Why Non-tech Corporations Cannot Overlook Agile Practices Any Longer

/  Subscribe 2

I have to admit that I have been ignoring Agile for quite some time. I thought it wasn't something I could benefit from in a non-tech corporate world. It wasn't until I came across a business case for a Barclays Bank adoption of Agile when I realized that Agile is exceptionally essential for organizational competitiveness, even in non-tech industries. According to Robbie Augustin, the results at Barclays Bank were astonishing: a 300% increase of throughput, fewer production incidents, shorter deployment cycles, and something I could not even think of as a benefit of Agile - happier teams! That's what finally grabbed my attention, and I decided to have a closer look.

First, Agile is all about customers. In an Agile world, our goal is to deliver a product to a customer fast. To do that, it takes understanding what customers value the most, so we can disregard less critical aspects. Second, Agile is essential in today's competitive environment. Being first, in bringing a successful product to the market, results in a more significant market share for the company. At the current pace of change, this challenge is continuous, and corporations must have a framework in place to deliver successful products continuously. Finally, Agile thrives on talent and a people-first approach. Trust, autonomy, self-development, and gaining mastery are all elements of Agile principles that bring employee satisfaction and increase personnel retention. This sounds good, right? So how does Agile make it all happen? Let's look into the principles of Agile.

Increased transparency and trust are essential and, in my opinion, the core principles of Agile. Sponsors and managers should be willing to allow self-organized and self-managed teams. These teams make decisions for themselves, and this allows a corporation to streamline a process by bypassing time-consuming approval steps. Self-organized and self-managed teams are not possible without accountability and responsibility for results on a frontline employee level. A shorter time-frame is another crucial Agile principle, with the work performed in short-time boxes. The boxes are linked - each box precedes the next, therefore completing the work on time is critical to avoid delay. This method creates a sense of urgency and a dynamic environment. Also, while the requirements update is left entirely to a project team to manage, it is critical to be on time and budget and, hence, there is no place for scope creep.

All of the above, while provides enormous autonomy to employees, requires much discipline. This is why you will often hear the term "Disciplined Agile" (DA). Being disciplined is an integral part of Agile principles. Non-tech corporations are welcome to take advantage of Agile. It is not necessary to implement all Agile principles; on the opposite – a deep understanding of Agile allows you to identify and choose only the most beneficial principles and apply them only to processes where it makes sense. Agile experts recognize that Agile methodologies are not suitable for every department and every project in a corporation.

Agile is becoming a tool to address modern buying dynamics and quickly changing environments. PMI recognizes a need for fast product and project development. That is why last year, PMI acquired DA; a move aligned with a new direction of the organization. PMI will be transitioning the project management framework, currently process-based, into a principle-based one. It will give a choice to project managers regarding which principles to follow as the opposite of developing all processes of the traditional project management framework. In the new PMBOK 7 the changes are reflected, and with that, DA principles will become part of project management certification.

Are you interested in gaining certification in Agile? You can earn the Certified Disciplined Agilist (CDA) certification with only 21 hours of class and passing the certification exam. If you have experience of being on Agile teams, you can gain the Certified Disciplined Agilist Practitioner (CDAP) certification.  

Do you see Agile being applied in your workplace? Have an opinion or personal experience to share about how it feels being part of an Agile team? Or have a question about Agile? Please leave your comments below, and the PMI Durham Highland Chapter team will get back to you.

We look forward to hearing from you soon!

—Olga Minikh

Return to list