By: Guillermo Crisóstomo and Imagemaker´s team
When large companies are in the process of changing their traditional way of working towards agile organizational development, it is usual to hear from those who support them in the process the invitation to "make teams work like startups" since they stand out for having a structure that allows a better adaptation to change, however, many of them when they start to grow to lose sight of their virtues and do not get the most out of them.
Therefore, we share some points that can help those entrepreneurs to return to the roots of startups, agility:
1. No need to spend millions
There is a belief that to incorporate an agile culture in companies, a lot of money must be invested in agile transformation consulting, but ... Is it really necessary? Ideally, the answer is certainly yes, but in small organizations where resources are (even more) scarce than in other companies, alternative ways can be chosen to get off on the right foot to be more agile without the need to spend excessively.
For this, it is key that there are leaders who have experience within an agile context since with it you can intuitively begin to incorporate practices that are beneficial for the organization.
It is also just as important to polish the knowledge base. We leave you some sources of information that could help you:
The book "The Lean Startup Method" by Eric Ries
2. There is life beyond Scrum
Although Scrum is one of the most recognized frameworks, you have to know that it is not the only one. To obtain the benefits of Scrum it is required to have a certain structure that does not necessarily exist or require force in a small company.
We recommend exploring all the options. Kanban is a good alternative since it is a simple framework to implement, more flexible and that allows you to acquire certain benefits of agility such as efficiency, transparency, the vision of the workflow, among others. And best of all, you just have to start where you are.
3.Scale with meaning.
Agile frameworks allow the concepts of this matter to be taken to different areas of the organization to work together as it develops in the company, however, not all the work elements work for the different teams.
The most recommended thing is, first of all, to solve the problems that appear as the company grows and to implement the tools of the chosen framework according to the business needs. It is key to having a solid agile thinking or philosophy base that allows you to pivot, that is, to be able to change the direction of a project or even our company, quickly.
Finally, take advantage of the advantages that SMEs have in their DNA. Thanks to its lower volume structure, it allows it to be more flexible and adapt to challenges, reacting in a better way to the context of uncertainty that surrounds us, even allowing them to take advantage of the change to obtain and develop competitive advantages.
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Guillermo Crisóstomo
Delivery Director
guillermo.crisóstomo@imagemaker.com