Today more than ever, companies need to be efficient and flexible. They need to be able to respond to changing market conditions and customer needs within weeks, not months.
A faster, less risky, more nimble development approach is needed. The immediate value of agile is fairly obvious: Software delivered better, faster, and cheaper.
Agile software development has become widely embraced because:
- Software in development costs money and does not produce business value. By producing a better product faster, organizations are minimizing development time and maximizing return on investment (ROI).
- Minimizing defects can reduce costs. The longer it takes to discover a defect, the more costly it becomes to fix it.
- By engaging the business and delivering functionality in an iterative manner, companies are able to ensure that the business gets what the business needs.
Its growth since its formal introduction in 2001 has been explosive, with 35 percent of all software projects applying some form of an agile approach. However, agile is still a tool. And, like all tools, used incorrectly it can result in greater harm than good.
Also, many agile critics complain that the agile approach is not rigorous enough for corporate America’s IT organizations. Enter our “Agile for the Enterprise” approach.
Agile for the Enterprise
For larger organizations looking to apply agile concepts but struggling to make them work within their environment, we have created our “Agile for the Enterprise” approach. “Agile for the Enterprise” is an authentic, agile-tailored approach to allow for restrictions found in larger organizations.
Our approach still adheres to the fundamental tenets of agile – the difference lies in how it’s applied and deployed. Our agile approach also allows for predictable, metrics-driven delivery of functionality on time and on budget.
Advisory Services
Agile Assessment
We designed our Agile Assessment to help optimize agile efforts, which includes offering a third-party assessment of agile success and recommendations on efficient ways to derive more value from the team. One of our agile coaches will assess project goals and output, identify gaps and present clients with alternative best practices.
Agile Training
We developed an internal two-day training course that covers all aspects of an agile project from initiation through delivery. At the end of this course, students will have run through all aspects of an agile project by participating in hands-on workshops and breakout sessions. The end result will be a deeper tactical understanding of how to run an agile team and a solid foundation from which to start.
Agile Coaching
One of our agile coaches can serve as part of your team. We also have highly skilled agile practitioners in the areas of product management, agile analysis, development and quality assurance. Critical to agile success: effective story development, Test Driven Development (TDD), Acceptance Test Driven Development (ATDD), pair programming, continuous integration and functional test automation. Our coaches will provide insight and guidance while the team gains valuable hands-on experience.
Managed Services
Staff Supplementation – We can help your organization increase velocity in existing teams by augmenting them with experienced agile developers, business analysts and testers who draw from past experiences and provide new perspectives.
Agile Check-Up – Even if you have an agile practice with project teams running smoothly, a few considerations still exist. What methods or tools have you introduced? What benefits are you unaware of? With our ‘Agile Checkup’, we review progress and current team status to provide feedback and make recommendations based on current agile best practices, ensuring optimized agile development efforts.
Implementation Services
Iteration Management
With an Iteration Manager (IM) and internal resources, we can introduce agile concepts and train teams, all while delivering an in-flight project. We leverage our “Agile for the Enterprise” approach to take the ambiguity out of agile delivery. Our IM will handle reporting and expectation management to those outside the team room and provide guidance and an escalation point to those in it.
Project Delivery
We can help staff an agile project with experienced practitioners or place an entire team. This offering affords clients the opportunity to see how agile works in their environment while delivering value and training their resources.
Agile Rescue
We can help companies who have made a commitment to an agile approach but have not seen efforts yield the kind of ROI expected. Our experienced agile experts assess what is working and identify opportunities for improvement. Working side-by-side with the team, we will craft an action plan that improves delivery efficiency.
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