If you want to succeed in a market that is constantly changing, becoming agile is imperative. We all aim to become a company capable of seizing new opportunities or reacting as effectively as possible to attacks from the competition. So let's take a look at 10 points to help you develop your agility...
Be at the service of users
The main aim is to satisfy the customer by delivering high-value-added functionalities as quickly as possible and on a regular basis. For your company to become agile, this principle must be your leitmotiv. Involving the user in the development process allows you to get feedback from them. Working for short periods is not enough. You absolutely must work to create maximum value for the end user or customer.
Adapt to change
The aim is to put the customer back at the heart of the development process. Reduce the upstream design and requirements definition phases, because you know that these will change and evolve throughout the project. Teams need to be able to adapt quickly to the demands of their customers or to the requirements of an increasingly fast-moving market. In this context, you need to adopt a culture of adaptation rather than being locked into predefined, overly rigid processes. Instead, opt for short cycles to frequently deliver operational versions of the application.
Keep in step with your employees
Take into account and integrate employees' desires and motivations into the company's strategy. Open up the floor to allow difficulties to be expressed. Bring up any bottlenecks in the roll-out of projects. Measure project progress in terms of the operational status of the product. At regular intervals, gather feedback from employees. It's the best way to assess a team's performance.
Activate collaborative mode
For your projects to be synonymous with success, users and developers need to work together throughout. It will be unthinkable for you to run a project without involving your staff and even the end customer. The days of top-down management, without taking account of the realities on the ground, are over! You need to involve all the stakeholders in your projects if you want decisions to be genuinely applicable. All team members must contribute their expertise. So ensure that the project team and the business work together as often as possible.
Let employee motivation flow
There's nothing better than listening to them, getting to know them and, above all, establishing a climate of trust to ensure that every member of a team feels involved and motivated. It's much easier to get employees involved when they feel that they are the real players in a project and not just extras. So involve them in the decisions, because it's a collective project. The aim is to build a project around motivated people. Like a team in a team sport, an agile team needs time to build itself up, get to know each other and find its balance.
Encourage direct dialogue
The best form of communication is, of course, direct dialogue! Give priority to face-to-face contact and limit the number of e-mails sent to dispersed teams as much as possible. The aim here is to ensure richer communication. Talking face-to-face ensures optimum interaction, greater responsiveness and, above all, a better understanding of the emotional aspect. Create links between the different members of the project.
Share the vision
It is important to share the vision of a project and, above all, to know the purpose for which it is being carried out. You need to adopt a regular work rhythm that can be supported by all the members of the project. Agile methods should make you more adaptable, so there's no need to panic. Requests for change must not cause tension and bring the team to the brink of exhaustion. Don't forget that customers and users are part of the team - they must have time to validate all the features. Otherwise, you are not agile.
Be agile in your customer relations
We'll never stop telling you, the customer is king! Be a good listener, offer solutions tailored to their needs and, above all, take care of the quality of the relationship with your customer. Don't forget to design all the features of the project beforehand. For example, you can design as the project progresses.
Be minimalist
Countless projects have lost their way because of processes that are difficult to understand and wasteful. Adopt simplicity. Minimise the amount of unnecessary work and concentrate on the important tasks. The project shouldn't feel like an insurmountable ordeal. Proceed gradually to simplify the task. The agile method will enable you to work around bottlenecks and eliminate superfluous steps. In this way, you can concentrate resources on your core business.
The team must be able to improve
An autonomous team does not need to consult its hierarchy for the slightest decision. They need to be able to question the way they work and continually improve. Take a look back. What went well? What went wrong? Define an action plan. To be agile, continuous improvement is a basic principle.
To ensure agility within your teams, always keep these principles in mind. Soon you'll even be able to adapt these agile methods to the way you work. So if you'd like to implement them in your company, or if you'd like some support, don't hesitate to get in touch with our experts. ... It's up to you!