IT shops and development groups are losing ground to their dynamic business needs and market conditions. The processes and approaches they established years ago that were effective in lower-change environments are no longer able to keep pace today. Over many years, practices and organizational structures built up like bricks on a wall decreasing the IT organization's flexibility and ability to deliver value for the business. Some of these companies have turned to an agile approach to drive the organizational change required to achieve their desired state. In these cases, agile practices, principles and approaches are being used as instruments of organizational development where agile coaches are filling part of the role previously held by Organizational Development professionals. From the Organization Development Network,

Organization Development is a dynamic values-based approach to systems change in organizations and communities; it strives to build the capacity to achieve and sustain a new desired state that benefits the organization or community and the world around them.

• OD seeks to create the right environment, culture, and structure to build a successful workplace where workers feel engaged and needed.
• Scrum leverages a team-based approach emphasizing emergence, self-organization and commitment - rather than authoritarian control - which helps drives a participatory and engaging culture.

2. Relationship

• OD seeks to build strong and trusting relationships. OD sees business as a social sport where healthy relationships facilitate success and satisfaction.
• Scrum requires cross-functional teams focused on small product improvements which gather daily to discuss their coordinated efforts facilitating strong and trusting relationships.

3. Authenticity

• OD sees an open and authentic communication as critical to the quality of business solutions and relationships. OD seeks systems that promote and reinforce authenticity to enable quick problem identification and resolution.
• Scrum keeps everything about a project visible to everyone, it increases collaboration between the business and development, is defines regular frequent solution reviews and identification of organizational impediments which enable quick problem identification and resolution.

4. Inclusion

• OD seeks an inclusive organization to bring out the best in people and communication processes which allow for participation and collaboration.
• Scrum depends on team-based estimating and planning processes that encourage participation and collaboration which drive increased commitment and ownership.

5. Learning Environment

• OD seeks a learning environment which improves self-discovery and awareness. Employees and teams discuss strengths and weaknesses and feel support when developing new skills.
• Scrum includes a regular frequent team retrospective which focuses on what went well, what went wrong and what the team wants to do differently in the next work interval.

6. Respect

• OD believes that each team member of the organization adds to its value and individuals should demonstrate respect and appreciation for one another through work and decisions.
• Scrum believes that individuals are shaped by their background and their experiences. It is important to respect the different people who comprise a team.

7. Empowerment

• OD seeks appropriate division of work and empowering others which help ensure the organization realizes its capacity. When managers dis-empower employees, work is less intrinsically satisfying and roles are inefficient.
• Scrum defines a servant leader role called a Scrum Master who is responsible for overseeing the process, protecting the team from dis-empowering management practices, encouraging collaboration and identifying impediments to increase team satisfaction and effectiveness.

8. Flexibility

• OD believes there are many potential opportunities and solutions. Being flexible will allow for more and better creativity and collaboration.
• Scrum recognizes that development is not predictive and thus is based on an empirical process which allow teams to inspect and adapt based on their inputs driving increased solution and process flexibility.

9. Proactivity

• OD work is most effective when it is proactive versus reactive. While responding to circumstances is sometimes required, OD interventions look forward to help the organization succeed today and in the future.
• Scrum requires a more active and collaborative end-user role in the development process for the product leading to co-creation of value. Through frequent product reviews and process retrospectives, the organization stays strategically proactive through frequent tactical adjustments.

As an Agile Organization and Process Coach, I often intersect with Organizational Development professionals. And while our worlds are merging, and our focus and goals are congruent, we are often impacting only a small fraction of the overall domain where they roam. For our clients to be truly successful and reach their full potential, I believe that we must seek out their wisdom, experience and collaboration. And as they reach into software development organizations, recognize there are new tools and professionals available which can help achieve dramatic results.