Working in a competitive organisation, you’ve no doubt encountered the concept of 'value,' often integrated with agile methodology. It’s probably baked into your DNA, running through each of your various processes, products and teams.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that you prescribe to an Agile framework or methodology, in which case you’ll probably get even more value from your business by doing so.
Strictly defined, business value is mainly concerned with the health and well-being of the organisation, a core tenet of agile team philosophy. Any organisation, no matter its objectives and goals, does whatever it needs to succeed – in other words, to maintain and improve its health. It does so primarily by delivering something of value: that its customers value, and that in turn adds more value to the organisation.
That means as members of the organisation we want to be doing everything we do each day with value top of mind, implementing an Agile approach in our activities, ensuring our development team is fully integrated. The responsibility does not lie only with the Project Manager or the Business Analyst, but with every member of the team.
Harnessing Value with Agile Project Management
Managing and measuring the flow of business value across the organisation’s entire ‘value chain’ is becoming more critical in all delivery spectrums, not only in the IT industry, necessitating an agile development approach.
Agile gives us very powerful tools that harness all of these aspects: the setting up of a value-driven team, processes to guide us in continually delivering value, and the ability to manage value-driven teams, right through to the delivery of actual value.
Of all business methodologies, Agile is probably the most value-focused years now, business value has been in the top two or three measurement criteria of an Agile initiative’s success, highlighting the effectiveness of the Agile approach in product development, as seen in numerous software development teams.
As an Agile organisation, you’ll better understand the need for all projects to be value-driven first and foremost, and as a steward of your organisation, you will have learned how to instill the principles of business value at every level. These are among the many benefits of an Agile transformation incorporating scaled agile framework principles.
Agile Transformation Strategy & Agile Values and Principles
But even if your business is not yet Agile, or you’re not convinced that Agile is the way forward, there’s value to be had in learning the methods of adding value through Agile. The DVT Academy runs a 3-day ICAgile Certified Professional in Business Value Analysis courses in Cape Town and Johannesburg that covers:
- How to change your thinking skills to better align with the agile method;
- Value management behaviours in the sphere of different agile methodologies;
- Determining value in an initiative;
- Communicating the value within the context of an agile marketing campaign;
- Analysing to determine value through the lens of a project management approach;
- Exploring the solution;
- Managing artefacts; and
- Enabling valuable delivery.
Although this certification course focuses on value-driven software delivery, many of the tools and techniques can be applied to any value-driven project.
DVT’s course facilitators are actively involved in the delivery of Agile products and can identify with many of the challenges experienced by our students. So if you are a Business Analyst, Product Owner, Product Manager, Software Tester, Test Analyst, Scrum Master, or enthusiast keen on exploring the principles and practices of Agile methodology - this course is for you. Contact us to learn how our Agile approach can benefit your development process.
Editor's Note: This post was originally published on 30 August 2017, and was updated on 9 July 2024
