Bain in the News

By taking an agile management approach, including cultivating a mindset of trust rather than control, leaders give their company its best shot at transformation. But leading an agile transition takes work and requires the organisation to become less boss-centric and more customer-centric.

According to Darrell Rigby, partner and head of global innovation and Agile practices at Bain & Company, and co-author of “Doing Agile Right,” Agile teams are small, cross-functional, fully-dedicated teams that focus on creative, innovative improvements to customer products and services, the business processes that produce them and the technologies that enable those processes.

Business leaders realize that the pace of competition has increased, and scale and cost advantages can be overcome by fast, ferocious startups with speed and agility. To keep pace with this changing environment, leaders aspire to create nimble, flexible enterprises. Yet many recognize that their day-to-day reality is silos, sluggish processes, and stalled innovation.

Sarah Elk, Partner at Bain & Company, discusses her book "Doing Agile Right." She discusses the importance of companies adapting and creating change.

For decades, business leaders have been painfully aware of the huge chasm between their aspiration for a nimble, flexible enterprise and the reality of silos, sluggishness, and frustrated innovation. Today, Agile is being hailed as the essential bridge across that chasm. Bain & Company are proud to announce the launch of their new book titled ‘Doing Agile Right’ which its enthusiasts say can transform any company, catapulting them to the head of the pack.

Recoveries have always mattered in business. Some of the biggest shifts in market share occur coming out of downturns, when new industry leaders—and new industries—often emerge. Rarely, though, has recovery meant putting people’s lives at risk.  

As Agile continues to eat the world, with the five largest and fastest-growing firms on the planet steadily increasing their market capitalizations, including three with trillion-dollar values, it’s not surprising that we see a torrent of new books and articles about what’s involved in becoming agile.