Agile Kata

Changing an eco-system like a company to an agile organization, is a complex endeavor. Using a prescriptive, plan-driven approach is not going to be successful. The facts unfortunately support that problem. 75% of all agile transformations fail based on a McKinsey business agility study from 2022. Out of all the challenges organizations face, 48% state that creating an agile culture is their single biggest challenge.

Back in 2018, Joe Krebs from Incrementor, created the Agile Transformation Kata, to address common transformation challenges our clients were facing. Based on their feedback and interest, we knew that Kata thinking hit the spot. It was obvious that many professionals were looking for better ways of introducing agility into an organization and the proven pattern of the Kata provided this fresh new look.

But we soon realized that the Agile Transformation Kata can do much more than “just” helping organizations in their agile transformation. Through feedback and application, we noticed many more use cases emerge. As a result we dropped the word “transformation” and began referring to it as the Agile Kata. Today, you will find teams use the Agile Kata also to improve their existing process (e.g. Scrum or Kanban), drive organizational change, create an agile culture or increase business agility. Some also began to use the Agile Kata as their agile team process by replacing for example Scrum. The possibilities and opportunities are endless.

On March 31st, 2022, we released the Agile Kata as a share-alike license under Creative Commons on www.agilekata.org. The goal was to share the pattern and give many more professionals an opportunity to experience the power of the Agile Kata. Shortly after, many volunteers had stepped up to provide valuable experiences or offered help to translate the original whitepaper into more languages. Want to receive updates about the forthcoming Agile Kata Book?

To address questions from professionals and to help more people using the Agile Kata effectively, we launched the www.agilekata.pro program in 2022, that has officially kicked off in 2023. Ten certified Agile Kata Pro trainers completed the initial train-the-trainer program to offer Agile Kata training around the world. In the spirit of continuous improvement, the Agile Kata Pro is a continuous learning and certification program for Agile Kata Professionals.

As part of the spin-off of the Agile Kata from Incrementor to Agile Kata Pro, we invite you to visit and join the global community of Agile Kata professional at www.agilekata.pro. You can learn about the program, register for a course and became a Certified Agile Kata Professional. We are proud that we were able to launch the program but we are even prouder that the Agile Kata can now thrive in the hands of a larger, diverse community.