Let an Agile Consultant Help You Transform Your Business

Featured image by Iurii Motov

An Agile consultant can help you and your team better understand Agile methods, leading to business transformation and maximizing project results.

Agile techniques have a great deal to offer businesses. In fact, Agile’s more flexible approaches to projects and better team coordination can deliver faster results that better match project requirements. Because implementing Agile methods is not necessarily a straightforward task, however, many companies turn to Agile consultants.

The Benefits of Agile Methods

Agility is a new approach to project management and progression that better reflects the nature of companies today. It takes requirements as the main project driver. However, it also accepts that requirements can change. Projects progress through a series of iterations, aiming to produce a usable result with each iteration. Project managers and team members then review these results against requirements before proceeding to the next iteration.

Many studies have highlighted the benefits that teams can achieve by using Agile methods. Research from consultancy McKinsey, for example, shows that Agile transformation can improve customer satisfaction by 10% to 30%. What’s more, it boosts employee engagement by 20% to 30% and company operational performance by 30% to 50%. An Agile consultant can help your company achieve these results.

Using an Agile Consultant to Understand Agility

The results may be appealing. But switching any organization or large project team to Agile is no simple task. Agile consultants can provide valuable assistance here.

In the first instance, this could involve Agile assessments. Consultants can advise on the state of the organization currently. They will make note of its Agile maturity and its readiness for Agility. They can then guide your company on the steps to a successful Agile transformation. An Agile consultant will also point out the challenge, the costs, and the potential benefits.

A consultant can carry out such an assessment at the start or early stages of Agile adoption. This will help you and your team to understand the requirements. The consultant can also provide an ongoing assessment to help your team understand how the Agile transformation is progressing while advising on problem areas.

Helping to Embed Agility

Agile consultants can also be more directly involved in the implementation of Agile methods. With any significant transformation or introduction of new processes, experience is key. An Agile consultant brings experience with Agile understanding, implementation, and stakeholder buy-in. Such experience is extremely valuable in solving specific implementation challenges.

To fully implement Agile techniques, most teams will use an established framework. Scrum is the most popular framework, but several others are common. Agile consultants can help companies understand which framework is best for them, based on the type of projects and the team’s experiences and preferences. They can then offer support and guidance regarding implementing the framework and the different roles and structures within it.

Consultants’ involvement in the setup and work of Agile teams will depend on each organization. They can work as part of a project team to ensure the effective adoption of methods and team communication. Alternatively, they can facilitate Agile adoption and progression by working alongside teams, guiding meetings and workshops, handling conflict resolution, or facilitating stakeholder engagement.

Providing Ongoing Support

As projects progress, Agile consultants can provide ongoing ad hoc support. Having a relationship in place with experienced consultants allows organizations to call on specialized advice and support as needed. This could involve solving specific problems, dealing with buy-in challenges, carrying out further reviews of Agile success, or adapting frameworks to take on different or larger projects.

Training Teams in Agile Methods

Whatever framework your company uses to implement Agile methods, training is essential. To get the most out of Agile, everyone involved needs to be working to the same principles and using the same terminology.

General Agile training is available, as is specific training for frameworks used. Scrum, for example, defines key roles within the team and methods to define and track project progression through iterations. It also prescribes meeting and communication structures to follow. This can be quite different from how teams work in a non-Agile environment. Training is important to fully understand the new methods and individuals’ roles and responsibilities.

Consultants can advise on the proper training for teams. This is because training is essential, both initially when moving to Agile and on an ongoing basis. As more people become involved in Agile projects, they will also need to learn methods and requirements. Additionally, as projects change or grow, new techniques can be introduced. Consultants can also assist with conducting training if appropriate.