Unlock the Benefits of Agile in Your Business
The C-Suite has finally accepted agile projects as an imperative: a 2021 IDC survey commissioned by ServiceNow found that 90% of European CEOs say being agile is business critical.
What skills do you need to deliver projects more fluidly? How do you hire them?
Why the C-Suite Has Fallen in Love with Agile
Agile companies can move at a rapid pace. They can adapt to rapidly-evolving markets, use the best of the skills they have in-house, improve productivity, and deliver employee experiences that help to retain their best talent.
Agile’s core values are:
- Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
- Working software over comprehensive documentation
- Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
- Responding to change over following a plan
The experience of Covid-19 has demonstrated just how crucial these values are to responding and adapting to rapid change. Agile methods have allowed companies to focus on “What now?” instead of asking, “Are we there yet?”.
So, what benefits have become so apparent?
First, agile puts people at the heart of strategy. The ServiceNow survey found that more than half of the businesses with the highest preparedness for agility performed excellently for customer service (compared to around 20% overall).
Agile methods enable you to integrate customer feedback quickly, and this means faster alignment to changing needs. The result? Your business is better protected and able to take advantage of growth opportunities.
Second, digitization allows you to automate repetitive manual tasks. This reduces errors and costs, and improves productivity. It also enhances the employee experience.
Finally, by utilizing digital technology such as ServiceNow’s workflows, you can enable more fluidity of processes to mitigate human risks.
Skills Needed to Operate Agile Projects
Agile project management skills are different from traditional project management skills. They are more focused on the collaboration of the team. In an agile project, there are no fixed deadlines, and the team has the authority to make changes when they need it.
Traditional project management skills include scheduling, risk, change control, etc.
Agile project management skills focus on creating a culture where people can freely share their ideas and give feedback without inhibition. Additionally, agile project managers must be able to handle failure and pivot appropriately in order to meet deadlines.
Of course, technical and digital skills are important, but those working in agile teams must also demonstrate they are able to build and maintain relationships, work with change, understand and use project management tools, prioritize tasks and manage risk, and manage workflows. Who you employ must communicate and collaborate effectively, and be a good knowledge manager, as well as show leadership and responsibility in largely autonomous roles.
How Do You Recruit the Skills Needed for Agility?
As agile projects become more prevalent in organizations, it is important that they recruit people who have the necessary skills for these projects as well as those who are willing to learn new ones. You’ll need to consider the project and the technical skills required. You’ll also need to consider the timescale of the project, and develop a team that is as fluid as the agile methodology itself.
In essence, ask if you need skills for the long term or for a short term. Are the skills very specific to a specific customer request, for example? Does this request require niche skillsets for only a few weeks or months?
Agility in recruitment is as important to your success as managing projects in an agile methodology – the two elements go hand-in-glove. In short:
- If the skillset is required long term, you should make direct hires
- If the skillset is required short term or very niche, you should consider consultancy services
Hire Consultancy Services with Confidence
In the modern world, companies must adapt quickly to changing priorities and expectations. With new technologies emerging every day, it is difficult for a team of 20 developers to maintain a competitive advantage with just one set of skills.
Consultancy services can help companies adjust quickly by providing them with reliable resources that are up to date with the latest trends and technologies. They provide support for small, medium, or large-scale projects. They also offer dedicated project teams with specialized skills for specific challenges which are often impossible for companies to tackle on their own. You’ll find that Consultancy Services from Gravity IT Resources will:
- Shorten the time taken to deliver value
- Increase the probability of success by providing expertise that your team lacks when it is needed
- Provide key insights that can be used as part of your broader business strategy
Are you struggling to embed project agility into your business? Do you want to take advantage of the benefits of hiring the best skills for agile projects? Contact Gravity IT Resources today. We’ll be happy to discuss the benefits to your business of partnering with our consultancy services.
