When I teach classes on the root causes of Agile project failure, I’m often asked which of the causes is most difficult to overcome. From an enterprise perspective, that is an easy answer: bad culture.
Sociologist Ron Westrum defines culture as “the patterned way that an organization responds to its challenges, whether these are explicit (for example, a crisis) or implicit (a latent problem or opportunity).” Westrum believes every organization fits into one of three cultural patterns: pathological, bureaucratic, or generative.