Remote agile: Problems, solutions, and pitfalls to avoid

Abstract

In response to increasing uncertainty and rapid change, firms are looking to implement new management methods to become more flexible and less hierarchical. One of the most popular of these methods is to be agile, which aims for reactiveness, collaboration, decentralized decision-making, and increased autonomy. However, agile was designed to work best with teams in which members are colocated, whereas during the COVID-19 pandemic—and likely in the post-COVID world—many employees are working remotely at least part of the time. We explore how to adapt agile to remote work, drawing from an in-depth case study of OP Financial Group, the largest bank in Finland. We highlight five problems and solutions to implementing agile in a remote setting and discuss the situations and types of teams in which remote agile will likely work and not work. Our findings provide guidance for companies looking to become agile in today’s new normal.