How to Drive Towards Business Agility Without Falling Into Transformation Theater - Fireside Chat with Jesper Boeg
A fireside chat on what distinguishes real agility from transformation theater — and the organizational conditions that enable evidence-based change rather than compliance-based performance.
Business agility starts with the actual work system
In this episode, I sit down with Jesper Boeg, who has spent nearly two decades helping organizations get out of the agile theater doom loop. We talk about what real business agility looks like beyond frameworks, dogma, and the performance of change.
We dig into the evolving role of CXOs and the trap of copying agile practices into places where they only create more friction. If your funding model and decision rights do not match your new organizational topology, you will not move from your old strategy to your new one. You cannot mandate an agile rollout and hope the operating model catches up. You have to look at actual lead time, manage work in flight, and create enough strategic adaptability to stay ahead of market constraints.
“Don’t go in trying to find nails in the organization with your hammer. Go in light, try to sense, try to nudge.”
I shared my own story of helping a biotech C-suite use agility to work on the company, rather than just in it. We also covered how lightweight interventions, like simple Kanban boards, can start a serious conversation about flow without forcing a big-bang rollout.
If you’re dealing with too much work in flight, conflicting priorities, and a funding model that refuses to adapt, this conversation will help you spot the difference between real operational change and another round of agile theater.
Jesper on LinkedIn: Jesper Boeg
Recommended Reading:
- Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore (on early adopters and scaling)
- How to apply crossing the chasm to transformation (My talk)
Try this: Identify one initiative where you have massive dependencies, perhaps an AI rollout. Instead of launching a company-wide program, apply a vertical slice approach. Limit the work in progress, build a cross-functional team, and measure the actual cycle time in a contained context.
Moving from agile theater to real business agility takes more than a framework. Start with the Scaling w/ Agility Crash Course or explore the Business Agility advisory path.
A free email series on building an organization that reliably converts strategy into outcomes — without the coordination overhead.
Yuval Yeret helps product and tech leaders move from agile theater to evidence-informed delivery. Work with Yuval →
