Book SummaryThe Age of Agile, by Stephen Denning

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of The Age of Agile

In The Age of Agile, management expert Stephen Denning challenges traditional business practices, arguing that today's business environment is more unpredictable, customer-driven, and complex than ever. As such, it demands a more agile approach: Companies must continuously innovate to create value for their customers.

Denning offers a roadmap that organizations can use to become more agile, responsive, and innovative. By adopting these approaches, Denning asserts, businesses can improve their chances of...

The Age of Agile Summary Part 1: The Challenges of The Modern Business Landscape

Denning argues that changes in the business landscape mean that many of the old ways of managing and leading a company no longer work. In this section, we'll explore three traditional business practices—assuming the future will resemble the past, focusing on competitive advantages, and top-down bureaucratic management—and explain why Denning considers them obsolete.

Obsolete Practice 1: Assuming the Future Will Resemble the Past

Denning explains that traditional business strategy relies heavily on analyzing past data to forecast future market conditions. The idea is that, if companies collect and analyze enough data about what has happened before, they can predict emerging trends and pre-emptively invest their resources accordingly.

(Shortform note: While many would agree with Denning that data can't tell us the future, some business experts argue that forecasts are still useful in guiding decisions. However, they contend that rather than assuming forecasts will come true, business leaders need to embrace uncertainty and think through the probabilities of a range of possible outcomes. One way to do this is with...

The Age of Agile Summary Part 2: Agile Strategy

According to Denning, companies can only thrive if they set the correct priorities and goals in response to economic challenges, which allows them to make swift changes as necessary. In this section, we'll cover three things Denning says companies should prioritize: customers, the future, and continued innovation.

Strategic Principle 1: Prioritize the Customer

Denning argues that the customer should be the company’s highest priority and that firms should focus on delivering value that excites their users. This challenges traditional management practices that prioritize profit leading to investor return over customer satisfaction. He stresses that profit is a by-product of thrilling the customer, not a separate or conflicting goal.

Denning explains that this shift requires companies to change their goals, structures, and processes to be customer-centric. Additionally, top management must cultivate company-wide enthusiasm for bringing joy to customers by exceeding their expectations.

Knowing how to bring joy to customers requires precise information about the needs they want met. **Denning recommends constantly interacting with customers to gain feedback that will...

The Age of Agile Summary Part 3: Agile Management

Denning argues that to thrive, companies must ensure their management—the organization of teams, decision-making, and reporting structures—is as agile as their strategy. Denning highlights three important principles of agile management: small, self-managing, multi-disciplinary teams; networked coordination between these teams; and guidance from upper management. Let’s explore each.

Managerial Principle 1: Small, Self-Managing, Multi-Disciplinary Teams

Denning argues that companies can continuously innovate their products and services by organizing their workers into small, self-managing, multi-disciplinary teams. These small groups are organized around a single project—such as solving a problem with their current product or developing a new feature—and are granted wide latitude in selecting their methods for achieving these goals. How far that discretion extends will vary from company to company, but in general, the goal is for the team to move quickly without waiting for their decisions to be approved.

(Shortform note: While Denning focuses on the advantages of agile management, our commentary throughout this section will highlight some potential drawbacks....

Shortform Exercise: Put Agility Into Practice

This exercise will help you start putting Denning's ideas into practice. For each question, consider a company you’re currently part of or one that you’d like to start in the future.

Denning advises you to shift your focus to the future, to markets and products that may not yet exist. What might this look like for your company? For example, maybe your company should try to identify an emerging customer need.