March 2023 | Przegląd Piekarski i Cukierniczy (Baking and Confectionery Review)
The 12 principles of Agile
In the last article I described what Agile is. It is at the same time a methodology and a philosophy — an approach which gives the possibility of adapting one’s work to the changing needs of the client. In the typical, classic method of organising work, called waterfall, we are forced to plan in meticulous detail. We have to foresee everything and set a defined, previously determined goal. The work plan should be completed before we begin realising our undertaking. The Agile philosophy is therefore the opposite of the conservative approach to planning.
In the last publication I explained how difficult it is to plan in an uncertain economic environment. It is difficult to plan if we do not know what will happen, how deep the recession will be, what difficult and great changes will come in the near future. In place of comprehensive and complex planning, the Agile methodology proposes planning small steps within a short, relatively predictable time horizon. Thanks to this it is possible to maintain high flexibility, which helps to avoid certain difficulties and obstacles. Thanks to Agile we will be better prepared for any obstructions and bottlenecks connected with recession or an unstable situation on the raw materials and fuel market. Moreover, by planning work using the method of small steps we will be able to make better use of the opportunities appearing in the economic environment. The Agile methodology is not only a way of planning, it is also a comprehensive approach to how to organise the work of teams, how to treat customers, and how to increase the value of our products and services.
How does one implement the approach in professional life?
W-MOSZCZYNSKI ppic 3-23It is good to read about new organisational solutions in management. It is good to think that we are modern and apply the most effective management methods. It is worse when some method seems attractive, and in the end turns out to be impractical or difficult to implement. Then we are reluctantly forced to abandon hope for change and return to old methods. Knowing only generalities, it is difficult to introduce something new into difficult business practice. In response to this, I will present, point by point, a recipe for implementing the Agile methodology.
The 12 key Agile points
Point 1. The customer is most important, they are always right
The Agile approach brings nothing new here. Everyone knows that openness to customer requirements is a key factor and a source of good relations with our business partners. It would seem there is no need to develop this point. It is, however, worth adding a few words. Among people who develop and release complex applications and devices onto the market, a very high level of irritation may arise when clients, in the course of the work, demand significant changes to be made to the project. Let us remind ourselves — we work for the client, and the client may change their mind, they have the right to do so. It is we who have to provide added value, and the client has to have the awareness and conviction that they are receiving a valuable service or product from us. A dynamically changing market requires a flexible and empathetic approach to the needs of our clients. This is the main message of this point. Agile treats the customer as a partner, emphasising that they are, in some sense, part of the team.
Point 2. Be ready for a request to change requirements
Today’s business is a continuous search for opportunities and competitive advantages, creating new initiatives, looking for new ideas and chances for profitable investments. With new initiatives, both sides learn — the initiators of the new idea learn together with the people who implement these ideas in life. In the course of running a project, both bottlenecks and new opportunities may appear. Theoretical ideas are confronted with the difficult practice of economic life, clashed with reality. New solutions are tested and often rejected. This point says a great deal about mutual understanding between the client and the team realising the project. Openness to change gives both sides very great opportunities for self-development. It provides valuable experience and knowledge useful for new ideas and for joint development.
Point 3. Deliver solutions or products frequently
We have to interact frequently with clients. It happens that a client orders a product and waits for it for a long time. The ordering side and the executing side have no contact with each other. Because of this there is no possibility of exchanging mutual information connected with the process of creating and testing new solutions. Such a situation becomes a potential source of misunderstanding or even rejection of our work by the investor. To avoid this, undertakings should be divided into small pieces. Such a solution makes communication with the client easier. Frequent contacts positively influence the quality of products and services. A lack of contact with the client leads to misunderstandings and ultimately to failure. Dividing the project into smaller sub-projects is also practical, because a potential change which the client may ask for will not be too painful or costly. It will concern a small sub-project. Finally, it is worth mentioning that such an approach positively influences the tightening of cooperation, which is a value in itself.
Point 4. Sales department staff should cooperate closely with the implementation team
Today everything is intricate, complex and often very advanced. Industries are divided into narrow specialisations. Often, someone who knows how to sell or how to talk to business simultaneously has a poor grasp of technical matters. Such a situation can be a source of disappointment and misunderstandings. A salesperson may promise the client a great deal. A technical expert, who has to gather the client’s requirements and compare them with real possibilities, may state that the project in the agreed form is impossible to realise. The recipe for this type of problem is close cooperation between sales staff and technical experts.
Point 5. Cooperate with highly motivated employees
This point concerns the atmosphere prevailing among the members of the executing team. In order to achieve something, we have to have the right people. One should never cooperate with people who do not feel like working, who have no ideas or willingness, with people who are a problem for other team members. They will not change, and their motivation may even deteriorate.
Sometimes it is difficult to find highly motivated people who have strong will and willingness to make additional effort. However, it pays to find and involve such people in the project. They are very valuable, and everything is easier with them. One could talk for a long time about how to increase the level of motivation, how to cooperate with people and maintain good relations between team members. The greatest enemies of high morale are: limited time, failures and bottlenecks, and a lack of respect. Many unpredictable factors, e.g. premature, easy success, can contribute to demotivating team members. Remember to choose emotionally stable, motivated and positively disposed people for projects.
Point 6. The most effective form of communication is face-to-face conversation
Recently online meetings have become very popular. This is a very convenient and cheap form of contact. Unfortunately it is not as effective as real meetings. Body language is missing, which accounts for about 70% of the message. Some teams talk online with cameras on. Good communication saves time and contributes to avoiding misunderstandings. If direct contact is difficult or impossible, one should never turn off cameras at remote meetings.
Point 7. A working solution has greater value than theoretical considerations
This point does not require deep explanation. A bird in the hand is worth more than a pigeon on the roof. Our work should have a practical dimension. It is important not to strive for perfection, because perfection is a frequent cause of failures in projects. Our solution should work, and this should be achieved without too great a cost. Cheap and quick does not mean worse — it means that we have more time to improve an already working solution. Implementing possible changes to requirements proposed by the client will also not be a problem. The solutions introduced must relate to a certain quality, established between the supplier and the client. In this way we deliver business value much faster, with less work input. It is not, however, about „lower cost”, but precisely about a shorter time for delivering the solution. Working software has to be of the appropriate quality.
Point 8. Try to balance development
Balanced development of a product or service is possible thanks to sequencing the work. The work is realised according to successive sequences. First one step is taken in the right direction, the result is shown to the client, and they give feedback. Then, on the basis of the client’s assessment, possible improvements and corrections are introduced. Then the realisation process is moved to the next stage. It is important to maintain the appropriate pace of work, because this ensures the balancing of effort and the appropriate atmosphere in projects. One should avoid an irregular pace of work, periodic fast sprints and idle time.
Point 9. Concentration on the quality and efficiency of the solution
It is not easy to explain what this point is about. On the one hand, according to the Agile approach, we should act quickly and deliver many solutions in a short time. On the other hand, we should not concentrate on perfection, because perfection is the most frequent cause of failures in projects. Excellence is bad if employees improve their product or service without restraint and without economic justification. So what is it about? The answer to this question may come from the Six Sigma methodology. One should deliver an excellent product or service thanks to organising the process in such a way as to achieve a high level of quality without incurring significant costs. Very useful at this point is the principle of maximising the marginal efficiency of inputs. In the Agile approach it is about developing the product and continuously improving the manufacturing processes. It is about drawing conclusions from the course of work done so far, so that subsequent work is better and better.
Point 10. Simplicity of solutions
In every situation one should look for a simple solution. It is cheap to maintain, because it does not require intricate instructions or technical documentation. Does this assumption sound naive? One should look for so-called „low-hanging fruit”. There is no need to look for very complicated solutions; common sense would be enough to find a simple way in accordance with the principle of „Occam’s razor”.
Point 11. Self-organising teams
Teams should consist of people who would like to be free, who would like to determine their own rules within the team. Team members should agree on the most important aspects of their work, the way of communicating within the cooperation, and generally define the value system in the team. People always work better when they feel safe, and they feel safe if they work within a defined, jointly agreed system of norms and rules. This point also has a second, somewhat darker side. People will never do something bad if it is not consistent with the value system of a well-coordinated team. By definition, people rarely agree to immoral and bad rules of coexistence. So moral agreements within the team are very good for the employer, because they provide him with stabilisation and safety, freeing him from threats.
Point 12. Self-improvement of teams
Teams consist of experts. These specialised employees have to keep up to date with technology, which changes very dynamically. During work, team members must have the opportunity for self-improvement, learning, and updating tools. This is a very important point of the Agile methodology — one might say revolutionary. My whole life I have worked as a financial controller or data scientist. Both professions require continuous learning. Unfortunately, for most of my life I struggled with a ban on learning in the workplace. Officially I could only learn in my free time or at workshops organised by the employer. In the Agile approach, learning during working hours is something natural. The employer knows that the source of technological progress is learning.
Summary
It is very important how we approach solving a problem, how we treat general, typical troubles, and what our definition of these troubles is. Sometimes we may discover that only a small change of attitude or a redefinition of the goal can change everything. In the science of military strategy one can learn that not only the quality of weaponry is important, but it is also important how that chosen weaponry should be used in a tactical sense. We encounter the same situation in life. We have a set of tools, experiences and skills. We use these resources to solve problems. However, in order for these resources to be used effectively, we need a good tactic for using them. The Agile methodology is precisely such a tactic, which can contribute to increasing the efficiency of the use of our resources.
Substantive consultation: Klaudia Purchała-Przybyła, Line Manager, Unity Group
Wojciech Moszczyński
Wojciech Moszczyński — an expert in the field of mathematical optimisation and predictive modelling. For years engaged in popularising econometric methods in business environments. He specialises in optimising sales, production and logistics processes. For 15 years he worked as a financial expert specialising in the area of controlling and management accounting. For 10 years he has worked as a data analyst (data scientist). A graduate of the Department of Econometrics and Statistics of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. Currently employed as Senior Data Scientist at the Polish company Unity Group.
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