program selection system

Organizational change - for example, the introduction of Agile practices - is like an infection. At first, the infection is localized and the body politic ignores it. Eventually and inevitably, the body politic will take notice, as its expectations and habits are disturbed. At that time, it will marshall its immune system and seek out and destroy the infectious change. IT management’s & business’s immune system is its governance processes. Unless governance processes and expectations are properly aligned with new agile and lean processes, agile and lean change will fail.

Especially in large development organizations, agile practices and processes are often introduced bottom-up where they create pockets of agility. While these pockets exchange agile techniques and practices they also spread out into other units. The network of these pockets creates a sense of unity and camaraderie among the agile workforce. After reaching a critical mass, this agile spirit is extremely infectious and will sooner or later target other units within the organization as well, for example the Project Management Office (PMO).