Agile Chirals.

SCRUM + DATA-DRIVEN + STEAM = AGILE CHIRAL

The Agile Chiral is a subtle reinterpretation of the Scrum agile methodologies. A recipe, or work methodology, that, relying on STEAM methodologies, encourages innovation, promotes learning, and improves the brand positioning, price, and quality of companies.

The proposed methodology is proposed for the incremental improvement of the performance of agile work teams, that is, they already use agile methodologies, and have been working together for a mature period. It is also useful for radical innovation in companies of all types and sizes, especially startups and SMEs, which continually focus their efforts on doing more with less, reducing costs, and optimizing their operations, while growing by dint of will, and energy.

Data-Driven Approach.

The recipe to be applied is supported by #STEAM methodologies for learning, to generate a space for continuous improvement, where knowledge is born, and thus be called by action, and to action. It adopts a global #DataDriven approach, promoting continuous learning thanks to a strategy generated from data. Data that allows us to put into practice the purpose of digital technology, which is to “measure to improve.” The recipe chooses to base its operational-cognitive improvement dynamics on #Scrum practices for agile project management.

The Biological-Analog-Digital Triangle of Organizations

Basing our first vision on “the Biological-Analog-Digital Triangle of Organizations”, the three components that define, today, our companies, and our projects, where, at the main vertex we have the people, the biological beings of our system. , in the next vertex we have the software, the digital components of our system, and in the next we have the machines, the analog components of our system.

The elemental form of an Agile Chiral is defined by six vertices that make up a hexagon, and between three of those vertices there are double bonds, interspersed with single bonds. The geometry is based on the Chiral, known in Organic Chemistry. This Quiral, like our system called company, or project, is made up of a maximum of 6 people, and a minimum of 3 people, the software to be used will be Jira Software from Atlassian, which will be the heart of our Quiral, and where everything comes together, for Lastly, the machines will be PCs, considering a very simple IT development project.

Science (S)

At each vertex of the Chiral, we will place a member of the team, so that one represents a profile related to Science (S), for example, at IBM many Physicists are usually hired, and in many other technology companies, also Chemists, in sectors Governments I have also seen Sociologists, Historians, and Psychologists. The important thing about this role is that it offers the team, and the project, a scientific-based systemic framework through which to navigate in each phase of development.

Technology (T)

Rotating like clockwise, and having placed the S in the upper central vertex of the hexagon, we then have Technology (T), and as is evident it will deal with everything that refers to digital technology, for example, a developer ITEM. The main role of IT will be to continually seek to ensure that any workflow, or activity, that can be digitized, and that technology can do better, and/or with a more efficient performance than a human being, is used, and execute it, if approved.

Engineering (E)

Then, following the order, we have Engineering (E), this role will be occupied by a person from the #PMO Area, or from the #Project Management Office. This is a fundamental role, since you will be in charge of being the Scrum Master, and will be in charge of the key activity of planning the backlog, stories, and sprints. The engineer's main objective is to prevent errors and delays, overcome obstacles, and ensure that quality objectives are met, on time, on budget, and on internal/external expectations.

Art (A)

Next, we have Art (A), which must come from the HR Area, and the role of artist will enter the team, or it will be an artist. The number one objective of Art will be to generate stimuli, feelings, emotions, in the team participants that stimulate creativity, reduce stress, that is, it will seek to promote a work team with healthy, behavioral, and cultural dynamics, it will contribute creativity, and imagination to the team, and will be the person who brings knowledge, inspiration, and problem-solving, from the world of ideas, and brings them to the project with creative hands.

Mathematics (M)

Next, we have Mathematics (M). This role, related to the artist, will come from the Planning Area, or Management Control, perhaps also from Finance. The important thing about this role is that you contribute your knowledge in Data Analytics, as you will be the main person in charge, with the help of the scientist, and the PMO, of giving strength to the team's Data-Driven approach.

Intrapreneurship (+I)

Lastly, we have Intrapreneurship (+I), also known as the wild card. A key role, and often camouflaged in companies, the wild card is an entrepreneur who undertakes within our system, and who of course, like everyone else, interacts with the outside giving it the life drive that the company needs to achieve its purpose. It is a profile that aims to be transdisciplinary, but that focuses on having high knowledge in Management and Business Administration, and knows a little about each subject, knows Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics, It is characterized by high relational skills, transversal knowledge, optimal public speaking and negotiation skills.

ROI AND NPS

The main objective of the Intrapreneur is to create value, that is, to keep the team focused on its two main objectives. The first is to generate ROI, and the second is to ensure quality. In terms of quality, NPS surveys will be used, due to their practicality, effectiveness, and simplicity. The wild card can replace any of the rest of the members, in many of the project phases, but it does not become one.

It can be shown that the more #intrapreneurs a company has, if they are well managed by an appropriate career plan, it will tend to a greater reduction in costs, and an increase in quality, as a direct consequence of a constant capacity of the company system, or project, to seek a better brand position in the market, that is, competitiveness, and differentiation, which is mainly the motivation that drives a collaborator to become an entrepreneur. And an entrepreneur is not motivated by money, he is motivated by good challenges.

Historical ROI

From the beginning to the end of the project, and in each phase, the ROI in each project will be measured and reported internally, and a Historical ROI will be created by Quiral, which will be represented by a color, without complex financial calculations. In the sprints, additional activities will be added to add agility to the team, such as the NPS surveys, mentioned above, which will allow obtaining more information about the degree of efficiency of the team, and the quality of the product, it will also show areas of improvement, and will provide new operations standards.

STEAM+I

As I mentioned before, in the Chiral, there are simple links and double links, these show that participation, for example, must be close between Technology and Engineering, between Mathematics and Art, and also between Science and the Intrapreneur.

The dynamic that the IT developer generates with the PMO allows us to overcome any type of operational obstacle. The artist, together with a person from the world of planning, provides the right business language that the artist needs to model his ideas, and the specialist in Business analytics allows you to discover new ways of seeing the big-picture, and reaching people (external customers). Finally, Science provides the Intrapreneur with a logical framework for action, and a systemic method, while the Intrapreneur instills in the scientist the importance of chance, and the singularities that characterize both mathematics and people (clients). external).

Having exemplified the formation of an Agile Chiral, I will expand even more on the recipe in future articles, but for example, if we add “milestones”, or manage them at the company level such as "Epics", we can not only streamline the development process of IT products, but also increase the time-to-market of our products and services, without wasting the opportunity to innovate, adding even more value, giving rise to sprints such as “Feasibility analysis of new businesses”, or, in full development process, new Spin-Off, to offer new services and products to the market, or to penetrate new niches.

Over the weeks, and possibly following a periodic sequence like that of Fibonacci, the agile team becomes an Agile Chiral, characterized by a transdisciplinary vision of knowledge, with greater versatility, new areas of improvement, the discovery of new skills, and so many other advantages. All measurable, and improvable.

The model presented above corresponds to an Agile Chiral of the greatest simplicity. The model is scalable to entire development teams, or to the incorporation of other collaborators, in the different project phases, or sprints.

The Agile Quiral is a subtle reinterpretation of the agile Scrum methodologies, which, using STEAM methodologies, encourages innovation, encourages learning, and improves the brand positioning, price, and quality, of companies.

Bogliolo Franco.

Valencia, Spain, 04-01-2024