4-minute read
Agile2025 brought leading Agile experts to Denver for three days of workshops, keynotes, and networking events. As a manager of Logic20/20’s Digital Strategy & Transformation practice, this was an opportunity to immerse myself in the latest thinking on how organizations can continue evolving with agility.
After three energizing days, one message stood out: building trust is the foundation of any successful Agile transformation.
Below, I identified three impactful takeaways from the conference that I’ll be implementing across my teams to strengthen my management approach.
| Instead of | Do this | Why it works better |
|---|---|---|
| Using regular touch points as status meetings | Use 1:1s to have consistent conversations around personal growth and accountabilities | Regular accountability sessions create opportunities to turn lofty ideas into actions |
| Defining teams as either being Product-focused or non-product focused | Define your team’s business value and treat the value assessment as you would a product definition exercise | Defining business value brings together alignment and purpose not just for team members, but also sets expectations with stakeholders on what to expect |
| Focusing exclusively on the story-level requirements | Give your team members a holistic view of the challenge(s), you’re looking to solve so that your team is aligned on the “why” behind the priority and the ask | Create alignment around what your team is prioritizing and the “why” before executing on the work. Invest in the time to build trust and context setting with your teams before asking for commitments and providing story-level requirements |
Use 1:1s to have consistent conversations around personal growth and accountabilities
Across conference sessions and conversations, I heard one consistent theme: teams thrive when they feel trusted and connected. That trust enables deeper understanding of decisions, more meaningful collaboration, and a shared commitment to outcomes. Instill the practice of individual-level accountability by using 1:1s with your direct reports to regularly talk about growth and responsibilities as opposed to status updates. If you’re not focused on goals, your meetings (and stand ups) will simply become status check ins.
Define your team’s business value and treat the value assessment as you would a product-definition exercise
In any organization, it can be easy to apply labels of what defines a product team. While this can be an effective exercise, I’ve found that focusing first on a team’s business value can bring team members, decision makers, and stakeholders together to drive impact faster.
Orienting your team’s goals around direct business value can be helpful for both traditional product and product support teams that often depend on these downstream requests. This helps teams find identity within an organization while setting expectations for stakeholders on rules of engagement.
Give your team members a holistic view of the challenge(s), you’re looking to solve so that your team is aligned on the “why” behind the priority and the ask
During Redesigning Work for Collaborative Learning – Learning from Failures, the takeaway was clear: without a sprint goal, daily stand-ups become status meetings. Whether you’re running Scrum or Kanban, purpose drives impact. Without it, teams risk becoming “story factories” rather than value creators.
Recognize that your team members need more than a set of requirements to perform at their best. Set your teams up for success by ensuring they understand the “why” behind their work.
When teams truly understand their organization’s goals beyond their projects, they feel empowered, included in strategic conversations, and connected to a greater purpose, leading to clearer focus, faster execution, and more meaningful results.
Agile2025 was an incredible reminder of why we do this work—and how trust, clarity, and purpose are essential to successful digital transformation. I look forward to applying these insights to our current and future Agile projects, continuing to create environments where trust and purpose drive projects forward.
Esther Suh is a manager in our Digital Strategy & Transformation practice.
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