What Is an Agile Mindset?

Understanding the Agile mindset framework

Only 9% of Agile projects fail, compared to a 29% failure rate for the Waterfall methodology, over three times higher. This highlights Agile’s advantage in driving project success. It is believed that the concept of an Agile mindset is based on a 2006 book called Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Dr. Carol Dweck. The Stanford University psychologist proposed the idea of two mindsets: 

Fixed mindset

This could be viewed as a traditional mindset, whereby people stick to what they know best, opting for familiar paths rather than investigating new opportunities. Obstacles or challenges are avoided at all costs. A fixed mindset essentially means people have a predetermined view of the world and are unwilling to change it.

Characteristics of a fixed mindset include:

• Avoiding difficult tasks because they might fail
• Believing there’s only one “right” way to work
• Sticking to old workflows even when they no longer work
• Focusing more on problems than solutions
• Relying on a rigid hierarchy to make decisions

Growth mindset

This is the essence of the Agile mindset. People with a growth mindset are open to new ideas and different ways of doing things. They do not run from a challenge — they persevere and think outside the box to develop a solution. Setbacks are not viewed as failures; rather, they are an opportunity to learn something new.

Having a growth mindset helps you:

• View failure as an opportunity to learn
• Find creative ways to boost productivity
• Embrace feedback to evolve and improve
• Stay open to new ideas and approaches
• Build stronger collaboration within your team

A growth mindset thrives on collaboration, but achieving it across global teams can feel overwhelming. 

I’ve seen this firsthand with Hootsuite, whose marketing operations team faced growing workloads across 16 offices in 175 countries. Working across so many different locations and time zones was proving difficult for team members.

After Wrike became their central hub, though, the gaps were bridged. Emilie Vachon, Lifecycle Marketing Coordinator, explained how Wrike transformed workflows:

“If you have it in Wrike, everything is there. Everyone’s aligned, and everyone can be absolutely positive on the deliverables they need to deliver to your team.”

For me, this perfectly captures the essence of an Agile mindset: finding ways to stay connected, no matter how complex the environment.

Principles of the Agile Manifesto

What makes Agile more than just another way of working? It all boils down to the set of principles laid down in the Agile Manifesto. 

Back in 2001, 17 software developers, scientists, programmers, and authors came together to form the Agile Manifesto. It has four key pillars:

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
• Working software over comprehensive documentation
• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
• Responding to change over following a plan

These pillars guide how teams think, collaborate, and deliver results. Dr. Ahmed Sikhy later adapted Dweck’s research to form our current understanding of the Agile mindset definition. Sikhy incorporates the key elements of the Agile Manifesto and divides his definition into three factors:

• Values: As mentioned above, there are four core values in the Agile Manifesto. These Agile pillars prioritize individuals, working software, customer collaboration, and responding to change.
• Principles: The Agile Manifesto also contains 12 principles. These Agile mindset principles focus on customer satisfaction, regular delivery, team autonomy, face-to-face interaction, continuous improvement, and a sustainable working pace.
• Practices: These are the various activities and processes used by an Agile team to apply the Agile mindset to their workload. These practices include Agile estimation techniques, user story creation, and iteration planning. Activities will vary depending on the Agile project management framework used.

To cut the chase, to achieve an Agile mindset, you must incorporate the Agile values and principles into your daily working practices.

How to implement Agile practices

Ready to embrace Agile practices in your team or organization? Here are six ways to get started:

1. Adopt an Agile mindset

The 16th Annual State of Agile report found that 36% of product or application owners and 32% of engineering teams have adopted Agile. 

Tuckman’s group development theory says teams go through four stages when going through a growth stage:

• Forming
• Storming
• Norming
• Performing

Agile starts with how people think. To make it work, your team needs to develop an Agile mindset that encourages innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning. How do you achieve this? 

• Encourage team members to view challenges as opportunities to grow.
• Replace a fear of failure with a focus on learning and improving.
• Enable open communication and collaboration at all levels.
• Adapt workflows to prioritize flexibility over bureaucratic processes.

2. Break projects into manageable pieces

What’s the best way to keep progress moving? Divide projects into smaller tasks that are easier to handle and adjust as needed. 

But breaking tasks down is only part of the puzzle. You also need to balance the workload across your team. With Wrike, you can see your team’s workloads at a glance using workload charts. These charts give you a clear view of who’s working on what, how much effort is allocated to each task, and where there’s room to adjust.

3. Treat Agile as an ongoing process

How do you make Agile sustainable? Understand that it’s a journey, not a one-time change. Agile methodology requires constant reflection and refinement to stay effective.

As a project manager, ask yourself:

• Are we regularly reviewing what’s working and what’s not?
• How well is our team adapting to new challenges?
• Are our Agile practices delivering value consistently?
• Do we need to adjust our workflows to improve efficiency?

Be open to evolving your Agile processes as your team learns and grows.

4. Invest in Agile coaching

Not sure how to get your team on board with Agile methodology? An Agile coach can guide your team through the process and help them grow into this new way of working.

A coach can help team members:

• Resolve conflicts and embrace organizational agility
• Build confidence in making decisions without constant oversight
• Perceive challenges as opportunities for growth and innovation
• Adapt to market and shareholder demands

5. Leverage project management software

Getting started with Agile is much easier when you have the right tools. A project management platform like Wrike keeps your team organized, focused, and ready to adapt. 

For example, you can set up a custom workflow for your software development team to help them prioritize tasks, track progress, and stay on top of deadlines — all in one place.

If there’s one thing I know about project management software, it’s that it needs to be flexible. BigCommerce, one of our customers at Wrike, demonstrates this perfectly.

Its professional services team works with various design agencies, each with its own preference for methodologies. Neal McCoy, Senior Director of Professional Services, shared:

“In the eCommerce world, you work with a lot of design agencies. We find that some design agencies prefer Waterfall, and some prefer Agile, so we need to be flexible and be able to accommodate that as we’re onboarding customers on our platform.”

Using Wrike’s versatile work management system, BigCommerce could accommodate Agile and Waterfall methodologies while empowering stakeholders to work in their preferred style.

Patrick O’Connor, Manager of Professional Services, added:

“Behind the scenes, we use a Kanban board and Agile. And we have a few custom workflows built as well at the project and the task level.”

This flexibility ensures teams stay aligned and productive, no matter the methodology.

6. Prioritize people over processes

According to recent stats, motivated employees are 87% less likely to quit and 17% more productive. Agile values individual interaction, so focus on your team first. This means creating an environment where people feel connected and motivated. Replace lengthy meetings with quick daily stand-ups to keep everyone aligned without wasting time.

Doing Agile the hard way? Switch to Wrike

We’ve talked about the Agile mindset meaning, its values, principles, and how to put it into practice. But how do you make it happen every day without overwhelming your team? That’s why you should consider Agile project management software like Wrike, which allows you to manage all your sprints in one place.

With Wrike, you can:

• Assign tasks to team members so you can hit your targets
• Empower continuous delivery and execute your sprints faster
• Monitor and track delivery timelines so you don’t miss deadlines
• Balance workloads based on availability and skills
• Process requests and eliminate initiation delays using request forms

Your team deserves to win with Agile. Let Wrike help you bring the mindset to life.