My colleague Wendy Friedlander has a great post on how “agile” is more than a catchy term:

Change is an absolute. Adapting to it is agile.

It is not an easy path, just a possibility for success.

I was reflecting on some similar ideas last night. We’re going through some growth (yes, I’m hiring if you’re interested), and while growth is exciting, there’s a lot of hard things about it, too. The challenge of finding the right people, reforming as a team, meeting increased needs and expectations, dealing with increased communication overhead. And that’s all on top of the ever-present challenge of shipping high-quality software.

There is no magic to agile that solves these problems. Instead, it gives you a fighting chance by creating a framework for reflection, communication, and continuous improvement. More important than that, though, is this: with a high-functioning agile team, you never face any problem alone. You’re tackling it with a group of talented people who you trust and who share your commitment to the team’s success.