Larman's Laws #1 & #5

"Organizations are implicitly optimized to resist change and preserve the status quo of their existing culture and power structures."

♦

(in large established orgs) “Culture follows structure” ¹

Craig Larman's laws highlight systemic barriers that organizations face when adopting Agile. Two critical laws—Law #1 and Law #5—explain why Agile transformations often struggle or fail.

Larman's Law #1: Resistance to Change in Power Structures

Organizations naturally resist change that threatens existing hierarchies and power dynamics. Even when adopting Agile, they may implement surface-level changes (e.g., Scrum ceremonies) while keeping traditional control structures intact.

• Example:
  • A company introduces Scrum but still requires teams to seek managerial approval for decisions, limiting their autonomy. The Product Owner becomes a messenger rather than a decision-maker, contradicting Agile principles of empowerment and self-organization.
• Impact:
  • Teams feel demotivated and constrained, leading to slower delivery, disengagement, and lack of true agility.

Larman's Law #5: Culture Follows Structure

Real cultural change only happens when the organizational structure changes to support it. Simply promoting Agile values (e.g., collaboration, customer focus) without altering team dynamics, reporting lines, or incentives leads to superficial adoption.

• Example:
  • An organization launches Agile training and encourages collaboration but maintains rigid departmental silos. Developers, testers, and operations remain separate, leading to bottlenecks and misalignment.
• Impact:
  • Agile remains a buzzword rather than a reality. Teams struggle with dependencies, slow feedback loops, and old habits that prevent true agility.

Key Insights for Agile Teams & Organizations

• Tackle Power Structures:
  • Agile transformations must address resistance from leadership. Creating psychological safety and involving leaders in the change process helps teams gain real autonomy.
• Align Structure with Agile Principles:
  • Instead of merely preaching collaboration, break down silos, create cross-functional teams, and adjust performance metrics to reward team outcomes over individual achievements.
• Systemic Change Over Superficial Fixes:
  • Agile is not just about adopting frameworks—it requires rethinking organizational design, decision-making authority, and work culture.

Summary

Larman's Laws #1 and #5 explain why organizations struggle with Agile: they resist changes to power structures (Law #1) and fail to align their structure with Agile principles (Law #5). Superficial Agile adoption, such as implementing Scrum without empowering teams, leads to frustration and inefficiency. To succeed, organizations must embrace structural changes that support self-organization, cross-functional collaboration, and decentralized decision-making. Agile transformation isn't just a process shift; it's a fundamental change in how an organization operates.