Agility In Large Companies

How software is developed, operated, and used is increasingly changing companies. Ideas reserved for start-ups just a few years ago are increasingly finding their way into established large companies. To produce software faster and faster, not only the organization of a company but also the systems have to be changed. Many companies still think about agile and classic software development methods in black and white, and the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. Combining the advantages of agile software development with planning security is essential. Organizations need to tame agility for it to unfold its full potential. A whole range of instruments and concepts are available to decision-makers in companies.

The Right Level of Agility

The right balance between planning and flexibility depends on several factors. The decisive factor here is the personal attitude of those involved in the project: the more agile they are, the greater the elegant share in the project work. Other indicators are the size of the project, its importance, the dynamics of the environment, the corporate culture, and the industry know-how of the development team. Finding the optimal balance of planning and agility can be time-consuming. Various concepts can help here: In addition to DevOps and continuous integration or continuous delivery, the interaction room is a suitable concept here.

A Space With Limitless Possibilities

The interaction room is a medium that allows business and IT experts to communicate better with each other. This is made possible by the open, non-IT-fixed presentation of processes. It also will enable representatives from the specialist departments to get involved in discussions. This Interaction Room is an actual walk-in room with four walls. The project team members visualize processes on these walls. Together with the IT experts, they determine solutions for a project’s central topics and questions in coordination rounds. This is visualized by assigning symbols to individual aspects of the project. The Interaction Room is a method that draws interest in the progress of the project and contributes to the vision of the software to be continuously developed further by all those involved. One wall is labeled with the models of the business processes, the second wall is used to write down technical object models, and the team uses the third to write down the backlog and log the project progress. On the fourth wall, they depict the integration map. This map provides information about which existing software systems have to be integrated with the system to be created.

Agile Right Down To IT Operations

Agile development means producing software at short, regular intervals. The right processes and framework conditions must be created for this. Those responsible can only decide on a case-by-case basis which organizational form or mixture of organizational structures is suitable for a company. But some indicators show whether the trends are more towards DevOps or classic CIO organizations:

Systems that change slowly and are hardly exposed to structural adjustments are not a trigger for the introduction of DevOps structure.

DevOps lend themselves to structures with clear dividing lines in the form of loosely coupled, asynchronous integrated services. These prerequisites are often given in younger systems, which applies to surface-intensive and customer-visible systems at the beginning of their life cycle. It is in such an environment that DevOps can work best.

By their very nature, mobile applications are suitable candidates for a DevOps organizational form, if only because they change quickly and must always be available.

Continuous Integration And Continuous Delivery: Giving Agility A System

For companies to be able to put software developed in an agile manner into operation at the frequency with which the developer publishes it, those responsible not only have to adapt the organization but also the systems. The whole thing aims to automatically produce and provide both the software and the development, test, and productive environments. Since updates can come relatively quickly, installation routines are now required that constantly check whether modified software can be implemented.

This idea underlies continuous integration and continuous delivery. In contrast to automation approaches, which have a limited range of functions, there are now many different options: from addressing heterogeneous infrastructures to the automated provision of environments and their integration into the existing IT infrastructure. This also includes tools for implementing monitoring and logging mechanisms, automated testing, managing software components, and orchestrating the entire process. Automation not only speeds up IT processes it also makes troubleshooting easier. It avoids problems arising from the different development, test, and production environment configurations, managing software components, and orchestrating the entire process. Automation not only speeds up IT processes it also makes troubleshooting easier. It avoids problems arising from the different development, test, and production environment configurations, managing software components, and orchestrating the entire process. Automation not only speeds up IT processes but also makes troubleshooting more accessible, and it avoids problems arising from the different configurations of development, test, and production environments.

Budgets In Agile Projects: Squaring The Circle?

Agile thinking extends not only beyond departmental boundaries but also company boundaries. If companies rely on external capacities for software development, it is essential that they are equally interested in the agile development of lean software. But how should something be budgeted that is not precisely specified? A calculation according to expenditure is highly problematic for the client since the costs can theoretically increase indefinitely. Therefore, real agile software projects rarely occur in practice.

IT Is Now At The Table.

The way companies develop, operate, and use software is changing fundamentally at the moment. Ideas reserved for start-ups a few years ago are now finding their way into established large companies. This will show in the future whether the interaction between IT and other departments will be successful.

Also Read: Why Introduce The Agile Methodology In Your Company