Agile Consulting
Engagement and collaboration are the foundation of the Agile Platform. However, Agile is a generic framework. Its adaptation is not an easy process. Additionally, projects and organizations frequently fail to define Agile adoption benefits prior to the transition. In contrast to the simplistic and partial views undertaken by organizations, Agile adoption is influenced by a number of factors. Most of these factors arise as a direct result of the nature of the organization. Thus, self-knowledge is critical when making an organizational process change. A pre-evaluation of Agile suitability must be conducted to ensure it is the right choice prior to implementation. In such an evaluation, various parameters must also be considered and acknowledged prior to the transition to Agile:
Cultural fit: Much depends upon whether Agile can be implemented successfully in a given organizational culture. Agile is certainly not a cure-all remedy, and organizations with compatible cultures can achieve benefits to a sizeable degree. However, when Agile is a miss-match, it becomes a cultural shift rather than a simple process adoption.
Project execution maturity: How good are your team at delivering? Delivery is a culture and a process. Changing the process won’t necessarily make you good at delivering. Process maturity is a state of robustly defined, inter-related processes that lead to consistent results and output with the least deviation. Understanding the maturity level facilitates project execution as the project implementation strategy can then be adapted to a particular level of maturity.
Expectations: The framework lays out a set of principals but does not define benefits. It’s an organization’s responsibility to define what it is expecting from Agile.
People: Stakeholders across all concerned divisions need to participate in the decision to adopt Agile. Educational enhancement activities can allow for better organization-wide comprehension of this process.
Distributed environment: If the team is geographically distributed, Agile could be a challenge since the Agile concept is built around a team being co-located. Thus, distributed Agile implementation is challenging, and the constraint of being distributed may impact the process.
Agility is not a one-dimensional concept. Organizations tend to have deep-rooted methods of project execution, and the present degree of agility needs to be accounted for before switching to Agile.
The management of the transition from the current style of project execution to Agile affects the large-scale realization of Agile benefits. This transition needs to be gradual and well-managed rather than abrupt and sudden. A warm introduction to Agile through a change of management plan can facilitate the overall transition. Ultimately, Agile is a difficult-to-master concept. Rolling out a process does not necessarily mean the end of the journey. The process maturity level is enhanced by the implementation of a process improvement capability that supports projects and promotes the key concepts and practices of the methodology – helping to ensure Agile adoption is a success.
Agile Consulting helps you…
- … increase the effectiveness of your team.
- … enhance your Return on Investment.
- … deliver software faster.
- … keep track of the progress of your transition.
- … get a better view of the needs of your customer.