Agile Helvetica – How to determine the agile maturity level of your organization?

Agile as a target operating model to survive crises. At the beginning of COVID-19, many Swiss companies increasingly started to focus on agile. But where do you begin, and how can you optimize existing agile transformation projects? 

Agile has been a talking point for several years. With the start of COVID-19, the introduction of agile approaches has significantly risen in Switzerland as well as globally. At its very core, agile is supposed to provide companies with the necessary support to be able to react efficiently and sustainably to market requirements and crises. A Capgemini Invent study has also shown that companies that are being agile company-wide have more satisfied employees and are economically more successful. However, there is a significant difference between being agile and doing agile. At Capgemini Invent, we have developed the Agile Acceleration Assessment based on multiple agile transformation projects. This assessment evaluates the degree of your agile development and reveals optimization potential to anchor the agile mindset holistically in the organization. With the help of individual recommendations for action, we enable you to start or accelerate the agile development in your organization.

Are you ready to set your compass to agile?

The results of a Capgemini Invent study show that the acceptance of agile beyond IT has become a “target state” for many companies, not only in Switzerland but also globally. Our survey also showed that most organizations in all sectors and industries have already approached the agile way of working, at least experimentally, and have gained initial experience. The vast majority also show a high level of motivation and ambition to continue using agile working methods and to intensify them, regardless of their previous experience with agile. However, to sustainably integrate agile throughout the company, more than the introduction of agile frameworks is needed; our experience shows the most significant potential for improvement at this point in particular. Agile very often also entails a cultural transformation with the need of a corresponding mindset change of all stakeholders. Therefore, it is not surprising that often only selected transformation projects master agile and make a name for themselves as pioneers in their industry. These agile “frontrunners” rely not only on the isolated establishment of agile elements but also on developing a company-wide methodology and mindset to create a sustainable culture that distances itself from traditional approaches. Whether the goal is to climb the Matterhorn or to establish a company-wide agile operating model, one must first put in the necessary groundwork to realize the set goal sustainably.

Has your organization already fully realized all the benefits of agile?

To evaluate the many benefits of agile, we have structured our Agile Diamond Framework into three categories (Fig. 1): Strategic Reward, Lean Structure, and Process Efficiency. Truthfully, are you already using all the benefits in your organization?

Strategic Reward: Agile ways of working all have one common underlying goal: to integrate the customer into the organization sustainably. Agile structures promote adaptability to unpredictable market changes through their iterative character. By actively exchanging ideas with customers, you also increase customer satisfaction. However, agile working methods also have a positive impact on the organization. For example, employees are given more responsibility and freedom, and an innovative working atmosphere is fostered. Meanwhile, the development of a creative and innovation-driven work culture also increases employer attractiveness.

Lean Structure: Excessive reporting lines are a thing of the past. By introducing new roles and lean processes, the organization moves closer together, enabling organizations to break down existing silo structures, promote cross-functional collaboration and increase transparency at all levels. Self-organized teams and so-called “communities of practices” also enable companies to coordinate product development across the enterprise and allow them to make decisions in the shortest possible ways, even in the most complex environments and structures.

Process Efficiency: Agile teams follow iterative processes with a feedback and learning culture and are thus characterized not only by rapid response capabilities and the pursuit of improvement. The design of efficient processes is also reflected in accelerated product development time and increased product quality.

 

With our Agile Acceleration Assessment, we enable you to evaluate the agile maturity level of your company and define optimization areas.

Create the conditions for exploiting agile potential in a targeted manner. In the first step, determine the individual levers for your organization. Our Agile Acceleration Assessment supports you in evaluating the agile maturity level of your organization: Starting, Exploring, Maturing, or already Performing?