Agile is helping make the future… So why is the way we teach it stuck in the past?

Agile isn’t just for developing software. It isn’t just for digital projects.

As leaders who are working towards public good, we know this. We see it all around us. Government and non-government organisations are increasingly embedding agile as how we do change - whether it’s a digital transformation, a new policy initiative or the design of an innovative social program.

That’s a good thing. Agile has gained serious steam in these arenas (and plenty more) for the simple reason that it works. This way of working, interacting and structuring a project allows change to happen faster, more flexibly and with more buy-in from more people - and to shed a lot more risk along the way.

But that’s not what I want to talk about right now..

Today I’m asking: If agile has jumped the digital fence and made its way into the way we design, make and implement things more generally…

Why is the way we learn about agile still stuck on the other side?

Senior leaders want agile as a new default for how business and policy change is made. Managers want to apply agile to non-digital initiatives.

But, try a Google search, looking for opportunities to build capability with Agile tools and methods. Pretty much immediately you’ll discover a version of Agile that looks more at home in a 2012 technology project than in today’s complex transformation paradigm, where technology is just one important layer of a larger change, alongside law, business model, workforce design, citizen experience and regulatory posture.

Agile is not a technology method anymore, and training needs to embrace this or it will fall behind the burning need of those trying to have a positive impact on society.

That’s why we created our Agile for Policy and Programs online short course.

Agile methodologies propel innovation - not just for the technology sector

Why now?

The moment we find ourselves in is one that few of us could have predicted. It’s an unstable and unpredictable time where public sector leaders are called upon to design and implement interventions without the usual long runway.

New programs and services must be made and delivered quickly. But if these outputs are miscalibrated or poorly designed the harm can be substantial (and writ large across the daily headlines).

Across areas from social services to hospitals, mental health, border security and many more the old roadblocks have been suddenly removed and a new urgency presides. In this operating environment, Agile shines.

Why is Agile better?

Agile emerged two decades ago, when a group of software developers, frustrated by the process of running large projects, committed to creating a better way.

Their frustration, at least partly, lay with a rigidly inflexible way of making things that prioritised command and control. Flaws that could have been identified at many stages in a project became baked in as team members stuck faithfully to a pre-determined schedule and a pre-ordained outcome. Failure points often became apparent only after a finished product had been released to the market.

The methodology they devised in response prizes empowered teams, progressive design and release, ritualised opportunities to reflect, constant visibility of progress, and a rapid cycle of prototyping, experimenting, learning and iterating. These characteristics make Agile an excellent method for driving other kinds of transformation.

But to be effective as a change method beyond its technology roots, people in an agile process need to know:

How can I prototype a new program, a policy or a regulatory approach?
How does co-design become a central part of the agile process?
How does evidence, experimentation and learning-by-doing come together in the agile cycle?

Agile equips you with the flexibility to identify problems before they become embeded

Upcoming Courses

Introducing the new Half-Day Leadership Intensive course at $500*

28th October, 2020, 9 AM - 12:30 PM AEST

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A course that understands you. And helps you understand

Agile is powerful and its change-making potential is exciting. But it does come with its own language, its own ways of working, its own mindsets. And these need to be learned and practised before they become embedded in a team.

ThinkPlace’s Agile for Policy and Programs course is unlike any other. It is specifically designed for leaders who wish to learn the concepts and methods of Agile and apply them to the challenge of making policy, programs and other design outputs of Government and NGOs.

You’ll learn in small groups alongside like-minded peers, using real-world scenarios to ensure you emerge not only with a theoretical knowledge base but with experience in how to apply it to the challenges you face.

The course materials have been developed by and for large Government departments in Australia and have been used to successfully embed agile in the fabric of how they operate and make change. The methods and mindsets taught are born from the experience of expert ThinkPlace designers, applied pragmatically to the landscape and challenges that today’s leaders face.

It’s also pretty fun.

The design multiplier

Agile and design thinking are far from the same thing. But they do nestle together in a particularly effective way.

Chances are, if you’re in an organisation that is making things in the optimal way that you’ll be familiar with ideas such as prototyping, rapid iteration, user-testing and scaling up as a path to successful implementation.

You can run many of these processes without an Agile methodology around them but we have found, time and time again, that Agile not only provides the perfect scaffolding, it creates an enabling environment where people find it easy to contribute and leaders find it easy to harness those contributions.

It’s how we run almost all of our internal projects at ThinkPlace. It’s how we run so many of the projects we collaborate on with governments and other organisations around the world. And now we want to share that knowledge with you.

Upcoming Courses

Introducing the new Half-Day Leadership Intensive course at $500*

28th October, 2020, 9 AM - 12:30 PM AEST

Spots are limited. Click below and send your details to secure a spot. One of our friendly team will get in touch for payment options.

*Pre-work and post-work will be provided. Facilitated in real time by one of our three senior designers along with our practice lead Darren Menachemson. Classes are not pre-recorded. Limited spots left! Click below and send your details to secure a spot. One of our friendly team will get in touch for payment options.

If you'd like to know when the next course is scheduled, please register your interest below and we will get in touch.

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