working. Organizations that embrace this mindset without getting lost in the process will unlock the real power of agility.

By applying these common-sense principles, teams and organizations can achieve the true agility they seek, without the unnecessary complexity often associated with Agile frameworks. After all, at its core, agility is simply about doing what makes sense in a fast-moving, ever-evolving world.