According to the 17th State of Agile Report, 71% of surveyed organisations are using Agile principles in their software development lifecycle.
While Agile is most often associated with IT projects, it’s increasingly extending beyond technology. This is because Agile isn’t a software development or tech-specific methodology; it’s a strategy that enables teams to deliver value in small, meaningful increments, stay close to end users for continuous feedback, and remain open to change rather than adhering to rigid plans.
“At Bizmod, we’ve successfully adopted Agile principles to improve business outcomes in areas outside of tech, and the results have been positive”, says Marcha Pretorius, operations manager at Bizmod. “Teams have learned to adapt to change more quickly and course-correct with ease.
“Resilience grew, teams aligned better, worked more effectively, and shared ownership. People felt proud when they solved problems and delivered quality outcomes,” she notes.
There was less fear of failing because, if something failed, it happened on a small scale and could be fixed quickly before teams had the opportunity to try again.
For businesses looking to do something similar and achieve strong results, here’s Pretorius’ advice.
- Start with purpose: As our business expanded, we found it harder to adapt based on changing market needs. Our Agile journey began with a decision to address this by rethinking how the company’s strategic initiatives were approached and completed.
- Socialise the change: We engaged the entire team to explain the thinking and the why behind shifting our way of work, notes Pretorius. The goal was to be clear that this was going to be a journey, but also that we were all going on it together.
- Train and tailor: The team was trained on Agile fundamentals. But, she says, this doesn’t mean that we couldn’t deviate from these principles. “Over time, we realised that we needed to adapt Agile principles to fit our context.”
- Customise the framework: As noted above, Pretorius explains that Agile isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. Each team and company needs to shape it to their needs. Do a full iteration guided by the principles, and then adjust the recipe based on what did and didn’t work.
- Start small: As the saying goes, you can’t eat a whole elephant in one bite. “We began with strategic work; our next phases will focus on functional strategies and eventually on BAU (Business As Usual). By prioritising different tasks, we worked on the most important goals and initiatives first, rather than having a long to-do list that never gets done,” she says.
- Create teams: Initially, our team grouping was by functional area. But we decided to switch things around to promote cross-collaboration between functional areas. This created the opportunity for people to work more closely together and to learn how to collaborate and move outside their areas of expertise.
“For us, one of the most important parts of this journey has been remembering that Agile isn’t only about applying the structure and the principles. It takes time for teams to adjust and learn how to work together successfully,” she concludes.
“Even when outcomes aren’t immediate, consistent iteration leads to improvement. You might have all the right foundations in place, but this doesn’t guarantee success. To learn, your teams need space to fail, reflect, and restart. This builds adaptability and long-term success.”