Let’s take a look at what these factors mean and what a ‘5’ looks like in each area: 

Acceptance of agile 

The highest score here means that all stakeholders are fully aware of the behaviors, concepts and techniques required to work in an agile way. They’re happy to work in this way and understand the advantages that it brings. Important behaviors include: 

• Everyone accepts the agile philosophy and understands how it differs from a traditional way of working; 

• People have been trained to an appropriate level; and 

• There are no blockers to using agile from any part of the organization. 

Advantageous environmental conditions 

A top score here means the overall working environment is very supportive of working in an agile way, people are assigned full-time to their work, are appropriately skilled, and have very efficient platforms and processes. Contractual frameworks and compliance considerations are not restrictive. Important behaviors include: 

• People are experienced in their jobs; 

• Third parties are comfortable working in an agile way; and 

• Commercial and contractual details don’t inhibit the agile way of working. 

Ability to work iteratively and deliver incrementally 

A level 5 in this area means it’s easy to deliver benefit to the customer through regular, partial deliveries of the product. It’s also easy to work iteratively and products can be refined by frequent formal and informal deliverables. There’s a desire to learn, experiment and explore – and fail – as well as an overarching feeling of ‘start small – think big’. Important behaviors include: 

• The team’s happy to experiment and be creative; 

• It’s understood that things are rarely right first time; and 

• The project can be broken down into chunks that can deliver early benefits. 

Ease of communication 

The highest score here means that communication is easy across all of the parties. The environment’s ‘communication rich’ so there’s a lot of face-to-face interaction, and other information like prototypes and models are readily available. Important behaviors include: 

• High levels of visibility and transparency, like plans on walls and co-located workers; 

• A lot of informal communication – face-to-face and over the phone; 

• Limited formal reporting; and 

• ‘Little and often’ is seen as a safe way of delivering staying in control. 

Level of collaboration 

A top score here means there’s a high level of collaboration, which is typified by a ‘one-team’ culture and excellent internal and external working relationships. High levels of trust and a desire to be helpful exist. Important behaviors include: 

• A partnership approach between the customer and the supplier; 

• No ‘silos’ or ‘turf’; 

• People work quickly, are helpful and look out for each other; and 

• An acceptance that mistakes will happen because of informal communications. 

Flexibility of what is delivered 

A level 5 in this area means stakeholders fully accept that change is inevitable and needs to happen. They are comfortable with the role they need to play in prioritizing the work, and understand that the scope of the work and the quality criteria are flexible to protect the level of quality and the deadline for the outputs. Important behaviors include: 

• It’s accepted that the detail will change, but significant changes need to be controlled; 

• De-scoping and prioritization is a team exercise, driven by the customer; and 

• Embracing change at the detail level produces more accurate products.