Bridging an agile skills gap requires both structured learning and practical application. I’d start by organizing targeted workshops tailored to our team's specific needs and reinforcing this with hands-on mentorship programs. Pairing experienced agile practitioners with less experienced team members fosters growth through collaboration. Additionally, I’d promote a culture of continuous improvement by regularly reviewing and adapting our processes. This approach ensures not just skill acquisition, but a mindset shift towards agility, empowering the team to excel together.

1. Agile Coaches: Bring in experienced agile coaches to provide practical guidance tailored to your team’s projects and challenges. 2. Real-World Simulations: Use agile sprints to help the team practice agile processes in a low-risk environment. 3. Start Small and use agile tools: Pilot agile practices in a smaller project or team to build confidence and refine processes before scaling up by utilising tools like JIRA, etc. 4. Encourage Continuous Learning: Support certifications like Scrum Master or Product Owner, and provide access to webinars, and agile communities. 5. Management Buy-In: Ensure leadership understands agile principles and actively supports the transition to build a culture of collaboration and adaptability.

Before starting with any process your team should understand what problems they are trying to fix in the first place. A common bad practice is when teams start with a new way of working and overwhelm everyone with complicated tools. Start with a Kanban board and an idea to be more flexible, deliver product in iterations and find a way to communicate blockers more effectively. After you have everyone onboard, slowly improve something small about the process every few weeks until it’s where you need it to be! TLDR: Be agile about adopting an agile process!

Think about why you want to introduce Agile methods: • fast response to issues and opportunities - scrum style daily meetings (call it something else) • resource optimisation, removal of road blocks- Kanmantoo board • access hidden skills - servants leadership • improving productivity or quality - success focussed lessons learned • resource utilisation - develop T shaped skills Agile is about leadership, not processes.