Agile Methodology for everything
When we talk about Agile, Scrum and Agile framework we imagine walls full of colored post-its notes stuck all over the place with catchphrases, and people interacting, etc. All the above is a rather imaginary cliché that we have seen repeatedly, but this goes beyond writing and arranging ideas on a wall. Instead, it is about how to apply one or more frameworks, with the purpose of establishing ourselves in the long term, to make an impact in the organizational culture, achieve disruptive results and implement projects at all scales of purpose.
It all begins with an Agile Framework, which is the basis used for project development with a specific objective. In this case, this specific objective is to streamline processes in the most efficient way, which is at the same time, an agile framework applicable to all types of software projects. In simple words, it is a framework based on essential values such as: transparency, teamwork, communication, and transversality, therefore, it is a humanized work style that is always seeking continuous improvement in order to achieve specific objectives. There are many methodologies related to this matter, however, according to the 13th Annual State of Agile Report from May 2019, the Scrum methodology is the most used. This report was created in 1986 by two Japanese management experts: Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro Nonaka, who published an article in Harvard Business Review called New New Product Development Game. That paper concerned a new and improved approach to the development of commercial products, in which they used as a reference and analogy a rugby team and their scrum.
Scrum Methodology characteristics:
It is iterative and incremental: it is iterative because it seeks cyclic work in short periods, to give sprint or reports, aiming to improve at every opportunity. On the other hand, it is incremental, as each iteration must be better than the previous one, sprint after sprint, from the most to the least important.
Fast turnaround due to a delivery management in weekly or short-term iterations.
It is an empirical methodology, since it experiments and keeps what works, therefore, it is a continuous improvement or what the Japanese call Kaizen. It manages risk by frequently seeking feedback.
Pillars on which Scrum is based: Transparency, Inspection, and Adaptation. The first one consists of the entire scrum team being able to see what will be done or dealt with in each step, such as: Sprint Planning, in which the team plans what will be done; the daily, in which the team highlights what will be done during the workday; and the sprint review, which is a review of the built and potentially deployable products in production, as well as a review of what has been achieved or what has failed. However, this transparency indicates a change in the mentality of those enterprises that will use it, otherwise, it will invalidate any kind of measure. Inspection and adaptation go hand in hand, as all the work done is examined, and unwanted items are fixed, in order to learn quickly from mistakes.
Agile Framework can be used in all types of projects, such as those related with management, production, human resource management, etc., as well as in the creation and maintainability of software products or other types of products.
The value of the Agile Framework, which was created exclusively by Belltech for its customers, is its ability to focus and make resources more efficient so that projects are developed in the best way with good working relationship.
At Belltech we understand that our customers may require Agile roles or roles that leverage that transformation by going through hybrid models. This is how roles have been built according to each project, adapting to the different levels of agility and needs of each enterprise.
Belltech has a consulting model based on 5 fundamental pillars: Exploration, Needs Understanding, Scope Definition, Agile Maturity Diagnosis, and Execution and Iteration. This is a model in which the proposal formation path will depend on the agile evolution of the organization. Belltech considers 3 levels, in which the first one, Practice will be implemented if the company has some agile practices, even if without consistency. The second one, Doing, is where agile habits are emerging at the team level. Finally, the third level, Being, in which teams are beginning to mature and seek scalability of habits, culture and practices.
Depending on the state of the Agile Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing teams, Belltech has designed a guidance and training path that aims to lead the teams into giving their best and reach the next state of maturity.
We asked our Agile Coach Cindy Velásquez, an agility expert, about these frameworks, and before focusing on the details, she told us: “the success of each transformation initiative towards agility is intrinsically related to the openness and change management. Therefore, since we will always encounter barriers from traditional companies, it is in our hands to manage those barriers and turn them into opportunities to raise awareness of the benefits of working on projects using agile frameworks and an agile mindset”. She also added that, “Agile working methodologies are an established framework that is based on fundamental pillars with values and principles. However, it is necessary to develop the soft skills that are important for the team’s success. Finally, since this whole process needs to be supported by a cultural change, as it interacts and delegates, a change of mindset is required in the different hierarchical levels of the organizations”.
Cindy told us that Belltech’s Agile consulting has the characteristics to perform a “hybrid work at an expert level” because we can take advantage of the client’s technical expertise and provide the roles with the agile skills and capabilities needed to build valuable products. In addition, our consulting not only works towards project agility, but also for the development of differential technological components.
Scrum, in short, is a framework in which guidelines are given, but the scrum master is the one who must know how to guide them so as not to get lost among trivial specifications of the framework. Therefore, knowing how to choose a scrum master is the first decision to start this great change in the improvement of projects for your company, and Belltech, with its great experience, provides you with support and advise during this first decision.
If this content was interesting for you and you want to know more about how to implement Agile Frameworks in your organization, at Belltech we will be happy to support your Digital Transformation projects, offering you the support and advice you need to accomplish a solution like this. We invite you to submit your contact information at www.belltech.la/contacto/ and an agent will contact you in less than 48 hours.
