Swift well-orchestrated processes are among the vital things determining business success. The final results and duration are dependent on the coordination of employees’ actions, awareness of the production structure, and accurate planning of all process stages. Experts from Andersen – an IT firm offering outsourcing project management services – are sharing how Agile transformation improves the above aspects.
Agile in a nutshell
The methodology appeared in the 2000s as an original project management strategy. Its basics are outlined in the document named Agile Manifesto:
- Client satisfaction is above all, achieved with the help of the timely and continuous delivery of a valuable product;
- It must be possible to change software requirements even in the late stages of its development;
- Processes are coupled with changes to ensure a competitive edge for the product;
- Projects are created around motivated people, and they should be provided with the necessary environment and support;
- The most efficient and effective way to deliver information to a development team and within it is communication.
Businesses adhering to Agile: statistics
Agile (or gymnastic) firms are result-oriented and clearly understand how to balance structure and management with flexibility and development direction adjustments. According to PMI, such businesses are more successful in the market compared to their competitors using traditional methodologies. They better cope with planned tasks, don’t exceed allocated budgets, and meet deadlines.
Organizations that opted for such a format are more inclined to tap into tech innovations and cutting-edge apps and devices: the means for complex problem-solving (47% at a very high and relatively high level vs. 35% in traditional organizations), AI tools (39% vs. 30%), on-demand microlearning tools and apps (39% vs. 30%), etc. The dynamics of recent years have shown that tapping into Agile project management services entails an uptick in productivity and an annual decrease of 2-3% in the number of unsuccessful projects.
What organizations introduce Agile
Businesses belonging to the financial and IT sectors are the leaders in introducing new technologies, while government institutions demonstrate the lowest level. So, for example, financial enterprises are showing 77% growth against 61% in government institutions in terms of digital transformation, 74% against 49% in applying business strategies, and 68% against 53% in organizational adaptability.
The regional leaders in technology adoption and process improvement are South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa; the growth in European countries is below average. For many businesses, transitioning to new tools and increasing flexibility and management structure is an indispensable prerequisite for advancement and competitiveness enhancement.
Why businesses prosper
The Pulse of the Profession study has shown that the efficiency of Agile businesses is explained by their client value-oriented culture, incorporation of digital tools, diversity, equality, and inclusiveness. High performance is ensured through a high level of organizational flexibility, the incorporation of the best risk management standards, and lower project scope creep.
Adhering to Agile: advantages
Agile specialists follow the recommendations below:
- Interactions should be above tools and processes;
- The team should pay more attention to a product rather than reports;
- Collaboration with the client should be above contract negotiation;
- There should be a willingness to accept changes at any stage.
Thus, the main things are appropriate cooperation at all levels, responsiveness and agility during project implementation, and concentration on the final result.
Process orchestration apps
Such apps and cross-platforms as ProofHub, Trello, Jira, Azure DevOps Server, and Hygger are designed for following the above recommendations. These apps help to organize complex production processes by dividing them into stages that are then assembled into a single program. Notably, these stages often produce ready-to-use intermediate products. This makes it possible to effectively distribute developer effort depending on current business needs and use preliminary results, eliminating the necessity to wait for its final release.
The above apps use tools like Kanban boards to streamline both current and planned stages by allocating time, human, and organizational resources. Gantt charts visualize the link and sequence to enable the most efficient distribution of effort. Auxiliary tools for marking, bookmark creation, and project management streamlining are also built-in.
Agile apps and platforms: benefits
First, Agile apps make the efficient operation possible via maximum communication and cooperation between participants – both businesses and project management service providers. This synchronizes the work of executors and enables them to check whether the current app meets the client’s expectations. The pilot version, for instance, is only modified after talking to the business, and tasks are distributed by constantly making the product stay within its framework and clarifying the scope of work for each participant considering the progress of the others.
Second, the agility and responsiveness of activities provide a means to efficiently distribute tasks, build new chains of synchronized tasks, and accomplish additional goals. The client can reconsider the sequence of building software elements, modify its functionality, and test additional capabilities as part of the development process.
Third, a continuous value stream as a principle of work orchestration cuts the time for investment results by getting ready-to-use apps early in the project implementation process. This enhances the effect of technological innovations, the introduction of which is possible to test, bringing intermediate products to market with no need to wait for the project to finish.
Fourth, better cycle orchestration and visualization facilitate task accomplishment in a synchronized manner. The completion of some processes segues into the work on others, without production pauses or long downtime for specialists. Hence project participants neither accomplish unnecessary tasks nor work on later stages at the expense of more urgent ones. A well-thought-out and distributed backlog saves IT specialists and the client time, makes missed deadlines fewer, and cuts the time to market.
And fifth, teamwork becomes more reliable and foreseeable, which improves project development time management. This allows for staying within the allocated budget, being clear-eyed about risks, and cutting costs. Such well-coordinated work prevents project scope creep when inefficient task distribution and frequent idle time require additional actions and constant reprioritization of tasks.
Conclusion
Flexibility is what ensures modern businesses’ efficiency and competitive gain. Adherence to Agile requires firms to pay heed to innovation and communicate as much as possible, which affects project management.
Agile tools effectively resolve production challenges through a high level of teamwork orchestration and more effective dialog between all participants.
To sum up, the key benefits of Agile are:
- Maximum teamwork and communication;
- Agility and responsiveness of activities and readiness for changes;
- A continuous value stream and rapid results from tech innovations;
- Better structuring and visualization of project cycles to save resources and optimize tasks;
- Foreseeable results and achievement of the set goals within the agreed schedule and budget.
Experts from Andersen conduct their project activities in a flexible and efficient manner, saving clients resources and assisting their partners in this. The vendor has been applying Agile tools for a long time, establishing, supervising, and forecasting production processes. This allows our specialists to halve the time to market for software, use the entire range of cutting-edge Agile apps, and provide top-notch project management consultancy services, helping businesses implement and configure these tools.
