ADAPTING TO CHANGE

THE 5TH ANNUAL STATE OF AGILE AFRICA REPORT

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The pandemic fast tracks business adaptability needs

The pandemic fast tracks business adaptability needs

This has naturally raised the stakes for businesses to become even more agile across their teams, operations, and entire enterprise.

This year, Agile adoption in Africa is on a maturing trajectory and is also growing beyond the tech industries. We show how African organisations have adapted to these ever-shifting economic and social times.

“A challenge to Agile adoption in Africa is its diverse business
environments, impacting the appetite for it”

This has naturally raised the stakes for businesses to become even more agile across their teams, operations, and entire enterprise.

This year, Agile adoption in Africa is on a maturing trajectory and is also growing beyond the tech industries. We show how African organisations have adapted to these ever-shifting economic and social times.

“A challenge to Agile adoption in Africa is its diverse business
environments, impacting the appetite for it”

WHAT’S TRENDING

This year’s report has shown to be similar to worldwide trends when comparing our results to the 15th Annual State of Agile (Global) Report.

Notice familiar trends, uncover interesting correlations and gain new insights on how African organisations have adapted to the ever-shifting economic and social times.

AGILE EXPANDS ITS TERRITORY

Increase in sample representation from non-traditional industries, with the financial industry still leading the way.

Retail
2020

CLICK TO REVEAL 2021 RESULTS

Consulting
2020

CLICK TO REVEAL 2021 RESULTS

THE SMALL AND POWERFUL VOICE

Smaller businesses have increased their representation in this year’s survey, which is consistent with international trends.

5%

CLICK TO REVEAL 2021 RESULTS

2020

WHAT’S TRENDING

This year’s report has shown to be similar to worldwide trends when comparing our results to the 15th Annual State of Agile (Global) Report.

Notice familiar trends, uncover interesting correlations and gain new insights on how African organisations have adapted to the ever-shifting economic and social times.

AGILE EXPANDS
ITS TERRITORY

Increase in sample representation from non-traditional industries, with the financial industry still leading the way.

Retail
2020

CLICK TO REVEAL 2021 RESULTS

Consulting
2020

CLICK TO REVEAL 2021 RESULTS

THE SMALL AND
POWERFUL VOICE

Smaller businesses have increased their representation in this year’s survey, which is consistent with international trends.

5%

CLICK TO REVEAL 2021 RESULTS

2020

TEAM AGILITY

Given that the implementation of agile occurs within team contexts, it is vital for us to examine insights and metrics that surround the notion of team agility.

Understanding how teams view what agile means to them sheds light on how agile is currently put into practice. This includes any positive and negative sentiments for agile, and potential wish lists of how practicing Agilists would like to see the way forward for their teams.

Adapting to change image banner

TOP REASON FOR
AGILE ADOPTION

Ability to Adapt to Change is now the top reason for Agile adoption, for the first time, ahead of
Accelerate Product Delivery.

CHAMPIONING
PRODUCT OWNERS

Respondents have recognised the importance of Product Owners, where teams have increased in representation, however, this remains an impediment for speed in decision-making.

100% 75% 50% 25% 0%
2020

CLICK TO REVEAL 2021 RESULTS

10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
2020

CLICK TO REVEAL 2021 RESULTS

SAFe® IS STILL
THE KING OF SCALE

Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe® ) is still the most popular scaling framework. Hybrid frameworks are also on the rise. Scrum continues to dominate at a team level.

“Agile is being flexible and adaptable when customer’s or shareholder’s needs change.”

TEAM AGILITY

Given that the implementation of agile occurs within team contexts, it is vital for us to examine insights and metrics that surround the notion of team agility.

Understanding how teams view what agile means to them sheds light on how agile is currently put into
practice. This includes any positive and negative sentiments for agile, and potential wish lists of how practicing Agilists would like to see the way forward for their teams.

Adapting to change image banner

TOP REASON FOR
AGILE ADOPTION

Ability to Adapt to Change is now the top reason for Agile adoption, for the first time, ahead of
Accelerate Product Delivery.

CHAMPIONING
PRODUCT OWNERS

Respondents have recognised the importance of Product Owners, where teams have increased in representation, however, this remains an impediment for speed in decision-making.

100% 75% 50% 25% 0%
2020

CLICK TO REVEAL 2021 RESULTS

SAFe® IS STILL
THE KING OF SCALE

Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)® is still the most popular scaling framework. Hybrid frameworks are also on the rise. Scrum continues to dominate at a team level.

10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
2020

CLICK TO REVEAL 2021 RESULTS

“Agile is being flexible and adaptable when customer or shareholder needs change.”

“It’s about continuous learning. Do a little, learn a little and try again. It’s about the people, making sure they feel valued and have all they need to be able to do the best job possible. It’s about collaborating, making decisions as a team. Committing to work, delivering on it with as high a level of accuracy as possible” Survey Respondent, Team Agility

“It’s about continuous learning. Do a little, learn a little and try again. It’s about the people, making sure they feel valued and have all they need to be able to do the best job possible. It’s about collaborating, making decisions as a team. Committing to work, delivering on it with as high a level of accuracy as possible” Survey Respondent, Team Agility

BUSINESS AGILITY

Business Agility is the ability to adapt to change, learn and pivot, deliver at speed, and thrive in a competitive market.

Gone are the days when big eats small. Today, fast is eating slow. The ability to learn and deliver faster than competitors may be the only sustainable competitive advantage.

Adapting to change image block - fish

LEADERSHIP
CONTINUES TO LAG

Leadership training and understanding of agile has not improved since last year with about half of the leaders in this year’s sample indicating that they have not attended agile-specific training.

CHANGE MANAGEMENT:
THE VITAL INGREDIENT

Consistent with last year, only 10% of Agile adopted respondents deem the change management to be completely adequate.

Adapting to change jelly fish - Let Out Again

2020

CLICK TO REVEAL 2021 RESULTS

FINANCE PLAYING
CATCH UP

The evolution of agile goes all-inclusive, but finance needs to catch up to unlock Business Agility. On the topic of Finance departments, the financing of projects continues to be an impediment to agility, although it is very promising that traditional project-based funding models have declined from 49% to 39%.

KNOW THY
CUSTOMER

More than a quarter of Agilists are expected to put the customer at the heart of what they do, without having access to customer insights to make that happen.

26%

“The benefits of Business Agility, in one sentence, for me, is putting value into our clients faster, with better built-in quality.”

BUSINESS AGLILITY

Business Agility is the ability to adapt to change, learn and pivot, deliver at speed, and thrive in a competitive market.

Gone are the days when big eats small. Today, fast is eating slow. The ability to learn and deliver faster than competitors may be the only sustainable competitive advantage.

Adapting to change image block - fish

LEADERSHIP
CONTINUES TO LAG

Leadership training and understanding of agile has not improved since last year with about half of the leaders in this year’s sample indicating that they have not attended agile-specific training.

Adapting to change jelly fish - Let Out Again

CHANGE MANAGEMENT:
THE VITAL INGREDIENT

Consistent with last year, only 10% of Agile adopted respondents deem the change management to be completely adequate.

FINANCE PLAYING
CATCH UP

The evolution of agile goes all-inclusive, but finance needs to catch up to unlock Business Agility. On the topic of Finance departments, the financing of projects continues to be an impediment to agility, although it is very promising that traditional project-based funding models have declined from 49% to 39%.

2020

CLICK TO REVEAL 2021 RESULTS

KNOW THY
CUSTOMER

More than a quarter of Agilists are expected to put the customer at the heart of what they do, without having access to customer insights to make that happen.

26%

“The benefits of Business Agility, in one sentence, for me, is putting value into our clients faster, with better built-in quality.”

“The real challenge of not truly understanding agile lay when we had to challenge more of the deeper-seated assumptions and beliefs about what it means to be an agile organisation and how to do agile right without causing chaos in the organisation,” Senior Practitioner, Business Agility

“The real challenge of not truly understanding agile lay when we had to challenge more of the deeper-seated assumptions and beliefs about what it means to be an agile organisation and how to do agile right without causing chaos in the organisation,” Senior Practitioner, Business Agility

WHERE TO NEXT?

The vision of the IQbusiness State of Agile Annual Report is to offer a lens of agile maturity from a South African and more recently African perspective.

As a continent, we have made great strides in achieving agile practices, specifically at team level, but we have much work to do in order to realise the promise of Business Agility. Wherever you are on your Agility journey, find out how we can take the next steps with you and accelerate your growth on the continent.

WHERE TO NEXT?

The vision of the IQbusiness State of Agile Annual Report is to offer a lens of agile maturity from a South African and more recently African perspective.

As a continent, we have made great strides in achieving agile practices, specifically at team level, but we have much work to do in order to realise the promise of Business Agility. Wherever you are on your Agility journey, find out how we can take the next steps with you and accelerate your growth on the continent.