Business leaders today understand that we have fully entered the Digital Age, characterized by focus on online and mobile delivery, and informed by deep insights into customer behavior gained through real-time sensing and non-traditional channels such as social media. Strategically, these companies apply lean principles to determine the drivers of tangible business value, and don’t flinch from pivoting should an initially promising strategy turn sour.
The impact of this transformation isn’t confined to technology companies. “Brick and mortar” companies also need to compete in this space or risk be overtaken by non-traditional competitors.
However, most companies still use strategic planning tools that would have been familiar to business leaders in the middle of the 20th Century. Annual budgets, cost-benefit analysis, Return on Investment calculations, long-term strategic plans, and formal project plans belong to an era where business change was measured in years, not days.
There is a growing movement in business to apply Agile principles, which emerged out of software development, to broader business strategy. Agile, per-se, doesn’t need to be confined to Information Technology. Key concepts can be applied to general strategy, including:
- Definition of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) required to meet customer expectations
- Rapid, iterative, delivery of a usable solution
- Testing with real-life customers to gain insights
- Pivots to exploit emerging opportunities and abandon discredited solutions
In the fast-paced modern world of business, traditional project management can be lengthy and costly. In software development this can lead to the final product being outdated by the time the software launches. The Agile Methodology has been embraced at a team level to allow teams to incrementally produce working builds. The short, iterative work cycle allows for fast delivery of products that can adapt to the ever-changing needs of the technology and business world. While effective at a team level there are challenges connecting Agile methodology with Enterprise level goals. This is where Footloose comes in.
Footloose’s Dynamic Planning Tools are designed to bridge the gap between team-level Agile delivery and enterprise-level program planning. Using scaled Lean Agile to replace outdated program management practices, Footloose allows a fast and flexible development cycle to ensure that your products release on time while keeping up with the ever-changing needs of modern business. Utilizing Agile you can engage your development teams in a modern, team-based management style. At the same time, you allow your Product Owners the flexibility to pivot development as new needs arise.