Bottom up or top down: which way is right for agile?

The preferred way of working

Agile is quickly becoming the preferred way of working for organisations across every sector, but many are struggling to turn their ambition into reality. Our agile delivery lead, Suzie Walker, examines some of the most common pitfalls organisations face and how these can be avoided. 

The benefits of agile working are well established. But the price of getting to them can be daunting, even if it is typically offset by efficiencies in the long run. Large organisations can expect to invest months or even years, and six-figure sums, to implement agile effectively. The training, cultural and process changes involved in the transition to agile can consume significant time and resources.

So, for a faster, lower-cost route to agile, many large organisations attempt a ‘top-down’ approach, which begins with senior-level sponsorship and strategic planning. This has a number of advantages; it can break through silos, get everyone on the same page and dovetail with standardised processes that ensure consistency across teams. In principle, top-down has clear appeal, marshalling the resources and motivation needed to make this major shift happen. In practice, however, it can quickly run into problems.

When top-down falls over

One key reason is that people don’t like change unless they can clearly see the value of it. Imposing a new methodology from the top down can breed resistance, leading people to feel disengaged, which damages productivity and morale. And unless the new agile principles are based on a clear understanding of the challenges faced by development teams, they risk being misaligned with actual practices. Top-down implementation carries a risk of prioritising process over value – agile’s internal evangelists may be so focused on the methodology that they end up stifling creativity or creating the bureaucracy they set out to avoid. Alongside longer planning and rollout cycles, all of this can mean that despite its best intentions, a top-down approach to agile can get bogged down and cost more.

Bottom up or best of both?

'Bottom-up' strategies, where agile practice spreads from one pioneering team to others, have the advantage of bringing people with them and being closely aligned with real-world practice. But they, too, can eventually run into cultural resistance as well as being out of step with broader strategy and lacking leadership buy-in.

A hybrid approach, on the other hand, takes the best of both worlds. In our experience with client projects, it has been the most effective way to help large organisations realise the benefits of agile in a fast and cost-effective way.

We believe that a hybrid agile approach has seven characteristics:

1. Leadership commitment. Ensure that senior management sponsors the transformation and clearly communicates its vision and purpose.

2. Pilot teams. Begin the transformation by piloting agile practices with selected teams before scaling up.

3. A direction, not a roadmap. Establish a clear strategic goal rather than a rigid route for getting there. This includes measurable objectives that track the impact of agile, and could be supported by a centre of excellence that sets the metrics and provides the coaching and consultancy needed.

4. High-performing teams. Identify the teams that you think could excel in an agile environment, invest in targeted training and coaching for them, and give them the autonomy to adapt agile practices to their needs.

5. Standardisation, not rigidity. Set standards for agile practices to ensure consistency but give teams the leeway to adapt and experiment within them.

6. The right tech and tools. Give teams the technology to support agile workflows, from collaboration platforms to testing tools. DORA (DevOps Research and Assessment) metrics, for example, focus on the metrics that matter for agility and provide a roadmap for high-performing teams.

7. Continuous reflection and iteration. Agile is a journey, not a destination. Regular reviews will identify areas for improvement and adaptation.

Hybrid benefits

By combining elements of top-down and bottom-up agile strategies, organisations can give the methodology a better chance of success. Piloting with specific teams, for example, can inspire others to adopt agile, helping the practice to grow organically and allow others to learn from real-world experience rather than feeling that they are experimenting. And the combination of leadership buy-in with a firm but flexible strategy allows for agile to scale without running into roadblocks – or running out of resources.

We’ve used hybrid approaches to improve agility across multiple sectors, including finance, retail, insurance, media and public sector organisations.

What’s your experience with agile been like? Does the hybrid approach have resonance for you? I'm interested to hear about your experiences.

Suzie Walker is Agile Delivery Practice Lead at Qodea.

If you'd like to get in touch with Suzie, email: suzie.bridgman@qodea.com