Most agile practitioners and coaches will refrain from providing advice on what the perfect agile organisation looks like, because we acknowledge that every situation is different and every organisation needs a way of working that suits their people and the environment they find themselves in. However, I believe that as we’ve learned more about agile ways of working and the…
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Enabling business agility through organisational plasticity
We are living in a new economic and societal model characterised by fast-changing consumer demand and perpetual connectivity. In this model, businesses have to create highly individualised customer experiences and promote instant solutions for users’ problems in order to remain competitive. Because of this, more organisations are becoming aware of the necessity of adaptable processes, structures, behaviours and mindsets — that allows people to recognise and respond…
Better Agile ways of working for non-software development teams
I have been fortunate to work with different kinds of agile teams that have missions other than software development. Recently I was surprised when I started a coaching role with a non-software team, and discovered they had been running Scrum for eight sprints, each two weeks long. Besides doing non-effective stand-ups and retrospectives, and showcases filled with over-designed slides; no…
Ten commandments of user stories
After years of delivering software applications, with majority of them focussed on talking to people to understand the problems they are attempting to solve, I thought it would be worth summarising some of my experiences (more or less blissful) in a manner that may inspire those who share the passion of interpreting “user needs”. The recommendations I’m sharing are user…
The DevOps tools you need to change behaviour
The DevOps movement – bridging the gaps between software development and operations – is intended to enable IT teams to increase the cadence of release and deployment cycles, allowing products and updates to be released faster. Successfully transitioning to DevOps requires not only organisational alignment, but also a cultural shift towards behaviour like information sharing, cooperation and trust. While there…
3 Non-design challenges that have been solved by design
We tend to think of design as something visual; a logo or the shape of a chair. But the strategies designers use during the creative process – understanding the people you want to help and designing to suit their needs or solve their problems can be applied in a broader context. Design thinking has proved highly effective across numerous industries…
Common mistakes to avoid when you’re ‘doing Agile’
When an organisation makes the decision to go Agile, almost immediately people rush to restructure teams, change people’s job roles and coordinate daily stand-up meetings. However, while these features are important, they should not be the starting point. The first principle of the Agile manifesto is that individuals and interactions are more important than processes and tools. This means the…
Embracing change with Agile retailing
Every decision a retailer makes these days – whether it’s about price, product, placement or promotion –revolves around delivering the best possible customer experience to build and retain customer loyalty. The pressure on retailers to deliver these outcomes faster is heightened further by growing competition. In response to mounting pressures, some of Australia’s top retailers have revised their retail strategies…
Elabor8 advances to Gold Partner in the Scaled Agile Partner Network
Elabor8 is now a Gold Partner within the Scaled Agile Partner Network, enabling us to deliver the network’s highest level of certification to help organisations successfully implement the Scaled Agile Framework ® (SAFe®). John Sullivan, Elabor8’s Chief Executive Officer, says our consultants take a pragmatic and framework-agnostic approach to helping some of Australia’s largest organisations adopt Agile. “For all our…
How a DevOps culture supports digital business
In our recent white paper ‘Roadblocks to Customer Centricity’ we identified the role respect, understanding and empathy plays in breaking down silos. This article, the first in a two part series, is designed to create a shared understanding of DevOps; describing what DevOps is and its role in supporting innovation and customer satisfaction. It seeks to bridge the understanding gap…