5 Key Differences Between Agile Adoption & Agile Transformation

People frequently mix the terms Agile Adoption and Agile Transformation. Explore the 5 key differences and decide which you should pursue.

A common question that participants ask me during my Agile training courses is what is the difference between Agile Transformation and Adoption. It’s a great question. I see five key differences between the two worth talking about.

But first, let’s agree on our terminology. People frequently mix the terms Agile Adoption and Agile Transformation and use them inconsistently. These are my working definitions for these two terms.

Agile Adoption Defined

The generally accepted definition of Agile Adoption is “a change in process to one that is consistent with the 4 Agile Values and 12 Agile Principles”.

The focus during Agile Adoption is on process change. You can view Agile Adoption as moving from one process, such as waterfall or SDLC, to an Agile process or framework. This might also be called an Agile transition.

The most common change in process is to implement the Scrum Framework (more below). The change in process could also mean implementing Kanban, Lean Software…