Friday April 16th, 2021

What’s The Benefit From Working Agile?

Have you been ordered to work in an Agile way? Maybe you even want to do it yourself? Now you’ve got a few questions? You are not alone. I, for example, have recently been asked:

What’s The Benefit From Working Agile?

Agile is designed to give everyone involved in a product or service the best result in the most sustainable way possible. And to do so with as much certainty as possible. We are talking here, for example, about customers, stakeholders, management and also team members.

Overall Objective is to keep investment risks as low as possible and to avoid structurally and organisationally useless things wherever possible. In the entire process – from start to finish – WASTE is to be reduced or eliminated step by step. Read: Time, energy, motivation and, of course, money.

In controllable small step-by-step cycles (i.e.: incremental), we want to deliver EXACTLY WHAT the market wants or needs. And not just what we assume or worse: only believe that the market wants or needs.

The Goal

The TOTAL value creation is to be permanently maximised. Above all, STABLE, TRUSTFUL bonds are to be gradually built up and established with customers (and business partners). The business partners should PERMANENTLY experience that they receive – little by little at least parts of a good and continuously improved product or service (incrementally, see above). And those that are actually used. Because only then do products and services create value.

In this respect, agility responds to the inability of the much-cited top-down or waterfall approaches, which often mean waiting a very long time for the final completion of the end product or result. Due to the late delivery, the desired utility is often not fully realised or is realised too late. This, of course, reduces the added value, especially of the client or customer (but by far not only theirs).

By taking this step-by-step approach…

… Agile also helps to build self-confidence in the teams of producers (or service providers). After all, they also experience that they are constantly delivering. In “waterfall environments”, at least subjectively, they often experience:

” We always take forever. Nothing gets done. Certainly not on time.”

But it is not only SELF CONFIDENCE or MOTIVATION THROUGH SELF-EFFECTIVENESS that is important in this context. It is equally important that we also OPTIMISE our CASHFLOW. Because for all small deliveries (incremental delivery), we charge money for it.

Agile does not only allow, all stakeholders in the enterprise to focus on value creation. It EVEN ENCOURAGES IT CONSEQUENTLY and METHODICALLY.

Always (really!), especially in ALL agile routines (so in Scrum e.g. Daily, Review or in Retrospective) we ask ourselves the question:

What REALLY is important?

Important, of course, especially with regard to the customer. And also in terms of what we want or should achieve as a team or company. Everything that is not important is CONSISTENTLY left undone, modified or put on the back shelf for the time being:

  • “Do we really need a seven-page protocol?”
  • “What exactly is the point of our marketing round in its current form?”
  • “Do we need to take care of this problem now or is it enough if we do it later?”
  • …

So: What IS the Benefit of Working Agile?

The biggest advantage of using agile working frameworks is that it enables teams and companies to LEARN as an ORGANIZATION. Jointly, that is. Relevant developments can thus be anticipated and misguided developments can be quickly recognised and swiftly responded to.

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