• What is Agile?
• What is fundamental to Agile?
• Does Storytelling play a role in making an organisation Agile?

If these are the questions you are asking yourself, then this 2-minute read is for you.

I remember watching a *video sometime ago, in which Indra Nooyi, CEO of Pepsico and Doug McMillon, Walmart President and CEO, were having a conversation on design. At one stage during the conversation Indra says, “No one wants to work for us anymore and all the good people are working in startups”.

As someone who has run her own business for a while and previous to that has worked for corporates, that statement resonated with me. As I listened to Indra I thought, “Why would anyone want to work for large corporations anymore?”

Decisions take time. A lot of time goes in preparing documents to update bosses. I have to be a part of several meetings. I am truly not interested in that sort of work. All I want to do is add value to the customer and every action of mine should fulfil that purpose.

And for a long time startup seemed like the only way to fulfil that purpose.

Then I read about Agile Organisations. Upon first introduction, Agile seemed like many startups within a large organisation.

So, what is Agile?

The world of Agile involves self-organising teams that work in an iterative fashion and deliver continuous additional value directly to customers.

What is fundamental to Agile?

After reading several articles on Agile, what Todd Little, CEO at Lean Kanban Inc. said about being fundamental to Agile seemed most relevant. Here is what he said,

The first line of the Agile Manifesto is about valuing individuals and interactions ahead of tools and processes. Yet what do we see being sold in the marketplace, but processes and tools? Agile has become way too much about processes and tools, partly as a result of the way the economic engine works. People are looking for, and buying, processes and tools, when it should be about the Agile mindset.

Does Storytelling play a role in making an organisation Agile? 

The moment we try to change mindsets, stories play a big role. I have written several blogs on changing minds with stories.

Here is what Steve Denning has to say about Storytelling and Agile Organisations.

Storytelling is a principal way in which you can change people’s minds and acquire an Agile mindset. People often ask me, “Why storytelling?” The answer is simple. Often nothing else works. In many situations, it’s often the only way in which you get people to break out of their current way of looking at the world and imagine something different.

So stories, either by living the story or experiencing the story, can lay the foundation for a new mindset.

If Agile is on your agenda, Storytelling has to be too.

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl32J4TCS0E

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