Agile valued by project teams, but not organisations

Organisations are far less willing than their employees to adopt agile working methods and are missing out on the benefits such as earlier delivery of projects and return on investment, according to a global survey published by AXELOS.

The survey of more than 2,400 professionals found that 81% of respondents, across all job roles and industry sectors surveyed, see value in working in an agile way.

“The use of agile approaches and techniques has come of age,” explained Nikos Paxos, AXELOS head of programme and project management. “The digital revolution has meant that businesses nowadays have to be able to adapt at an incredible rate. For these reasons agile is no longer viewed as niche and people appreciate the flexibility and the potential to deliver results sooner that working in an agile way brings.”

Individual enthusiasm did not translate to organisational adoption, however. The appetite to use agile methods among individual professionals is on average 37% greater than their employer’s. Considering the lack of appetite among organisations for agile working, it is surprising to note that people in senior management roles were among the most enthusiastic for it, with 83% acknowledging its value.

“Organisations seem to lack confidence in adopting agile methods and this has created a disconnect between the belief that professionals have in the value of agile compared with its use in their workplace,” Paxos remarked. “We believe that senior leaders, despite valuing agile working, are reluctant to relinquish full control and are concerned with the potential negative impacts of implementing ‘fragile agile’ which can lead to anarchic ways of working.”

AXELOS is best known for its PRINCE2 methodology. Last year it launched PRINCE2 Agile, which combines the flexibility and responsiveness of agile delivery with its established project management framework.

For further details and results from the survey, request your copy of the AXELOS 2016 PRINCE2 Report.