Chapter Wrap Up

Summary

It is absolutely impossible to establish a project as an island in a large company. The organizational structure of the company will always have an influence on the agile project. Of course, we’ll have the fewest problems if our company already has a project-oriented structure in place.

More often, however, we will encounter a departmental structure that can interfere with the agile development. Integrate the cross-section departments early on, so they are aware of the changed approach and their required role. By communicating openly and honestly with these departments, we’ll gain their support. This approach is also a marketing strategy. As soon as these other departments recognize the benefits of our process, they will provide better support, thus helping us improve the process further.

Establish a learning environment to compensate for missing skills and to make the job of the developers more challenging.

If help is needed from outside, keep in mind that there is no substitute for direct communication, so always try to have the external teams work on-site—if not permanently, at least occasionally.

An agile project means breaking with old habits on different levels. Only flexibility in the whole company allows the successful switch to agile development.