Becoming Agilely Innovative

Becoming Agilely
Innovative
May 2019

Presented at: 2019 Project Management Symposium
Copyright 2019. All Rights Reserved
info@everevolving.biz | (302) 242-7778
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 We provide custom tools and services to help
companies build, execute and maintain a
successful innovation strategy.
 We help companies drive their businesses
forward through:
– The automation of time consuming and
manual tasks.
– The modernization of outdated tools and
methodologies.
– Identifying ways to streamline your current
processes through new tools and
technologies.
Ever Evolving, Inc.
Who we are, and what do we do

Learning Objectives
 The idea(s) behind why and how Agile
makes your organization more
Innovative.
 How do you bake innovation into your
corporate culture?
 How does that culture provide the
agility needed to escape bad projects
while pursuing good ones?
 What technologies provide the greatest
flexibility?
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Leveraging Agile
Techniques to Make
Your Organization
More Innovative

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The “Old School” Project Management Lifestyle

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 The theory is:
– Lets plan on everything we are going to
accomplish.
– This will give perspective to the team on
where we are going.
– This will help us plan our resourcing.
– And we’ll know its ready for release when we
accomplish all of our tasks.
And that theory still holds for some industries…
Firsts Things First, My To Do List
Plan Down to the Minute

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Construction Industry

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Ship Building

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 They tend to build tangible products, where
later features are reliant on a “foundation”
– Nothing else on the boat matters if it won’t
float
 They are heavily regulated industries where
– PMOs rely on outside labor whose interests
don’t always align
– “Specialty Skills” are required for different
aspects of the project
 True differentiators also take longer
– Think Navigational Software vs. a 3D Printed
House
Old School Industry Commonalities
These industries share a few traits

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 Some clients demand value now.
– You can’t identify all of the problems up front,
because you need to solve ONE TODAY.
– Once you solve that one problem, now the
perspective has changed. And all that up front
work is wasted.
 This is most common in
– “as-a-service” business models
– Industries whose typical customer profile is
Generation X or younger (born after 1964).
The Impatient Customer
Not all industries have the luxury of time

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“80% of Outcomes Come from 20% of Causes”
- The Pareto Principle

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 Agile lends itself well to faster release
cycles as it limits the focus of efforts on the
most pressing or highest priority items.
 Those items are rated based on a Product
Owner, pulling their ques from your user
community.
 These efforts are timeboxed
– Whatever is done and tested at the end of
the timebox is getting released, everything
else will hold off until the next release.
Agile Methodologies
Release the highest priority capabilities soonest

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 The label “Innovative” is earned through
identifying and solving your customer’s pain
points.
 The best way to learn about your customers is
through regular releases, and measuring how
they react to those releases.
 When done correctly, quick releases reduce
the risk of building “shelfware.”
Driving Innovation
Releases are a great way to learn about your clientele

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 Not all innovations need to be externally
focused.
 Internal process improvements can:
– Reduce cost and/or Increase productivity.
– Boost morale.
– Make hiring easier.
Driving Innovation – Part Deux
Process Improvements Are Cool Too

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New Ideas
The Ability to Bring
New Ideas to the
Market
The Minimum Functionality for an Innovative Culture

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Where do those ideas come from?

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Creating a Culture
Focused on
Innovation

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Building a Culture of Innovation
Communication Rewards
Innovation GovernanceInnovation Management

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Step 1: Communicate

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 Communicating to your colleagues your
challenges, and why they need to be solved,
helps align their efforts with your
organizational goals.
 These communications should highlight:
– Commitment and involvement from senior
leaders
– Progress towards solving those challenges
– Employee contributions
The Art of Communicating
Tell your people what you need help with.

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Step 2: Reward

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 After showing your commitment, the next
step is to entice others to join you.
 Rewarding positive behavior affirms that
behavior, and makes it more likely to be
repeated.
 Often the strongest compensation is
through the use of Social Rewards.
Rewarding Winning Ideas
Show your colleagues their contribution is important

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Step 3: Innovation Management Tools

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 As ideas start to flow in, you’ll need software
support so you and your staff don’t get
overwhelmed.
 Innovation management software allows
organizations to:
– Capture new ideas
– Capture employee feedback on those ideas
 Organizations also need methods to track the
progress of projects.
Innovation Management Tools
Software to help identify, capture, rank and manage ideas

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Step 4: Innovation Governance

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 The purpose of the Idea Governance board
is to determine which ideas are worthy of
investment, based on:
– Organizational direction.
– Likelihood of success.
– Potential value.
 They should meet on a regular basis, to
examine new ideas and look at how
previous investments are performing.
What’s the best use our Resources?
Think, extension of Configuration Management

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Escaping Bad
Projects

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Escaping Bad Ideas Through Agile Methodologies and Innovation Governance

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 Following Agile methodologies, your goal is
to get your products into the users hand
quickly.
 This cuts down on (potentially) unnecessary
development.
 During these releases, be sure to capture
metrics about how your user community is
using the system and what features they
find most valuable.
Release When Value is Created
Agile methodologies preach release soonest

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 Eric Ries talk in The Lean Startup about the
Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop.
 Agile takes care of the build, and the measure.
 The learning happens during the governance
board, where the metrics are reviewed and
decisions are made whether to:
– Stay the course.
– Pivot.
– Cut our losses.
Verifying Value through Governance
The governance boards reviews a projects value

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 If you are building software solutions, plan
for a minimum of 2 releases a year.
 Your governance team should meet a
minimum of once a quarter.
– And once a year, that meeting should take
place outside the office.
 The concept of a “Sunk Cost” is OK, but
know the difference between a “losing
effort” and one that just needs a little more
time to gain market traction.
General Rules of Thumb
Some ideas to keep in mind

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Providing an
Environment to
Maximize
Innovation

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 To increase innovation, you want to invest in
products that reduce the barriers to
innovation.
 Attention needs to be brought to those tools.
 Training needs to be provided on how to use
those tools.
 A couple ideas for your consideration follows.
Laying the Foundation
Foundational ideas to spur innovation

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 Getting the data is often the most difficult
part when it comes to looking for insights.
– Especially when those insights span
departments.
 Having an environment where users can
comb through structured and unstructured
data removes this burden.
 Additionally, you’ll want to invest in a tool
to build visualizations and dashboards.
“Big Data”
Data makes the world go round.

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 Application Programmable Interfaces allows
your organization to share and reuse your data
and logic.
– It prevents “rebuilding” the same capabilities
that drive up development and maintenance
costs.
– Allows your programmers to focus on new
capabilities
 You can also pull in data and capabilities from
external organizations through APIs.
APIs
Share your data, on your terms

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 There are platforms that allow
organizations to immediately take
prescriptive actions when another action is
taken.
– IFTTT
– Zapier
– Microsoft Flow
 This can significantly reduce overhead
through prescriptive steps, automatically
triggered once something else happens.
Automation Services
Sync data across platforms

Recap: Learning Objectives
The idea(s) behind why and how Agile
makes your organization more
Innovative.
How do you bake innovation into your
corporate culture?
How does that culture provide the
agility needed to escape bad projects
while pursuing good ones?
What technologies provide the
greatest flexibility?
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Questions?

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Thanks for Joining

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I started Ever Evolving to help business leaders embrace
disruption, because ready or not, change is coming. In
today’s ever-evolving (pun intended) market place,
business leaders are challenged to constantly make
smart investment decisions in new products and
service offerings.
Let’s Connect
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/steveapalmer/
- https://twitter.com/steveapalmer
- https://speakerhub.com/speaker/steven-palmer
- http://eepurl.com/c_k14r
About Me, Steve Palmer
The Ever Evolving Businessman

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Contact Us
Steve Palmer
(302) 242-7778
steve@everevolving.biz
https://everevolving.biz

Becoming Agilely Innovative

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