Organizational Agile TransformationAs technologists implementing agile, we may want to think it’s primarily a technology problem with technical solutions. But in reality, we need to understand that the move to agile is an organizational transformation that requires both technical expertise and on-going management support. Since management can either enable our success or prevent it (they do control the money), we need to understand how to get them supporting the effort, and what we should do to keep them in that supportive role.
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Software Development Life CycleIndividuals and teams involved in the software development life cycle want to product high quality artifacts (requirements, design, code, test plans, etc.) that give them pride in workmanship. Often, there are environmental factors (cumbersome processes, inadequate training, poor tools, etc.) that inhibit their work. By working with senior management to eliminate those inhibitors, we can improve quality and employee satisfaction.
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Business Process ImprovementSimilar pride in workmanship barriers exist across most organizations, and the hard-dollar returns on improvement efforts can be quite significant. The JPMorgan Chase 2003 annual report stated: “In 2003, our productivity and quality efforts yielded more than $1 billion pre-tax in net financial benefits… Over one-half of these benefits came from re-engineering key business processes using the disciplined methodology of Six Sigma.”
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