Your path to business agility
Innovation has long been central to the strategy of successful companies. But innovation is more than just ramping up R&D. 2015 marks the shift from the information economy to the innovation economy — one that’s focus is a future of impact and influence, filled with endless new ways to deal with global business challenges and...
It seems every industry struggles in one way or another when it comes to developing and designing innovative, new products with that competitive edge. The way a company approaches innovation will differ from another company. That’s why I like this webcast The Right Way to Run Innovation Management featuring two of the most experienced product development gurus...
Aligning project and portfolio objectives with overall business goals may seem like a no-brainer. Inherent, almost, that projects you invest in are supporting your overall objectives. However, not all projects are created equal, and sometimes the best made plans are self destructive. In order to create a plan that truly factors in business goals and...
To find improvement opportunities, you look to the data. It offers the hard numbers that can help answer questions such as “Will we finish the work in time?” or “How can we adjust the process to improve flow?” AgilePlace’s metrics and reports provide you with the data-driven insights you need to answer the tough questions....
A predictable outcome is one of the most sought-after goals in any business or initiative. It’s easy to see why. We often correlate predictability with attractive benefits like lower risk, higher business value, and maybe even less stress. So with every new project, we dutifully gather time, effort, and resource estimates from all involved —...
4 Ways to Improve Billable Utilization Having worked in the professional services industry for many years, I am surprised at how many organizations still struggle with resource management and fail to optimize billable utilization. I’ve also had the privilege of working with organizations that got it right! In this blog, I share some recommendations and...
Austin is famous for many things, but in the tech community South By Southwest (SXSW) has emerged as one of the go to events for technical innovation. SXSW is considered to be the launch pad for getting the word out on many great ideas. So, when I was asked to speak at IEEE DevOps Unleashed...
Once people start to get “Stop Starting Start Finishing” thinking (Kanban) or “focus on the current sprint” thinking (Scrum), a frequent question that comes up is how to deal with people who are required for different activities throughout the work life cycle. Example Scenarios The Kanban board shown above illustrates the following scenarios. Users “D1” and...
The past several months have seen a flurry of dealmaking in pharma and biotech. Pfizer, having been rebuffed by AstraZeneca, bought a manufacturer of biosimilars, increasing speculation that the company is planning to split itself in two. Shire, similarly stung by its failed attempt to buy AbbVie, is buying NPS pharmaceuticals. A very public drama...
In this three-part series on Kanban for DevOps, Dominica DeGrandis, Director of Training and Coaching at Planview AgilePlace, explains three key reasons why IT Ops teams and those implementing a DevOps value chain use a lean flow approach to product development. If you’re just jumping in to this series, check out part one and part two. Reason #3: People responsible for...
