The Problem
Wherever one looks in the business world,
one sees change. But change of itself is not the problem. The
world is always changing, always has done and always will. Businesses
have always had to adapt to a changing world. But often the changes
that have taken place in the past have often been incremental.
When a radical change has taken place, the pace has been slow,
and has not been quickly followed by another significant change.
Furthermore, while there has always been uncertainty in business,
it has rarely been significant or sustained for long periods.
This really is the problem. Change is no
longer just incremental. Radical "nonlinear change"
which brings about a different order is becoming more frequent.
The pace of change is also significantly more rapid. Major and
sustained uncertainty is also common place.
This is the central problem which agility
addresses. It has very little to do with mass customisation,
or offering solutions, or cooperating to compete, or lean enterprises,
or e-commerce. Companies, whether they pursue mass production,
mass customisation, e-commerce, lean production, or whatever,
face very similar problems - nonlinear change, rapid change and
significant uncertainties. Mass customisation and other things
do not solve these problems, they happen to be the things that
at a particular moment in time, companies need to do. Agility
deals with the problem of how to do these things, and then the
next thing, and the next ....... and onwards. |