The other day I stumbled upon good article (again) on the BCG (Boston Consulting Group) site:
BPT vs Agile
https://www.bcg.com/publications/2024/why-companies-get-agile-right-wrong
My summary so far
BCG’s finding: only about half of companies claiming high agile maturity actually achieved transformation goals with real business impact — while in the same time 47% adopt the practices but get none of the benefit.
Naturally those accused of “operating under the illusion of agility”, will be (very) weary of adopting “yet another ideology” on top of or instead of agile.
Here is a simple clarification.
BPT and Agile are not competitors
They are “different levels”. How? Examples.
| BPT (operating model) | Agile | |
|---|---|---|
| Answers | what should exist — landscape segmentation, AI alignment, ownership | how is the Product/Technology to build — delivery cadence, team ritual |
| Scope | Organization/Strategic/structural | Product/Technology/Team/execution |
| Failure it fixes | Business declares nothing coherent | Waterfall handoff delays |
Do not build the wrong thing well
BCG found 47% fail: Fact is top-down dev. management is the antithesis of agile, yet without outcome-oriented governance connecting strategy to squads, agile teams focus on justifying work, to get funded thus shifting priorities — i.e., they bolt agile delivery onto an unclarified business/product/tech landscape. No BPT segmentation → no stable “why” to inform → the product agile theater.
Summary
Agile without clear and simple Op model like BPT = fast execution of an unclear mandate. BPT without Agile = correct scope, slow delivery. You need BPT (Op Model) first (consolidate landscape, business declares product) — Agile second, inside a bounded product/tech segments, not as a substitute for architecture.
Vocabulary
BCG — Boston Consulting Group, a global management consulting firm.
Agile — an iterative approach to software delivery built on short cycles, working software over documentation, and responding to change over following a plan. Origin: agilemanifesto.org.
BPT — Business-Product-Tech, DBJ Method’s operating model for segmenting the landscape and aligning ownership across business, product, and tech. See BPT operating model.