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Agile towards real innovation
Agile towards real innovation
THE CHALLENGE
In classic waterfall project planning from the last century, complexity, risks and unknowns cannot be adequately considered: The further in the future, the more hypothetical the plan becomes. Sticking to it often prevents quick and complex decisions and requires constant adaptation and re-planning. Our goal is to maintain a future-proof capacity by benefitting from the disruptive changes brought by digitalisation, globalisation, climate change and a new generation that is rethinking work.
OUR AGILE CORE PRINCIPLES
Agility is more than just a different way of moving processes forward and planning projects, it requires another way of thinking. The false sense of security provided by a detailed plan is replaced by a clear definition of goals, role allocation and constant questioning of what has been achieved.
People and Interactions
— over —
Processes and Tools
Real-time digital cooperation
— over —
Extensive documentation
Early customer collaboration
— over —
Contract negotiations
Responding to change
— over —
Following
a plan
Interests and flexibility
— over —
Positions and immobility
People and Interactions
— over —
Processes and Tools
Real-time digital cooperation
— over —
Extensive documentation
Early customer collaboration
— over —
Contract negotiations
Responding to change
— over —
Following
a plan
Interests and flexibility
— over —
Positions and immobility
People and Interactions
— over —
Processes and Tools
Real-time digital cooperation
— over —
Extensive documentation
Early customer collaboration
— over —
Contract negotiations
Responding to change
— over —
Following
a plan
Interests and flexibility
— over —
Positions and immobility
AGILE WORKFLOWS
A cornerstone of agility is empiricism: our partners and teams are enabled to apply the empirical results of one step to the problems they face in the next step. In this way, they can break down complex problems into the smallest steps, gain valuable insights and incrementally improve verified outputs.

Prioritised and individualised work-tasks from a backlog are realised during time-boxed sprints as tangible outputs at the end of each sprint. The basis of completion is the previously agreed "Definition of done". At the end of each sprint, the progress is checked in a review, the team functionality is discussed in a retrospective and the tasks for the next sprint are selected from the backlog.

Essential to successful agile progress are shared values characterised by transparency in all activities, joint and open review of results and respectful discussion of adjustments.
AGILE TEAMS
Building cross-functional, self-managed and empowered teams is the driving force for value creation. Through 360O reviews, clear distribution of roles and responsibility for results, complex issues become more transparent to all. Joint values are essential and constantly addressed by our facilitation - thus, we focus on people and their interaction.
COMMITMENT
The team is guided by its goals. An "all-in" teamwork approach is mandatory. Goals are realistic and broken down into distinct units. This allows responsibilities to be clearly defined and enables team members to meet their commitments.
FOCUS
With the right commitment and clearly defined goals, team members focus on their own tasks, knowing that the other team members are doing the same. The focus lies on few specific goals at a time. Blockages are quickly cleared out of the way.
OPENNESS AND TRANSPARENCY
Must be possible to analyse the work ofeach team member. It must be possible for the others to make suggestions forimprovement. The principle should not be understood as micromanagement. Butrather as a value based on the Agile Principles of Empiricism: Transparency,Introspection and Adaptation. Empiricism states that knowledge is based onexperience already gained.
RESPECT
Goes further than the simplistic Kantian imperative, "Treat others as you would have them treat you." It is abouteveryone's responsibility to treat each other with respect. Strengths andweaknesses of others are known which ensures that the team is in balance. Assoon as even one person performs poorly, the team goal cannot be achieved.
COURAGE
Agility thrives on being honest with everyone in the team. Andhonesty can sometimes hurt. Therefore, in addition to respect, a certain amountof courage is needed. Otherwise, you will hardly manage to address them abouttheir responsibilities when needed. The same applies to overcoming mentalitieslike these: "We've always done it this way" or "That's not oneof my tasks".
A SMALL GLOSSARY
FOR NEWCOMERS TO AGILITY
Product Backlog
… is a prioritised overall to-do-list.
Sprint
… are time-boxed working periods of one month or less to create consistency.
Sprint Backlog
… contains the Goal (why), selected Tasks (what), and an actionable plan (how) for one Sprint
Sprint Review
… is to inspect the outcome of the Sprint and determine future adaptations.
Sprint Retrospective
… is to inspect individuals, interactions, processes, tools, and their Definition of Done.
Sprint Planning
… initiates the Sprint by laying out the work to be performed for it.
Definition of Done
… (DoD) provides a way for the team to make what done means transparent to all.
Prototype
… is a tangible and usable outcome of each Sprint, incrementally and iteratively improved towards the project goal.
Product Increment
… is a concrete step improving the prototype. It adds value, is verified and usable.
Product Backlog
… is a prioritised overall to-do-list.
Sprint
… are time-boxed working periods of one month or less to create consistency.
Sprint Backlog
… contains the Goal (why), selected Tasks (what), and an actionable plan (how) for one Sprint
Sprint Review
… is to inspect the outcome of the Sprint and determine future adaptations.
Sprint Retrospective
… is to inspect individuals, interactions, processes, tools, and their Definition of Done.
Sprint Planning
… initiates the Sprint by laying out the work to be performed for it.
Definition of Done
… (DoD) provides a way for the team to make what done means transparent to all.
Prototype
… is a tangible and usable outcome of each Sprint, incrementally and iteratively improved towards the project goal.
Product Increment
… is a concrete step improving the prototype. It adds value, is verified and usable.