What Is An Agile Mindset?

There are three laws.

1. The law of Small Teams - Small teams working on small tasks in short iterative work cycles deliver value to customers,

2. The law of the Customer - An obsession with continuously adding more value for customers,

3. The law of Networks - Coordinating work in an interactive network.

When these principles are in play, they shift how people in the organisation understand their work and how to approach challenges to get things done.

For traditional managers encountering Agile for the first time, many ideas can feel counterintuitive. They realise they can’t just tell people what to do anymore. Businesses make more money by not always focusing on making money. Instead of huge teams tackling big problems, small teams often work on tiny aspects that make the most difference. Paradoxically, letting go of control helps to increase power. Leaders aren’t the heroes charging in to fix things; they’re more like curators or gardeners, helping to nurture growth and keep things moving.

For a manager entering an Agile environment for the first time, it can feel like stepping into a foreign country where everything’s a bit backwards—where “yes” sometimes means “no,” where prices aren’t fixed, and where laughter might mean someone’s furious. The usual cues that guide you in a traditional environment don’t work here, leaving you confused, frustrated, and unsure how to navigate. Until managers learn the new signals, adapt their behaviour, and understand Agile thinking, they’ll likely feel lost and struggle to be effective.

That’s why you can’t implement Agile successfully if you’re still operating under the assumptions of traditional management practices. Agile requires embracing a completely different mindset. For most managers, this process isn’t comfortable—it’s challenging and often feels wrong at first. It’s a bit like learning a foreign language: awkward and difficult initially, but it becomes second nature over time and with practice.

At its core, Agile is about embracing a different mindset. When people in an organisation have the right mindset, it doesn’t matter what tools, processes, or practices they use; things tend to work out well. But without that Agile mindset, even the most perfectly implemented processes won’t bring any real benefit.

Ultimately, Agile is not just "doing Agile"—it’s about "being Agile". That shift in mindset is where the real transformation happens.