Agile methodology is the surest path to success. Following its adaptive planning principles, continual improvement, and early delivery, software teams can quickly respond to business needs and maximize an organization’s value.
“Agile projects have a 64% success rate, whereas projects under the competing methodology known as waterfall only have a 49% success rate.” ¹
What makes Agile project management unique is its focus on quality and value to the customer and completing projects on time. Some other benefits of Agile are:
Adequate control: Agile gives managers better control over the project due to its integration of feedback, transparency, and quality-control features.
Improved predictability: With increased visibility, predicting risks and developing effective mitigation plans becomes easier.
Iterative approach: Agile works in small sprints that focus on continuous delivery. If needed, small parts can be salvaged and used in the future, even if a particular approach didn’t work.
Relevant metrics: The metrics utilized by Agile teams in estimating time and cost and measuring project performance are more relevant than the ones used in traditional methodologies.
Increased flexibility: An Agile project team is empowered with unparalleled flexibility. They work in shorter bursts and are informed by the constant feedback and involvement of the product owner.
Superior quality: Testing occurs early and often with an Agile approach and results in a higher quality product than alternative approaches.
Continuous improvement: Self-reflection and striving for continuous improvement is one of the 12 core principles of the Agile manifest, it drives increased velocity and repeated success over time.
With Agile, as a customer you are always involved in decision-making, leading to greater customer satisfaction. Agile methodology accelerates time to value, allowing you to realize ROI sooner.
Macedon Technologies (Macedon) provides Agile workshops and coaching to prepare your team for every step of the journey, improving collaboration, execution, and outcomes. Our seasoned instructors bring a practical perspective to Agile courses and lead teams through building multiple successful solutions. Each workshop is tailored for your team’s needs, each role, and your specific corporate environment while demonstrating the value of the methodology’s standards and best practices.
Macedon offers custom agile methodology training geared explicitly toward effectively executing your Appian projects and continued maintenance efforts after go-live. We want to ensure you get the most out of your digital transformation program and can quickly adjust in the future as your business changes.
Leveraging our deep expertise in both new Appian application development and in sustaining and maintaining portfolios of applications, our experts lead your team through an interactive set of workshops and discussions.
Our most popular course, Agile for Product Owners, includes many workshops to allow Product Owners to practice building a backlog, prioritizing, and more. The hands-on approach encourages a more in-depth discussion and realization of how critical the Product Owner role can be for project success. While the target audience is Product Owners and Subject Matter Experts, this course is suitable for all project team members – and a helpful “refresher” for IT staff.
Training is delivered on-site at a location convenient to you, or remotely, and customized to your environment, language, tools, and needs. The training materials were developed by Stacey Wright, our Director of Delivery and Education and a published author on Appian methodologies and governance.
Training Features
Shows historical context of how and why IT projects have failed
Overview of critical roles and responsibilities that lead to success
Concrete examples of the cadence of iterative development
Discussion of measuring by value, including the 80/20 rule and MVP
Multiple interactive workshops highlight:
Building a product backlog
Estimating user stories
Prioritizing and planning for sprints
Providing candid retrospective feedback
Benefits of Agile Training
Ensures a mutual understanding of key terminology for IT and the business
Provides insight into common failure points and how to avoid them
Highlights the value of each artifact and meeting - answering “why?”
Encourages consideration of the definition of ready, done, and success
For existing agile teams, provides a re-established baseline
Prepares business to become highly effective Product Owners
Agile Planning Tools
The agile methodology embraces change and iteration to help efficiently achieve your goals. There are many tools for Agile project management, but they typically have a long setup time, high cost, and will increase the number of systems the team needs to interact with. It was important for Macedon to streamline the process, enhance communication, and improve the overall velocity.
As a result, Macedon’s Appian-certified architects and developers created an in-house tool for project story management – the Sprint Planning & Agile Resource (SPAR) application. SPAR is available on the Appian AppMarket, and is both health check verified, and cloud approved.
“After adopting Agile, companies have experienced an average 60% growth in revenue and profit.” ²
Macedon Technologies has executed 600+ Appian engagements for over 100 clients in private and public sectors. Our Appian-based solutions and Agile methodology have solved client needs in BPM, workflow automation, case management, system integration, legacy modernization, and rapid software development at enterprise scale. We provide sustainable and scalable solutions to our clients, if you are interested in learning more about how Agile can benefit your business, reach out to us at sales@macedontechnologies.com.
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Sources:
¹ and ² Agile statistics
