October 29, 2019 // By Magenic
Is your organization trying to find a better way to develop software? Could you be using Agile to move faster as a business? We explore these questions in our white paper “Increase Business Agility and Deliver Better Software.” In it we offer several tips on making sure your organization is set up to move faster and survive in the fast-changing, hypercompetitive business environment. Here are some takeaways:
Train Leaders Across Divisions
Professionals who have participated in an Agile effort, either from the business or the technical side, sometimes are disillusioned with Agile, as they may have experienced the stress of a failed project or one that seemed no better than when using a traditional waterfall approach. Yet that’s where training come in. It is important that leaders throughout your organization understand the principles that lead to the benefits of Agile. Providing training for leaders will set a positive direction for your company.
Move from Projects to Products
Unlike a project-based approval and funding process, in which a team is assembled at the outset and disbanded when the project concludes, a product-oriented approach has the team staying together indefinitely, which leads to long-term efficiency. As Agile teams cross-train and undergo continual education, they become more flexible and capable of taking on varied types of work as priorities shift with business conditions. This always-on approach to learning and adapting yields big dividends as you move forward with your organization.
Measure Outcomes
It’s important to identify indicators of success in achieving business objectives. At the start these may be things like rating each business objective with a planned value score and evaluating how much of that value was achieved at the end of a cycle. As time passes, more sophisticated measures may be employed, such as cost reductions, labor hours for business processes, increased sales, and higher engagement.
Employ Resource-Management Tools
Team members that are split across multiple projects or are responsible to multiple chains of command often have a difficult time committing to their share of the work on Agile teams. Effective organizations dedicate staff members to their Agile team, with the product owner being the sole authority on the team’s prioritized backlog, and the team determining the priority of tasks to deliver. Make sure you have cross-matrix tools in place to marshal your resources.
Be Willing to Evolve
Effective technology efforts result in durable systems, which need to evolve or they will become an impediment to innovation. By fostering agility in business and technical delivery, organizations position themselves to move at the pace of change in the business world. Make sure you don’t get left behind.
To read more on how your organization can increase business agility, take a look at our new white paper, “Increase Business Agility and Deliver Better Software.”