Over these last few months, I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with people across the country about their thoughts on agile transformations. In doing so, I noticed a recurring theme.

We tend to categorize companies, or subsets of companies as Agile or Waterfall.

At best, openly categorizing in this manner is an over simplification; at worst it can be damaging to the organization and people.

I do not find it productive, nor do I agree with some of the techniques used to make these categorizations. For example, I respectfully disagree with the approach of throwing out terms in rapid succession and have your audience respond with either Agile or Waterfall.

“Describe Marriage!”
“Agile.. wait it is Waterfall!”

These techniques are divisive, whether it be in a group or 1-on-1 setting. Companies, especially software companies, are complex and are not easily categorized.

I think part of the issue is that the methods and techniques used to analyze organizations are kept close to the vest. Agile Coaches and Consulting Agencies have their own “secret sauce” for evaluating a client, and therefore we rarely share them with the community. I’d wager the more successful ones respect the existing culture and nature of the organization, while informing their employees of other avenues to release early & often.

I’m not asking that we all bare our intellectual property to the world, but I do request that we all do our part to change the tone of the conversation.

Remember, it is about humanizing the process, not applying labels to organizations and people.