The Agile movement has brought the speed, innovation, flexibility and enthusiasm of entrepreneurial start-ups, to businesses of all shapes and sizes. Our Agile Stores Manifesto empowers retail organizations to shift their mindset, rapidly adapt and succeed in the face of change.
20 years ago, a group of software developers recognized that product management was too slow and cumbersome to keep up with market demands. Their solution was the Agile Manifesto, a new approach to management that has been adopted by and driven rapid growth across many industries.
Since the 1960s the retail industry has become more and more complex and, accelerated by the volatility of 2020, has now reached a similar inflection point. The Agile Methodology has already been adopted by fast fashion, supply chain and eCommerce, but we believe 2021 is the year that the stores must also join this Agile movement.
So we have taken the four values of the Agile Manifesto and translated them for the Retail Store. (We kept the same ‘over’ construct as the original Manifesto. That is, while there is value in the items on the bottom, we value the items on the top more.)
Engaged humans
over compliant task-doers
Action
over insight
Store networking
over central instruction
Learning and adapting
over following a plan
Retail success depends on store teams who really care and go the extra mile for customers and colleagues. So, while ensuring conformity and consistency is important, motivated and engaged store teams are even more so.
Having insights is clearly important for focusing and prioritizing efforts. However endless analysis, meetings and reports must not get in the way of actually getting work done, fast.
The center is responsible for setting important company-wide goals. However, each store faces their own challenges on the ground. Stores, and their peers who are closest to the problem, should collaborate to best fix them.
Plans are important, but they cannot be too rigid to accommodate inevitable changes in the environment, the customer, or – most critically – the things that are learned along the way.
| 12 Principles of Agile Software | 12 Principles of Agile Stores |
|---|---|
| Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software. | Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer, through both consistency and delight. |
| Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage. | Welcome responding to change, in a way that is aligned with the priorities of the company. |
| Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale. | Set continuous and frequent action plans, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, that aim to drive improvement, with preference for a shorter timescale. |
| Businesspeople and developers must work together daily throughout the project. | Support effective daily coaching and best practice sharing across the organizations by breaking down silos. |
| Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done. | Empower teams of motivated people, informed with the right information, to collaborate and get the job done. |
| The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation. | Centrally accessible and easily digestible digital communication trumps excessive physical documentation. |
| Working software is the primary measure of progress. | Improving trading performance is the primary measure of progress. |
| Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely. | Promote sustainable working. Teams should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely. |
| Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility. | A focus on quality and excellence enhances agility. |
| Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work not done--is essential. | Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work not done--is essential. |
| The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams. | Great teams will build the best ways of working. |
| At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly. | Regularly reflect on how to be more effective and adjust appropriately. |
