3 levels of organizational agility: Operational, Coordination, Strategy. Most companies only optimize Level 1 — and wonder why it's not enough.
Klaus Leopold observed that companies invest heavily in agile teams (Level 1), but neglect coordination between teams (Level 2) and strategic steering (Level 3). The result: locally optimized teams that work globally suboptimal.
Flight Levels is not a framework in the classical sense — it is a thinking model that shows on which level improvements have the greatest leverage. Leopold's core thesis: "Having agile teams does not yet make an agile organization."
Individual teams optimize their own workflow.
End-to-end value streams across team boundaries.
Strategic portfolio steering and focus.
The typical mistake: organizations invest for years in Level 1 (Scrum, Kanban for individual teams), see barely any improvement, and conclude that "agile doesn't work". In reality, Level 2 and 3 are missing. The bottlenecks sit between the teams, not inside the teams.
Rate each level on a scale from 1 (non-existent) to 5 (excellent).
Inspiriert von Klaus Leopold — Flight Levels