agile scaling Archive - agile Companies

Digital change 21. March 2021

Trends and agility in organizations – from one extreme to the next?

You know it: There is constant change in your organization. From high agility back to a rigid structure back to agility? But why can it be that managers in organizations change course so often and feel from one extreme to the other? The management pendulum I believe it acts like a pendulum. Companies often react less proactively but rather reactively due to certain key figures such as layoffs or a drop in sales. At this point, companies are on one side of the extreme, e.g. many processes and hierarchies. Now the company is moving to the next extreme due to the decision of the management and realizing that there is now too much chaos in the organization. So we’re reintroducing a couple of processes. In the second step, the pendulum does not swing that far, but it swings in the other direction again. It loses momentum. This process lasts until…

Agile organization 21. March 2021

Scrum in corporations – how do I avoid agile Taylorism?

I blog a lot about medium-sized companies and thus also about the specific problems they have. However, I do not want to neglect the specific problems of large corporations. To this day I am interested in the specific problems with scaling Scrum on a large scale. Managers from three different corporations wrote to me via my blog asking me to come over. Of course I gladly accepted this invitation. The aim was an intensive professional exchange (4h). The agenda of the workshop was as follows: What is the current status of the scaling of Scrum in corporations? What are the challenges? How could this be solved? tip : You are welcome to read additionally what the Differences between medium-sized companies and corporations are. Scaling agility in corporations The last time I was really active as an agile consultant in corporations in 2015, the first teams were organized according to agile…

Agile organization 21. March 2021

OKRS: the agile management method

Lately, a lot of my contacts have been talking about the term Objective Key Results (OKRS). This is a new management method that sets goals based on key performance indicators. But what is actually behind it? What are Objective Key Results (OKRS) The method was invented by Andy Grove and John Doerr and first mentioned on Google in 1999. You can currently find the method at Oracle or Twitter, for example. The T3N describes this as follows: Measurable key results are assigned to each objective (objective). The successes are measured at regular intervals and new OKRs are defined. The OKRS are not determined at the company level, but are negotiated with each team. A manager then has the task of synchronizing these together with all employees and adapting them to the company’s goals. The idea behind the goals is that they cannot be fully achieved and are therefore an incentive.…

Agile organization 21. March 2021

Between tradition and change – the story of an organizational rebel

“It is they who drive the transformation of companies and industries: courageous lateral thinkers, risk-takers who are different and visionaries. Every change, every innovation needs people who think beyond borders, question the status quo and convince others of their ideas. We call them thought leaders, rebels, or drivers”so Haufe in the invitation to the latest blog parade with the hashtag organizational rebels. I would like to participate in this and have set myself to answer the following questions on this topic: What are my very personal experiences in my life as a rebel? What best practices can I share – and what have been my biggest mistakes that others can learn from? In the first step I would like to tell my very personal story about a change in which I was involved for a whole year. From this story I derive best practices that can help an organizational rebel…

Medium-sized companies 4.0 21. March 2021

Special features and characteristics of SMEs in contrast to large companies

In my PhD I research with a focus on SMEs and I am often asked what the difference is and why SMEs have to be researched separately. Many also like to exchange ideas with me about SME 4.0 and ask themselves why I sometimes strongly separate my articles into SMEs and large companies. I would now like to give you an answer to that. Characteristics of SMEs The entire German corporate landscape is predominantly dominated by small and medium-sized companies (99.3% of all companies are SMEs in Germany), which are an important pillar of the German economy due to their innovative ability and experience. According to the definition of the EU (IfM Bonn 2018), SMEs are divided into three categories: Small business (up to 9 employees and 2 million euros in sales) Small companies (up to 49 employees and 10 million euros in sales) Medium-sized companies (up to 249 or…

Agile organization 21. March 2021

Scrum simulation for download!

FliegÜbersZielHinaus AG has recently been under heavy pressure from the upcoming main session. Thousands of families and groups of young party-goers want to start their planned vacation in the unofficial 17th state of Mallorca. FliegÜbersZielHinaus AG is a manufacturer of high-quality aircraft and supplies the customer IchWechselStestandMeineAnhaben AG. Due to the dynamism and the high order volume of 50 aircraft, the management decided to introduce the Scrum method and to cope with the workload through agility.Immerse yourself in a Scrum simulation between changing customer requirements, surprises and absurd management decisions. As part of a Scrum Team, can you help companies and deliver the 50 aircraft on time despite unclear requirements and fluctuating order quantities?I came up with this Scrum simulation myself and I hope you enjoy it. I have not checked whether this is similar to any other Scrum simulation. If you notice anything, please feel free to contact me.…

Digital transformation 21. March 2021

Agile in the Waterfallworld – agile teams in waterfall organizations

Agile methods of software development have quickly become the best practice solution for modern companies. Software companies in particular achieve faster and more customer-oriented results with the agile way of working. However, this way of working requires an agile environment and customers of these companies often still work in the sequential waterfall model. Both models are contradicting each other and therefore, when combined, often lead to wrong decisions, budget overruns and massive change management. Existing solutions are often not empirically proven, only to be understood as frameworks or not tailored to this special context. In the course of this work, a concept is developed which coordinates both methods as a hybrid process in order to avoid wrong decisions and budget overruns and to reduce change management. This concept is based on current literature and was evaluated with IT experts. It is also tested and evaluated in an IT service provider…

Agile departments 21. March 2021

Agile Requirements Engineering (RE)

Requirements management or requirements engineering describes “the engineering definition of the requirements for a system; in system analysis related to computer-aided (computer system) business information systems, in software engineering to software products. ” (Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon) A management discipline that, as agile requirements engineering, is always in demand wherever complex systems are developed in processes that are strongly based on division of labor. One of the main tasks of requirements engineering is first of all to use the representation to determine the respective requirements profile – also known as requirements analysis. These determined requirements are also documented. In this context, agile requirements engineering requires that knowledge be actively imparted to the team. When checking and coordinating the requirements, the RE must plausibly and conclusively prove the correctness of the requirements. As the last core activity, Chris Rupp and the SOPHISTs (2014, p. 14) describe the administration of requirements. Parts of the…

Agile organization 21. March 2021

Agile scaling in companies

Agile scaling in the company – but how? Since the introduction of agility, we have been trying to scale it. The first step towards agile scaling was taken with Scrum of Scrums. Subsequently, a large number of agile evangelists began to think about solutions for a company-wide scaling of Scrum and wrote very exciting books and approaches from 2010 to 2016. LESS, DAD, SAFe? Is it all just marketing? It all started with the SAFe Framework by Leffingwell (2010). The magazines reported about this framework as being very bureaucratic and inflexible. Leffingwell has greatly improved this framework to date and releases new versions every year. More information is available in his new book . IBM then wanted to scale agility and, with Ambler and Lines in 2012, created Disciplined Agile Delivery, a collection of many best practices that were introduced in 2012 have been published as a book . In…

Agile departments 21. March 2021

Agile controlling, scrum and beyond budgeting

The Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon defines controlling as: “… sub-area of the corporate management system, the main task of which is the planning, management and control of all corporate areas.” In the context of an agile company, however, controlling has to reinvent itself to a certain extent. In this article, I would like to give a small preview of which approaches already exist and which questions still need to be clarified in the future. Role of controlling The presentation by Roman et al. (2014, p. 47) clarifies the new role of the agile Controlling. The discipline no longer acts in isolation as a single unit, but acts closely with management. This means that agile controlling in modern, agile companies is not only responsible for precise, customer-oriented reports, but also takes on coordination, moderation and decision-making role that is more oriented towards traditional management than before. Boundaries are softening and the different roles…