3. Agility

Skills in anticipating and managing uncertainty are significantly different from those applicable to situations which can be closely controlled or whose landscape is already familiar. Some of these skills can be grouped under the heading of “agility” – a term that has its background in the world of software development.

Resources providing an overall introduction to agility:

• Manifesto for Agile Software Development – which includes the higher value given to “responding to change over following a plan”
• Principles behind the Agile Manifesto
• The Agile Coach – a series of “no-nonsense guide” videos from Atlassian

3.1 Dividing up tasks into a series of short sprints

3.2 Obtaining useful feedback at the end of each sprint

3.3 Updating plans based on new information obtained

3.4 Combining a series of short sprints into lasting positive change

3.5 When Agile goes wrong