Business leaders are increasingly recognizing the importance of agile methodologies. When deployed properly, agile can improve efficiency, transparency, and performance of teams throughout an organization.
More than 70% of organizations surveyed by the Project Management Institute reported using agile approaches for projects at least some of the time. Yet while organizations may see the value in agile practices, they are still not implementing them comprehensively across departments and functions. In a global survey of IT and business leaders sponsored by CA Technologies, around three-quarters said agile plays a critical role in delivering the right products and services, expediting speed to market, and improving customer experience.
80% of organizations reported committing to using agile within software development, but deployment is often siloed; only 44% said agile practices are widely used within the development team, and 41% within IT operations. Agile does require an investment of time, energy, budget, and human resources, but it results in tangible rewards. Organizations that have been able to incorporate agile across every department – not just development and IT – reported 60% higher revenue and profit growth than other respondents.
Agile can be applied in many ways to different teams and functions. But successful agile teams focus on the following principles:
- Prioritize people over process
- Integrate customer feedback for continuous improvement
- Break work into short sprints to iterate and adapt quickly
- Have dedicated teams work on one project at a time
- Experiment and learn constantly
- Value transparency within projects and continuity within teams
The success of agile methodologies ultimately hinges on the right people being in the right roles. When teams are made up of highly skilled professionals committed to shared goals, organizations are able to improve their productivity, responsiveness, and quality of deliverables.
A common challenge that organizations face is finding qualified candidates to fill agile roles. York Solutions’ Managed Service Solution (MS3) is a customized workforce service that selects, screens, on-boards, and provides on-site support for candidates to solve this problem.
Learn more about Managed Service Solution.