Over the past decade, the term Agile has gained its popularity and widely accredited as the “game changer” behind successful stories of continuous innovation management in many industries. But what is it exactly?
Beyond Software Development
Agile is an approach to work management which focuses on customer value, iterative and incremental delivery and continuous improvement. Traditionally confined as a gold standard for software development, people falsely assume that Agile does not apply to the rest of the organization. However, rapid changes in the business environment (e.g. digital transformation, shift in customers’ demand) have urged companies to seek more ways in utilizing Agile principles. The good news is that you can now apply the same Agile techniques to other core business units, from marketing to human resources to finance.
How Can It Help Companies to Perform Better?
Applying Agile principles across the entire ecosystem of a company is proven to improve a business’ performance dramatically. For instance, Agile methodologies promote a more collaborative, creative and efficient approach than other business models.
Companies that are deploying Agile at scale have accelerated their innovation by up to 80 percent
McKinsey & Company, 2016
Faster Time to Market
Instead of delivering everything in “big bang” launch, Agile team delivers value in small but frequent increments. Therefore, allowing the team to deliver value faster to customers.
Deliver Better Value to Customers
Delivering value to customers frequently means generating more feedback that can be integrated in the development process and potentially transform the business from the inside out. This allows the team to continuously evaluate plans and performance at the earliest stage possible to reduce the risk of market misses and respond to changes quickly, hence delivering what customers want most.
Boost Productivity
By encouraging cross-functional teams and open-interactive conversations, Agile methods break departmental silos which limit employees’ responsibilities only to their position. Everyone in the team works together to achieve a common goal, that is to improve products/services quality. As a result, higher productivity is achieved through increased collaboration, more effective communication and responsiveness to customers’ demands.
Save Costs
Ever dream of reducing costs without sacrificing on quality? Yes, implementing Agile is the answer. Through customer-centric approach, organizations may decrease cost by pruning development/delivery of products/services that do not add value to customers. Identifying errors sooner also implies less rework and cheaper fix. Furthermore, Agile practices can also “expand” your budget by delivering more value given the same arrangement when compared to traditional methods.
“A summary of research on project management methods found that agile approaches yielded 29 percent better cost, 91 percent better schedule, 97 percent better productivity, 50 percent better quality, 400 percent better satisfaction and 470 percent better ROI than the least effective traditional methods.”
Dr. David F. Rico, 2008
In the end, applying Agile concepts is not just about doing more work faster. Instead, it encourages team to work smarter by generating more value from less work and delivering it sooner.
Ready to Scale Agile Throughout your Organization?
A lot of organizations are looking at ways to scale Agile implementation, however, businesses who are not adept to this practice may find it daunting. As a team of experienced and certified Atlassian professionals, Progrez provides solution as well as consulting and training services that will help your companies achieve impressive outcome from Agile approaches.
So, what are you waiting for?
References
Dr. David F. Rico, PMP, CSM, Notre Dame of Maryland, “What is the ROI of Agile vs. Traditional Methods?” 2008, https://www.davidfrico.com/rico08b.pdf
McKinsey & Company, “An operating model for company-wide agile development,” May 2016, https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/an-operating-model-for-company-wide-agile-development