Agile Development’s Far Reaching Value
When people talk about Agile delivery, it leans towards the creation of software. It makes sense as that is where it started with the Software Agile Delivery Manifesto about 20 years ago. Now is the time for everyone else to get in the mindset of becoming more agile in what they do.
Organizations realize this and have used the Agile mindset to get leaps and bounds ahead of their competition. Look at some of the most successful organizations; Google is a prime example.
Back in 2008, Dan Woods writing for Forbes, went into detail as to how Google is using Agile mindsets across its organization. Twelve years later, they are still going strong and have been able to get into other markets not imagined from their humble beginnings of a web search engine.
Organizations that use Agile methodologies for software delivery will continue to encounter obstacles. They will need to handle when working with departments or vendors outside of the team, either don’t have the same agile values that are in sync with them or don’t work with any agile methodologies. These obstacles will cause pain points that would become commonplace, and complacency will take over.
There are websites now to help Marketing teams see how Agile methods can help them. Think about how well they can get work done while also having the ability to pivot faster to ever-changing market conditions. This was discussed in a previous blog.
So what about creating actual products? Something that can be seen and touched, can organizations use Agile principles to get it done? Of course.
by Beth Stackpole
Steven Eppinger, professor of management science at MIT Sloan, recently laid out a case for applying agile to development realms outside of software. “Every company is trying to be more agile — it’s become part of the regular engineering management lexicon,” he said. “It’s shocking how quickly it’s being adopted.”
Apple is an excellent example of using Agile methodologies in the creation of hardware. Over the past few years, they have put out multiple versions of the same phone with varying sizes and components to get ahead in the market and improve market share. Instead of going through a standard waterfall type of process and release products once a year or one product a year, they can see where the market is going and adapt relatively quickly to get that early jump.
Creating the right environment with the right behaviours and actions to achieve valuable output with any organization is within grasp. Whether they provide services, products or both, the ability to show clients value and effectively adapt to change promptly will put that organization at the forefront of their market. Whether they create widgets, the software in the widgets, the services to sell or use the widgets or even supporting the widgets, Agile principles can improve efficiency and effectiveness.
Check out how we can help to achieve this value.
