Why Agile? First steps to an implementation

On many occasions, clients or colleagues ask us what the introduction of agile methodologies in a company brings. We, from passion, have the habit of answering in a very Galician way. Well, it depends! It can help a lot or at all. After leaving a few seconds and observing the stupefying face of our interlocutors; Creating a little buzz is always good; Let’s go on to detail the subject a little more.

Start an Agile Implementation

Agile, by itself, will not help at all, unless the company clearly believes in it. Come on, if we use a football simile, if the team does not believe in the tactic that the coach proposes, they will not execute it correctly on the field. It is not a matter of fashions, or because the competition does it, if Management or Management does not believe in the benefits of change will not help much. The change should always be TOP-DOWN, although unfortunately, it is more common for it to be the other way around.

As you probably know, Agile offers clear advantages, and some drawbacks. But change has to do with the organization’s own needs and business objectives. The use of Agile is not always recommended for any type of company and project. If the projects to be carried out have some of the following points, in our opinion, they could be candidates to be carried out using some Agile framework:

– Collaborative projects with various departments, interlocutors and/or companies.

– Delivery of a project or product oriented to a client.

– Projects that are permeable to possible changes both internal (organization) and external (market, context …).

– Maintenance of a product that is already in production or on the market and needs changes and adjustments.

– Projects that require rapid production to evaluate their acceptance in the market (start-ups, proofs of concept…).

Under these points, for example, a civil work, should not be done through Agile, since it is a type of initiative that must be very studied and planned. On the other hand, a marketing campaign, the organization of an event, the creation of a new product (IT, industrial, pharma, retail…), are clear candidates to do it in this new way.

Agile is a transformation process that focuses on continuously measurable objectives and on people and their interactions, it is much more efficient by keeping track of what is being done, allowing us to adapt and evolve more quickly to changes that may happen, and that will surely occur. Therefore, if we know that the conditions of a project change, why not adapt from the beginning? This is the maxim of Agile, learn as we move forward and adapt, including continuous improvement actions. Therefore, it helps us to make decisions empirically and collaboratively.

Phases of an Agile implementation

And how do we get started? That’s the big question. Well, the answer is easy to say, and more laborious to apply (again, we get Galician). From pasiona we always recommend starting with the following clear points, which are part of Our proposal for change:

– Analyze with which projects we start the methodology. As life is made for the brave, we always recommend choosing a project that is not too small or too big. If it is very small, we may not be able to obtain relevant data on how it has gone, and we will have the perception that the implantation has been successful. We need a project large enough to test the new flows of communication, operation and collaboration. DON’T BE AFRAID OF FAILURE! It’s the first one we’re going to do…

– Train and raise awareness of the change to Management. They are the first promoters of it and they must maintain the momentum when things do not go so well, and believe us, it will pass.

– Identify the key people who from day to day will support the change (coaches, technicians, managers, middle managers …). They will be the reference people for all the rest of the teams.

– Train the people of the agile team or teams that will participate. Not only at the level of Agile and in the frameworks that we have selected (Scrum, Kanban, XP …) but also in the specific roles of each of them (Product Owner, Scrum Master …). Clearly detail what is expected of them in this new methodology and how they will help.

– Prepare all the necessary infrastructure to be able to start working, either at a technical level (tools, servers, models …) and at an operational level (flows, documentation, etc.) and make it accessible to all members of the teams involved.

– And finally, get started! With the help of key people, move forward with the methodology, trying to be the most disciplined so that the change is penetrating. It is necessary to observe and adjust all those aspects that are necessary so that little by little the whole team feels confident as we deliver value.

And if we succeed, we could already think about scaling the methodology to the entire organization. Frameworks such as SAFe, Nexus or LeSS, could help us with this and expand or extend the Agile implementation initiated.

Agile Implementation – Practices to consider

On the other hand, if your organization has already started an Agile implementation and you have already started the paradigm shift, you can ask what practices or activities would be necessary to strengthen the agile transformation. From our point of view, an agile implementation is so transversal that it would be difficult to point out one or another practice, but from our experience and, to stop being Galician, we can indicate some depending on the area of action:

Management & Strategy

– Define the portfolio and roadmap of strategic products/projects.

– Definition of OKRs and their follow-up.

– Creation of an Agile Center of Excellence

Product and Business

– Accompaniment to Product and Business Owners, with practices such as Vertical Slicing, Backlog Refinement, User Story Mapping, Definition of MVPs and definition of Stream Value Mapping.

– Design Thinking, for product design putting the user in focus, with practices such as User Interviews, Mind Maps, Storytelling and Customer Journey.

– Agile project management.

IT (DevOps)

– Development practices: TDD, BDD, Functional Tests, APIs – microservices, Continuous Integration, definition of functional KPIs.

– Operations: Continuous Deployment, Process Automation and Monitoring (KPIs).

Agile Leadership

– Cultural change, accompanying new leaders.

– Management 3.0 Techniques

Agile HR – Applying Agile methodology to Human Resources

– Promote the attraction, commitment and loyalty of talent.

Sounds complicated? From pasiona we can help you in your Agile implementation so that you can do it naturally and progressively. We also offer advice at any stage of the implementation in which you are, as well as specific products and services, we always adapt to the needs of the client. In addition, if you are not sure yet, we offer you free services for training and analysis of your case. Contact us and we will help you make the leap!