Russian IT companies view Agile as a means to implement an “emergency strategy” of development in the market.
In connection with the known changes occurring in the Russian IT industry and the economy as a whole, most IT companies want to be faster, higher, stronger. However, if you think about it, the Olympic motto does not quite fit in this situation. The market is now winning more flexible and cunning.
Many software companies, from small to large, recognize that in order to retain customers, you need to give them everything they want and even more, and also to do it faster and cheaper. This is the ideal, in most cases unattainable without the use of certain tricks. They relate not only to customer relations, strategies for promoting and adjusting the business model, but also restructuring development processes.
Even relatively large companies have to rebuild. “[Recently] customers bring to the contests any independent stages, after which they can get completed business results (optimization of infrastructure in key regions, increased performance of business-critical applications, such as 1C)”, says the director of the department IT outsourcing ALP Group Dmitry Bessoltsev.
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Taking into account labor productivity and the style of cooperation that customers now practically impose, it is not difficult to guess which set of development methodologies will be discussed further.
Medium and even large players in the IT market place high hopes on the Agile concept, deservingly relying on the stated flexibility of its approaches. However, as it is known, it is necessary to try to build an efficiently working system on the basis of a flexible concept, especially considering the size of the company. And since this operation must be carried out, as they say, in the live mode, without anesthesia and hospitalization, sometimes you have to dance with a tambourine. For this purpose, reputable companies are ready to become generous and invite choreographers of the level of Yegor Druzhinin.
“Switching to Agile is a huge challenge because you can't just put your old technology platform here. Need to recycle all processes. Change the whole company philosophy. This challenge is facing us, as well as other large companies, ” said Sberbank's head German Gref on May 21 at an open lecture at Skolkovo Moscow School of Management.
EPAM Systems, one of the largest software developers, began to apply flexible approaches to development as early as 2008, also during a crisis. However, the company came to this gradually, adopting experience from foreign partners. Therefore, Agile was for EPAM not a lifeline, but a value to which the company came during its development.
“We were approached by the bank with a request to finalize the mobile application for auto payments and auto-replenishment of the deposit. It was necessary to implement all this at the same time.
After consultation with our Agile-Coach, the customer agreed that in the first iterations we will implement the ability to set the amount of auto-replenishment of the deposit at specified thresholds for the account and the balance after the auto payments. This functionality was put into operation three weeks after the start of development, and the end customers of the bank began to use it, ” gives the example of EPAM general director for business development Artak Hovhannisyan.
In the case when the methodology is imposed in an IT company (especially in a large one) hastily and forcibly, the consequences can be disastrous. The implementation of Agile can stop halfway, and some employees will reject it like a foreign body. Then the leadership, which must go to the end (otherwise it risks losing credibility) will have to “sacrifice” all the recalcitrant. At the same time, the costs will be reduced, and it will be possible to hire a good Agile-coach.
In most cases, rapid changes require serious energy or financial costs. But, speaking of Agile, you can boldly count on the fact that the game is worth the candle - everything will pay off in the foreseeable future.
“Agile on small projects is always cheaper. Large-scale projects almost never pass without changing the initial requirements. If we are talking about projects with fixed deadlines and budgets, Agile, thanks to short iterations and prioritization, helps to react to changes much faster, ”says Alexey Ionov, Agile-Coach EPAM.
The trick of the approach from a business point of view is also that, although the final implementation of the project may differ from the initial idea, it will be much better to meet the customer’s current requirements and market conditions.
However, this story has a downside: customers have not only Agile rights, but also Agile duties. Many of them prefer not to recall their duties. There is an even worse option - they do not know and do not know how to play by the rules of Agile.
“Sometimes customers need to work on Agile, sometimes they have to be persuaded, and not always successfully. Yes, the business customer is required to fully engage in the project, but this does not mean that you have to quit your job and participate in the programming and testing process. In the case of Agile, you need to set aside 15 minutes daily for a short meeting with the team at the beginning of the day, a discussion of what has been done and plans. Banks who simply ignore Agile or dismiss this practice are no longer there. Especially after the famous performance of German Gref, ”notes Artak Oganesyan from EPAM.
No matter how ardent the speeches of Mr. Gref or the statements of Agile fans, it should not be regarded as a panacea, a universal recipe, going to extremes.
“The support of IT systems is dominated by the so-called emergency strategy. Large integrators, in the fat years, who fought for 15 million projects, now seriously compete for orders costing about 3 million rubles a year. Here, average integrators, whose work is based on 10 ITIL-processes, who can manage a developed partner network and provide a single level of service, can very successfully compete with larger IT companies, ”adds Dmitry Bessoltsev from ALP Group.
The concept of Agile in many cases makes the interaction between management and development closer and more productive. However, the role of Agile in the implementation of the very "emergency strategy" varies from company to company. Therefore, the answer to the challenges of an ever-changing IT market may be to find the optimal balance between the development methodology, the adjustment of the business model, the concept of promotion and management.
Many software companies, from small to large, recognize that in order to retain customers, you need to give them everything they want and even more, and also to do it faster and cheaper. This is the ideal, in most cases unattainable without the use of certain tricks. They relate not only to customer relations, strategies for promoting and adjusting the business model, but also restructuring development processes.
Even relatively large companies have to rebuild. “[Recently] customers bring to the contests any independent stages, after which they can get completed business results (optimization of infrastructure in key regions, increased performance of business-critical applications, such as 1C)”, says the director of the department IT outsourcing ALP Group Dmitry Bessoltsev.
')
Taking into account labor productivity and the style of cooperation that customers now practically impose, it is not difficult to guess which set of development methodologies will be discussed further.
Moscow was not built in a day
Medium and even large players in the IT market place high hopes on the Agile concept, deservingly relying on the stated flexibility of its approaches. However, as it is known, it is necessary to try to build an efficiently working system on the basis of a flexible concept, especially considering the size of the company. And since this operation must be carried out, as they say, in the live mode, without anesthesia and hospitalization, sometimes you have to dance with a tambourine. For this purpose, reputable companies are ready to become generous and invite choreographers of the level of Yegor Druzhinin.
“Switching to Agile is a huge challenge because you can't just put your old technology platform here. Need to recycle all processes. Change the whole company philosophy. This challenge is facing us, as well as other large companies, ” said Sberbank's head German Gref on May 21 at an open lecture at Skolkovo Moscow School of Management.
EPAM Systems, one of the largest software developers, began to apply flexible approaches to development as early as 2008, also during a crisis. However, the company came to this gradually, adopting experience from foreign partners. Therefore, Agile was for EPAM not a lifeline, but a value to which the company came during its development.
“We were approached by the bank with a request to finalize the mobile application for auto payments and auto-replenishment of the deposit. It was necessary to implement all this at the same time.
After consultation with our Agile-Coach, the customer agreed that in the first iterations we will implement the ability to set the amount of auto-replenishment of the deposit at specified thresholds for the account and the balance after the auto payments. This functionality was put into operation three weeks after the start of development, and the end customers of the bank began to use it, ” gives the example of EPAM general director for business development Artak Hovhannisyan.
In the case when the methodology is imposed in an IT company (especially in a large one) hastily and forcibly, the consequences can be disastrous. The implementation of Agile can stop halfway, and some employees will reject it like a foreign body. Then the leadership, which must go to the end (otherwise it risks losing credibility) will have to “sacrifice” all the recalcitrant. At the same time, the costs will be reduced, and it will be possible to hire a good Agile-coach.
The game is worth the candle
In most cases, rapid changes require serious energy or financial costs. But, speaking of Agile, you can boldly count on the fact that the game is worth the candle - everything will pay off in the foreseeable future.
“Agile on small projects is always cheaper. Large-scale projects almost never pass without changing the initial requirements. If we are talking about projects with fixed deadlines and budgets, Agile, thanks to short iterations and prioritization, helps to react to changes much faster, ”says Alexey Ionov, Agile-Coach EPAM.
The trick of the approach from a business point of view is also that, although the final implementation of the project may differ from the initial idea, it will be much better to meet the customer’s current requirements and market conditions.
back side
However, this story has a downside: customers have not only Agile rights, but also Agile duties. Many of them prefer not to recall their duties. There is an even worse option - they do not know and do not know how to play by the rules of Agile.
“Sometimes customers need to work on Agile, sometimes they have to be persuaded, and not always successfully. Yes, the business customer is required to fully engage in the project, but this does not mean that you have to quit your job and participate in the programming and testing process. In the case of Agile, you need to set aside 15 minutes daily for a short meeting with the team at the beginning of the day, a discussion of what has been done and plans. Banks who simply ignore Agile or dismiss this practice are no longer there. Especially after the famous performance of German Gref, ”notes Artak Oganesyan from EPAM.
No matter how ardent the speeches of Mr. Gref or the statements of Agile fans, it should not be regarded as a panacea, a universal recipe, going to extremes.
Agile vs Emergency Strategy
“The support of IT systems is dominated by the so-called emergency strategy. Large integrators, in the fat years, who fought for 15 million projects, now seriously compete for orders costing about 3 million rubles a year. Here, average integrators, whose work is based on 10 ITIL-processes, who can manage a developed partner network and provide a single level of service, can very successfully compete with larger IT companies, ”adds Dmitry Bessoltsev from ALP Group.
The concept of Agile in many cases makes the interaction between management and development closer and more productive. However, the role of Agile in the implementation of the very "emergency strategy" varies from company to company. Therefore, the answer to the challenges of an ever-changing IT market may be to find the optimal balance between the development methodology, the adjustment of the business model, the concept of promotion and management.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/301518/
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