Agile growth is defined as using small, rapid learning cycles to continually develop your products, teams and results. Agile is not just for software teams. Companies today are using agile to try new ideas, to get rid of barriers to their customers and to better understand their customers’ needs and wants all while avoiding chaos. A company’s goal with agile growth is continuous, steady improvement and continuous focus on its top priorities; not continued change.
This document provides practical steps for leaders to implement agile growth and will include how to direct your organization, how to operate successful cycles, how to measure outcomes and how to establish habits within your organization that will grow across your entire business.
1. Direct Your Organization With Outcome-Based Goals vs. Busy Work
The first step to implementing agile growth is to have focus. Teams will work faster when they know what success looks like and what is important at this time. In order to achieve this, you need to have outcome-based goals that link back to the customer’s value and to the overall business performance.
One easy way to describe direction:
- Choose 1–3 priorities for the next quarter
- Define your outcome goals (what has changed for who and by how much?)
- Identify the trade-offs (what will not be accomplished)
Example outcome goals:
- Reduce the number of lost customers in one segment
- Increase the percentage of users completing onboarding
- Decrease the amount of time to close sales for your key product
- Outcome-based goals help to eliminate “busy work” and keep your teams focused.
2. Create An Efficient Delivery System For Rapid Experimentation
Agile growth relies upon a well-functioning delivery system that converts ideas into tested results. The delivery system should allow for rapid testing and delivery of results and maintain quality. Most of the delays experienced in organizations are due to undefined accountability and excessive handoffs.
Key elements of a delivery system that can increase velocity:
- Cross-functional teams with a single accountable team member
- Cycles (of 1–2 weeks) with a measurable result at the end of each cycle
- Simplified rituals for planning that make the work visible and prioritize the work
Practical habits that decrease friction:
Work items must be small enough to complete rapidly
- Limit the amount of work being completed to avoid overwhelming the team
- Blockers should be reviewed daily and removed quickly
An efficient delivery system creates a safe and repeatable environment for experimenting.
3. Run Experiments That Will Change Decision Making
Agile growth is fueled by experimentation, not by opinions. All experiments should provide answers to questions and make decisions based on those answers. If an experiment does not provide the basis for making a decision on what to do next then it is not worth conducting.
A basic framework for structuring an experiment:
- Hypothesis: What is expected to improve and why
- Test: The smallest change possible that will prove or disprove the hypothesis
- Metrics: One primary signal that indicates the objective was met
- Decision Rule: What will happen if the results indicate success, failure or uncertainty
Types of common experiments:
- Demand signals via landing pages
- Revenue impacts via pricing and packaging
- Activation improvements via changes to onboarding processes
- Conversion lifts via changes to sales scripts
Good experiments provide a compound effect of learning over time.
4. Use Appropriate Metrics and Governance To Track Growth
Agile growth requires metrics that will enable speed. Too many metrics will slow down teams. Too few metrics will leave teams guessing. The optimal approach is to utilize a small set of leading indicators and conduct regular review sessions.
Typical components of a clean measurement stack include:
- North Star Metric: The value created for customers
- Input Metrics: Activities that drive results (activation, retention, usage)
- Health Metrics: Signals regarding quality, reliability, and customer support
Governance should remain relatively light and consistent:
- Weekly reviews to assess progress and tradeoffs
- Regular monthly review sessions to assess what worked and what did not
- Clearly defined rules to stop low-impact activities
This will ensure teams are held accountable and there is no unnecessary bureaucratic burden.
Conslusion
To successfully implement agile growth, a company must do more than simply adopt agile terminology. A company must have clearly defined objectives, a delivery system designed to produce results quickly, experiments that result in tangible decisions and metrics that guide future actions. When all of these components work together, a company learns and grows faster than its competition and achieves greater results with fewer resources. The most successful leaders keep their systems simple, protect focus and insist on fact-based decisions over opinions. When this is achieved, the speed and agility of the organization becomes a sustainable source of long-term growth.