Chapter 17
Start Somewhere

You might wonder if agile approaches have jumped the shark—whether agile is past its prime.^[27]

Or maybe you or your managers thought agile approaches were merely a different project life cycle. Someone thought agile approaches were for teams only. No one thought the managers and the entire organization would need to change the culture. The transparency agile approaches bring is not what you had in mind.

You might have other concerns, such as no product owners for your teams. Or you might have too many managers who want to control what the teams do, threatening the teams’ move toward self-management.

Use this chapter for ideas about what you can do. You might not be able to transform your team into an agile team, but here are two basic ideas that will help you deliver value faster: limiting work in progress and asking people to work as a cross-functional team.

Try these ideas only if the team wants to do so. Do not impose agile approaches on any team. If you aren’t sure where to start, consider beginning with your work.