The complex environment created by constant change and uncertainty about the future is evident in the business world as well as in all areas of life. Therefore, many companies are beginning to adopt new working models to keep up with this ever-changing environment and of course to maintain their success.
Adapting to constant change, confronting uncertainties with different and experimental approaches, and responding to complex problems with simple solutions have become the most important factors that ensure the success of companies. In such an environment, the method of agile working stands out with its revolutionary structure that changes the usual work patterns, to cope with uncertain and turbulent work environments and ultimately with its ability to create change, to react to it, and above all to continue to be successful in your industry.
Agile Working Definition: Agile working is about bringing people, processes, connectivity and technology, time, and place together to find the most appropriate and effective way of working to accomplish a specific task. Agile is defined as an iterative approach to project management and software development that helps teams deliver value to their customers faster, more accurately, and with less work. Rather than deciding and completing everything about the project at once, an agile team builds and delivers the task step-by-step. All plans, requirements, and all results of the business plan are continuously evaluated. As such, teams have a natural rhythm to react quickly to changes.
Working agile officially entered our lives in 2001 when 17 technology professionals prepared the Agile Manifesto. The authors of the Agile Manifesto have identified four key principles for agile project management aimed at guiding teams in developing better software:
● Instead of processes and tools, individuals and interactions
● Working software instead of detailed documentation,
● Customer cooperation instead of contract negotiations,
● They argued that responding to change should be a priority rather than sticking to a plan.
The reason all these ideas chose the word agility as their label was that the word stands for quick adaptation and reaction to change, which is very important to their approach.
What does agile mean? Defining and implementing the agile system only on paper is not an easy task. Because the definition of agility actually represents a certain way of thinking and mentality. This structure is driven by the values and principles of the Agile Manifesto and provides guidance on how to create and respond to change and how to deal with uncertainty.
Completing this guide is something the whole team can experience together. There is no one-size-fits-all here. Because experimentation is the basis of agile working. Knowledge is defined by the experience gained as a result of the choices made. When the team faces uncertainty, they make quick decisions, try something new that they think will work, get feedback, and make new adjustments accordingly. All agile values and principles must be kept in mind.
One can speak of many different framework structures in which agile work logic can be used. SAFe, Scrum Master , Kanban, Extreme Programming (XP), LeSS, Nexus, SoS, or DAD are some of these Agile Frameworks. So when it comes to what framework a company that has decided to work in Agile should work with, it is important to recognize which of these frameworks creates a strong team and ongoing values with a customer focus.
Of course, the decision to work agile cannot be made overnight. Rather, the promotion of agile teams is a process that begins with the basic attitude. Developing a new perspective is the motto. The entire organization with all its characteristics must be taken into account.
When employees enjoy the luxury of making mistakes and seeing mistakes as turning points for progress, they are encouraged to break new ground, make safer decisions, and allow for different ways of thinking. Trust is one of the most important prerequisites for agile working. In order for the entire structure to have relevant information, regular communication is necessary. The requirement for agile working can look like this:
These are the basic requirements for agile transformation, but it is important to note that agile working is not a one-size-fits-all solution and may require multiple adjustments to meet the organization's specific needs and culture. Working agile can be challenging for a traditional organization and it is important to have a clear plan and management support to implement it successfully.
Agile working is basically the implementation of a whole new corporate culture in which every employee must be willing and able to take responsibility and managers must delegate it. These facts hold so much potential for conflict. Therefore, this awareness should be lived as a corporate culture.
If the company culture is not built on values like trust or transparency, it is difficult to see agile working as a meaningful long-term plan for employee productivity.
After the Agile Manifesto spread and awareness of the Agile mindset increased, companies began to embrace Agile. Some of the reasons behind this trend are to increase target quality, respond faster to changes, reduce delivery times, release new types of products more frequently, and reduce costs. Agile working also means that employees are more capable of acting, more innovative, and more productive. In short, agile working comes with higher job satisfaction, better opportunity for talent advancement, and better work-life balance for your team. The employees are not only more motivated but agile work also leads to better customer satisfaction and ultimately to profitable success for the company.
Apart from these facts, agile working offers the following advantages:
In summary, agile working can be an effective approach to addressing challenges in today's fast-paced business world. By using agile methods, teams can react more quickly to changes, promote innovation and respond flexibly to customer needs.
If you want to learn more about how agile working works in practice, you should visit our "Scaled Agile Framework" page. There you will find various SAFe courses, including our "Leading SAFe" course, which teaches you the basics of agility & SAFe and prepares you for the SAFe Agilist certification.
And if you want to expand your agile skills and knowledge, check out our "Academy" page. Here you will find a variety of training courses and certifications on various IT topics, including agile methods. We look forward to helping you achieve your career goals!
You have a whole team that you want to be trained, but none of our trainings meet your requirements? Don't worry. We will create a special. Inhouse Training Course that is especially tailored to the needs of your company. Let's have a chat!
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