Agile Research / Business Insights

Purposeful Business the Agile Way

Turn squishy debates into concrete action.

The Three Questions Leaders Should Always Ask Their Teams

During the course of the pandemic, many employees are reconsidering their jobs. This Agile-inspired leadership approach can help retain your best talent and help them grow.

Pharmaceuticals

The Pandemic Forced Agile Innovation in Healthcare. Now Make It Stick.

Leading companies will maintain Agile ways of working and sustain their speed to market well beyond the crisis.

Agile Enterprise

Three Steps to Stopping Work That Isn’t Working

In a world of increasingly unpredictable change, running faster is not enough. Three actions can help businesses stop unproductive work and pivot to more promising options sooner.

Agile Enterprise

Three Steps to a Better Budget and Annual Plan

Business operates in a climate of constant change. Here’s how you can make your planning and budgeting process more Agile.

Agile Enterprise

Three Questions to Help Your Team Solve Problems

Don’t succumb to the temptation to provide all the answers. Instead, help your team get there themselves.

Agile Enterprise

A Day in the Life of an Agile CEO

To build and operate an Agile enterprise, executives shift their focus from operations to strategy and talent.

Agile Enterprise

Doing Agile Right: Why We Wrote the Book

Bain's Darrell Rigby, Sarah Elk, and Steve Berez share what inspired them to write a book about a tool they love.

Agile Enterprise

Why Agile and Waterfall Approaches Don’t Mix

Agile and waterfall teams can work together successfully, but blending the two approaches in a single project rarely leads to success.

Agile Enterprise

Let’s Have a Little Sympathy for the Agile C-Suite

Running an Agile transition requires corporate leaders to play many roles simultaneously without the supports Agile systems typically offer.

Agile Enterprise

Budgeting and Planning for an Agile Transformation

Bain Partner Steve Berez discusses best practices for planning and budgeting to unlock enterprise agility.

Agile Enterprise

Data Makes the Case for Agile

More than 70 research reports and the experiences of hundreds of thousands of Agile teams provide evidence that Agile improves results.

Agile Enterprise

Why Agile Teams Need Their Own Goals

Companies that launch multiple Agile teams must ensure that they are aligned without resorting to shared goals.

Agile Enterprise

Becoming an Agile Leader

Bain Partner Darrell Rigby discusses what Agile leadership teams can do to successfully guide transformation.

Agile Enterprise

How to Organize and Scale an Agile Operating Model

Bain‘s Sarah Elk discusses how to develop Agile models that create lasting, structural change.

Agile Enterprise

An Agile Approach to Technology and Digital Innovation

Bain Partner Steve Berez shares how companies across industries can pursue transformation like the best digital natives.

Agile Enterprise

Yes, Even Accounting Can Be Agile

Historically, support and control departments like finance, legal, and HR have shied away from Agile practices, but they’re missing a big opportunity.

Agile Enterprise

Is Your Agile Team Ready to Launch?

Even early experimental teams should tackle high-priority work with the assets necessary to succeed.

Agile Enterprise

Support and Control Functions Go Agile

Support and control functions like human resources and finance can empower Agile teams and benefit from becoming more Agile themselves.

Agile Enterprise

Using Agile to Clean Up Your Technology Mess

By breaking the work into small pieces, then testing and learning, an Agile approach can help maximize business value and minimize risk.

Agile Enterprise

Agile Innovation vs. Agile Organization: Building the Right Team for Each

Agile teams can help improve an organization’s operations as well as its innovation, but they don’t always follow the same blueprint.

Agile Enterprise

Agile Works in the Public Sector, Too

In the public sector, you’ll have to accept less predictability in order to make room for experimentation.

Agile Enterprise

How to Focus Your Agile Teams on the Right Problems

Each team’s mission matters.

Agile Enterprise

How to Ensure You Keep Getting Great Ideas for Agile Projects

Innovative ideas are the lifeblood of Agile success, and transparent feedback will keep a strong supply coming.

Agile Enterprise

Transparency and Experimentation

In the public sector and beyond, public scrutiny and political accountability are hallmarks of effective Agile enterprises.

Agile Enterprise

HR Needs to Be Agile, and Agile Needs HR

HR plays a critical role in supporting successful Agile teams, but it can also benefit from becoming more Agile itself.

Agile Enterprise

Harmonizing Agile and Traditional Ways of Managing

Agile and traditional management are not enemies, but rather complementary, mutually beneficial capabilities.

Agile Enterprise

What an Agile Leadership Team Does

Each member of the C-suite has specific responsibilities in building an Agile enterprise.

Agile Enterprise

Proving Agile’s Value to Leaders

To win over powerful managers, illustrate how Agile will make their lives better.

Agile Enterprise

Roles of Agile Team Members

For an Agile team to succeed, it’s important that members understand their roles and responsibilities.

Distribution

Using Agile in Retail to Thrive This Holiday Season

Bain Partner Darrell Rigby is joined by National Retail Federation President and CEO Matthew Shay and Harvard Business Review Senior Editor Steve Prokesch to discuss how retailers can succeed during a holiday season like no other.