Posts Tagged ‘Value Chains’
Agile 2.0 in the Cutter Summit
I will be presenting on the Agile 2.0 subject in the forthcoming Cutter Summit. The premise of my presentation is that markets nowadays are vastly different from those we used to compete in ten years ago. The changes in the markets pose new challenges to software methods. Insofar as Agile methods are concerned, we are starting to see a new generation methods. I perceive these methods as Agile 2.0.
Here is the abstract of my presentation:
Agile, the software method that was conceived as a way to cope with change, is itself dramatically changing. What we are now witnessing is the emergence of Agile 2.0.
Three rapidly converging trends are driving the emergence of Agile 2.0:
- Markets are becoming hyper-segmented;
- Markets are also becoming fleetingly transient; and
- The value chains that serve the markets are dramatically different from yesterday’s value chains.
Traditionally, the Agile movement responded to change by “merging” two strands – development and testing – at the team level. Agile 2.0 extends this single-level approach by simultaneously applying Agile principles at three tiers:
- The tier at which development, testing and operations merge
- The tier at which strategy and delivery merge
- The tier at which problem and solution merge
Agile 2.0 addresses the key challenge posed by “change is changing”: how to solve a problem when it is not understood well enough to produce a viable solution. Rapidly interlinked iterations at all three levels make it possible to substitute learning for planning. It’s through tight feedback loops in and amongst the three levels that the pace of learning accelerates to match the speed of change.
In this presentation, Cutter Fellow and Director of Cutter’s Agile practice, Israel Gat, will divulge the details you need to know about how to implement Agile 2.0 in your organization/company. You’ll get a blueprint for assessing and responding to the new realities of the competitive environment — without compromising the tried and true Agile tenets.
A New Context for Agile
Readers of both the Cutter Blog and The Agile Executive are probably familiar with my my view that Agile nowadays is deployed in a new context. The Agile roll-out is at the very heart of the confluence of major changes in markets, value chains and technological capabilities. Markets are tilting toward hyper-segmentation; value chains are being populated with prosumers; and, technological capabilities are becoming a problem of choosing, not of choice. Hence, the real starting point for the Agile roll-out, indicated by the you are here marker in Figure 1, is comprehending the implications of the merging of these three trends in the context of the client’s business.
Figure 1: A New Context for Agile
DZone has just published an interview with me on the subject. Click here for details, including a discussion of the nature and power of ‘Super-Fresh’ Code in the new context.
The Three Faces of Innovation
To succeed with innovation, you need to simultaneously address all three aspects:
- Affordable experimentation through the Agile process.
- Empowerment of (self sufficient) local teams.
- Let go of the hierarchical control concentrated in corporate headquarters.
A New Chasm is Forming
http://www.flickr.com/photos/96483949@N00/192144459/
Recently I had frustrating experiences with the bureaucracies of two companies: a company who is bringing me in to consult on continuous value delivery and another company who is interested in a seminar on the consumerization of enterprise software. While the two companies could not be more different, good-hearted engagement managers in both companies cautioned me in advance that their bureaucracies would drive me nuts. Based on my experience to date they were not kidding…
It is a striking contrast between the ease with which I can get precious data from my social network anytime I need it versus the unbelievable waste of time answering the very same question in two or three redundant forms used to screen me as a supplier. This contrast leads me to conclude we are witnessing the formation of a new chasm. It is between companies who stick to their old bureaucratic patterns with respect to suppliers versus those that realize that a supplier these days is a “prosumer.” He/she might provide services one day, consume (other) services the other day.
The business opportunity this chasm presents is providing efficient marketplace infrastructures. Anyone who can collect my data once and provide it as needed to multiple companies I interact with as a supplier will be doing me, and countless number of social networking aficionado, a huge service. Time is simply too precious to be wasted typing in the maiden name of my mother multiple times.
The distinguished economist Ronald Coase perceived reduction of transaction costs as the essence of the firm. His thoughts of more than 70 years ago are right on these days. The bar for transaction costs is “fill in the details only once”. Once in this context means “once in your lifetime.”
Recommendation: Examine the way your company acquires new customers versus the way it brings aboard suppliers. Something is wrong if your company’s procurement folks routinely tell suppliers “we know you have already given this information, but ‘they’ would not accept it from ‘us’ if you don’t fill this extra form as well.” This being the case, you need to rethink your approach to composite value chains.
The Agile Executive 