We have a book club at work. The book under discussion right now is Succeeding with Agile: Software Development Using Scrum by Mike Cohn. If you have not read this book it is a must read. I bought copies for my team (I did get reimbursed later) because I thought it was so good. The following are comments about ideas presented in this book.

Agile so many times starts at the developer level. Usually a team lead or manager has read about Agile and wants to use it with their team. That is the way I started, I was a team leader. This works great for a limited period of time util you run into the bureaucracy of the standard software development process. That is the time to start thinking of how to transition the whole company or division.

One concept introduced by Mike is the Enterprise Transition Community (p. 63).

The Enterprise Transition Community exists to create a culture and environment where change can be released by those who are passionate about the success of the organization and where success leads to more passion from more people. The ETC does this not by imposing changes on the organization but by guiding groups who are implementing changes, by removing obstacles to doing Scrum well, and by creating energy and excitement for the change.

In other words you need a team at the appropriate level in management to take up the Agile cause. They are the ones who will guide the agile adoption and remove the obstacles. Read this section in the book, it might help you in your adoption.

Change is difficult for all of us. We get comfortable in a routine and like to maintain it. This is especially true at work where we spend a majority of our waking hours.

It becomes a challenge to Agile practices to an organization or a team because of resistance to change. Here are some ideas on how to introduce change :

1. Sell the team on the problem that needs to be fixed
   Many times we need to convince the team there is a problem. It is important we explain what the problem is and have the team agree that the problem needs to be addressed.
2. Have the team read about Agile
   Introduce the team to reading materials that clearly explain the Agile concepts you want to introduce. These may include blogs, white paper and books.
3. Attend Agile user group meeting
   There are Agile user groups in any metropolitan area. It is good to attend these meeting to get other developers opinion about Agile.
4. Do not be fanatical about Agile
   When you are passionate about Agile methodologies it is easy to be fanatical. This will turn people off because you do not listen to their concerns.
5. Choose one Agile practice to introduce
   To much change at one time overwhelms a team. Introduce one new Agile practice a month. This will make change easier because the team will have time to learn about the practice and apply it.