tech·nic·al·ly agile class·i·fic·at·ion

Capability: Building Adaptive Competence for Sustainable Value Delivery

Building persistent competencies that enable teams and organisations to deliver predictable, sustainable value and confidently adapt to evolving challenges.

A Capability is a persistent, cross-cutting competence that enables teams or organisations to deliver value predictably, sustainably, and adaptively. Capabilities are not one-off techniques or transient tools; they are cultivated over time and embedded into the way of working.

Image
https://nkdagility.com/resources/capability/

Overview

Capability refers to a persistent, cross-cutting competence that empowers teams or organisations to deliver value in a predictable, sustainable, and adaptive manner. Unlike transient tools or one-off techniques, capabilities are cultivated over time and become embedded in the organisational culture and processes. This long-term, systemic nature of capabilities is what distinguishes them from other concepts such as practices or tools, which may be more focused on specific tasks or methodologies.

Capabilities are essential for fostering an environment where teams can respond effectively to changing demands and challenges. They enable organisations to leverage their collective skills and knowledge, ensuring that value delivery is not only efficient but also aligned with strategic objectives. By developing capabilities, organisations can create a robust foundation that supports continuous improvement and innovation, allowing them to adapt to market shifts and customer needs without losing momentum.

The cultivation of capabilities involves a commitment to learning and development, where teams are encouraged to enhance their skills and share knowledge. This collaborative approach not only strengthens individual competencies but also builds a cohesive team dynamic that is crucial for high performance. As teams grow in their capabilities, they become more adept at identifying and addressing issues proactively, leading to improved outcomes and reduced risk.

Capabilities also play a vital role in aligning various functions within an organisation. They serve as a common language that bridges gaps between different teams, fostering collaboration and ensuring that everyone is working towards shared goals. This alignment is particularly important in agile and DevOps environments, where cross-functional collaboration is key to delivering value quickly and efficiently.

Moreover, capabilities are not static; they evolve as the organisation learns and adapts. This evolution is driven by feedback loops, where insights gained from past experiences inform future practices. By embedding a culture of continuous learning, organisations can ensure that their capabilities remain relevant and effective in the face of new challenges.

In contrast to principles or philosophies, which provide guiding values, capabilities are actionable and measurable. They can be assessed and refined over time, allowing organisations to track their progress and make informed decisions about where to invest in further development. This focus on tangible outcomes is what makes capabilities a critical component of a successful knowledge taxonomy.

Ultimately, the development of capabilities is a strategic investment that pays dividends in the form of enhanced agility, resilience, and the ability to deliver consistent value. By prioritising capabilities, organisations position themselves to thrive in an ever-changing landscape, ensuring that they are not just reacting to change but actively shaping their future through informed, deliberate action. This proactive stance is what enables teams to navigate complexity and uncertainty with confidence, driving sustained success and innovation.

Learn More about Capability

Videos XXX

How to Measure Your Organization's Ability to Improve Value Through Innovation

Learn how to assess and improve your organisation’s innovation capability using evidence-based management and key metrics like technical debt, innovation rate, and complexity.
Videos XXX

How to Tackle Technical Debt Without Halting Progress: Smarter Ways to Keep Your Team Moving Forward

Struggling with technical debt? Discover practical ways to tackle legacy systems, boost team morale, and deliver value—without grinding to a halt.
Tags

Continuous Learning

Fostering a growth mindset and knowledge sharing for sustained team improvement.
Tags

Ability to Innovate

Ability to Innovate is one of the four key value areas of Evidence‑Based Management that gauges organizational capability in terms of innovation. It is composed of a group of measures that assess how effectively an organization generates, implements, and sustains innovative solutions. Rather than a single metric, this group may include indicators like the frequency of experiments, innovation throughput, and learning cycles, offering a broad view of the organization’s capacity to innovate.
Tags

Time to Market

Time to Market is one of the four key value areas of Evidence‑Based Management that focuses on organizational capability. It is not a single measure but a group of metrics that evaluate the speed at which ideas are transformed into deliverable products or features. This collection of measures may include lead time, cycle time, and overall development duration—providing a comprehensive view of how quickly value reaches the customer.
Tags

Unrealised Value

Unrealized Value is one of the four key value areas of Evidence‑Based Management and represents a group of measures focused on the potential value that could be captured with further improvements. Instead of being a single metric, it includes various indicators that assess untapped opportunities, such as latent market demand or areas for innovation. These combined measures offer insight into how much additional value remains available for the organization.
Tags

Current Value

Current Value is one of the four key value areas of Evidence‑Based Management. Rather than being a single measure, it comprises a group of indicators that collectively assess the tangible, real‑time value a product or service delivers. This group of measures includes, for example, customer satisfaction data, revenue impact, and performance feedback—all of which help determine how much value is being realized at present.
Videos XXX

Empowering Your Team: Why Quick Fixes in Agile and DevOps Are a Myth

Explains why lasting Agile and DevOps success requires empowering teams and building internal capability, not relying on quick fixes or external consultants for solutions.
Videos XXX

Focusing Beyond "Agile": Building True Capability in Organizations

Explores why building organisational capability, competence, and continuous learning is more effective than focusing solely on Agile roles, frameworks, or labels.
Tags

Artificial Intelligence

Leverage Artificial Intelligence to enhance decision-making, automation, and innovation in Agile, DevOps, and software development.
Videos XXX

Modernising Legacy Systems: How to Tackle Security Risks Without Breaking Your Business

Struggling with legacy systems? Discover how to modernise securely, reduce risk, and build resilience—without trading old problems for new ones.
Videos XXX

Scaling Smart: How to Build Sustainable Growth Without the Chaos

Learn how to achieve sustainable, resilient organisational growth by focusing on simplification, value delivery, and effective agile practices—avoiding chaos as you scale.
Videos XXX

Unlocking the Power of Immersive Learning for Product Management

Explores how immersive learning in product management blends practical assignments, evidence-based metrics, and reflection to drive real organisational change and improvement.
Videos XXX

What would be an example of a great agile consulting outcome for a client?

A great agile consulting outcome enables organisations to adapt quickly to change, fostering resilience, decentralised decision-making, and empowered, responsive teams.
Tags

Platform Engineering

Platform Engineering is the practice of designing, building, and maintaining internal platforms that enable developers to deliver value independently, reliably, and at pace.
Tags

Agentic Agility

Agentic Agility is the ability for humans and AI to take intentional, adaptive action within socio-technical environments, enabling continuous improvement, value delivery, and organisational resilience. It transforms Agile, Scrum, and DevOps from passive execution into deliberate evolution, ensuring agility remains a living capability, not a hollow label.
Categories

Leadership

Leadership is about driving organisational agility, fostering accountability, and enabling teams to deliver value continuously. Effective leaders challenge the status quo, inspire collaboration, and guide teams through complex transformations with clarity and purpose. In this category, explore strategies for cultivating adaptive leadership, enhancing decision-making, and building resilient, high-performing teams in the ever-evolving landscape of modern business.
Tags

Minimum Viable Product

Building the Minimum Viable Product to test ideas and validate market assumptions quickly.

Connect with Martin Hinshelwood

If you've made it this far, it's worth connecting with our principal consultant and coach, Martin Hinshelwood, for a 30-minute 'ask me anything' call.

Concepts


Categories


Tags

GitHub (4)
Scaling (15)
Windows (97)

Our Happy Clients​

We partner with businesses across diverse industries, including finance, insurance, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, technology, engineering, transportation, hospitality, entertainment, legal, government, and military sectors.​

Schlumberger Logo

Schlumberger

Xceptor - Process and Data Automation Logo

Xceptor - Process and Data Automation

ProgramUtvikling Logo

ProgramUtvikling

Teleplan Logo

Teleplan

Trayport Logo

Trayport

Flowmaster (a Mentor Graphics Company) Logo

Flowmaster (a Mentor Graphics Company)

Capita Secure Information Solutions Ltd Logo

Capita Secure Information Solutions Ltd

DFDS Logo

DFDS

Deliotte Logo

Deliotte

NIT A/S

Kongsberg Maritime Logo

Kongsberg Maritime

Alignment Healthcare Logo

Alignment Healthcare

Graham & Brown Logo

Graham & Brown

Bistech Logo

Bistech

ALS Life Sciences Logo

ALS Life Sciences

Boxit Document Solutions Logo

Boxit Document Solutions

Higher Education Statistics Agency Logo

Higher Education Statistics Agency

Illumina Logo

Illumina

Royal Air Force Logo

Royal Air Force

Ghana Police Service Logo

Ghana Police Service

Washington Department of Enterprise Services Logo

Washington Department of Enterprise Services

New Hampshire Supreme Court Logo

New Hampshire Supreme Court

Department of Work and Pensions (UK) Logo

Department of Work and Pensions (UK)

Washington Department of Transport Logo

Washington Department of Transport

Illumina Logo

Illumina

CR2

MacDonald Humfrey (Automation) Ltd. Logo

MacDonald Humfrey (Automation) Ltd.

Big Data for Humans Logo

Big Data for Humans

Kongsberg Maritime Logo

Kongsberg Maritime

Brandes Investment Partners L.P. Logo

Brandes Investment Partners L.P.