Traits of Agile Organizations

I wrote the following list of traits of agile organizations in a discussion at LinkedIn. I decide to preserve it here until I figure out what to do with it. 

Is there anything you think should be added or removed from the list? Are there any organizations beyond those mentioned in the list that you beleve are also agile? Comments are very welcome.


  • Likely to focus on core values instead of core business 
  • Likely to be network structures 
  • Likely to limit node size to 100-200 people (Virgin is an exception nowadays) 
  • Likely to have nodes responsible for complete revenue flows 
  • Likely to have decentralized command structures (in order to reduce response times and be more opportunistic) 
  • Likely to emphasize self-organization 
  • Somewhat likely to be democratic (W.L. Gore and Semco) 
  • Unlikely to emphasize economics of scale (though they use it when appropriate) 
  • Unlikely to standardise procedures across nodes. (Quite obvious why. Virgin Galactic, Virgin Trains and Virgin Balloon flights can hardly standardize their procedures. Semco does not standardize too much across manufacturing units because it would reduce resilience, even if it could bring them short term economic advantages.)


Sent from my iPhone

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