059: The Top Benefits of Adopting Agile Practices

Jul 1, 2020

Digital Enterprise Society is the authority on the transformation to a digital enterprise, impacting all areas of an organization. Tune in for discussions among industry leaders about operations and action needed to drive digitization principles forward for the future of product development and life cycles. 

 

In today’s episode, Craig Brown and Thom Singer welcome Alena Keck, the Lean-Agile Enterprise Transformation Leader.  Alena has joined the podcast to discuss the benefits of utilizing agile software and explain how to maximize the value that you are delivering to your customers.  She offers suggestions on ways to overcome adaptation limitations or resistance and highlights the four pillars of overcoming challenges in the automotive industry.  The conversation concludes with an honest look at the ways that the pandemic has forced a change on all of us that just might result in more effective teams and creative results than ever before.

 

On today’s podcast, you will learn:

 

Bringing the benefits of agile software practices to the automotive industry

• What are the main differences between waterfall and agile systems?
• Complex and empirical systems benefit from agile systems 
• Agile can better support the changes that are made based on consumer preferences.

• Benefits include decreased time to market, which is expected from the best companies.
• Quality in continuous testing is best achieved with agile software.
• Increased customer focus and satisfaction as well as employee happiness. 

 

Overcoming the limitations of agile adaptation

• Companies need to properly set their own expectations — the goal should always be to deliver quality and value to the customer at a sustainable pace. 
• Some infrastructure transformations are harder to make than others and will need to be given extra attention and time. 
• Management needs to make agile values clear and tangible to leadership and teams.
• Teams need to clearly communicate the successes of the agile transformation. 

 

Four pillars of overcoming challenges in the automotive industry

• Change management and organizational structure need to be addressed first to achieve a successful transformation. 
• Embedded systems and regulatory environment are industry-specific and 
• Integrated continuous compliance 

 

Thriving in a time of pandemic

• Self-organizing teams that believe in their purpose will thrive in spite of a pandemic, remote working or any other distractions.
• Many companies have proved that they can think outside of the box in these unprecedented times.
• Remote work can produce effective results with the right employees and the right management.
• Remove yourself from your comfort zone by actively seeking feedback from others.

 

Do you have an example of extraordinary efforts or innovation during these unprecedented times? We would love to hear your story and possibly interview you for an upcoming episode. Please reach out to us at www.DigitalEnterpriseSociety.org