Blogs

Agility and finance may not at first glance seem like natural bedfellows, yet the impact of an agile mindset and agile ways of working can improve not only a finance department itself but other parts of an organisation as well.

Business Agility has a tremendous amount to offer organisations of all shapes and sizes. But, as with all change, businesses will only reap these benefits when they take real ownership in adopting Agile practices. Simply relabelling existing, and even knee-jerk, practices as ‘agile’ just won't cut it.  

Leadership, Culture and Governance are central to business agility. This blog is based on our deep-dive panel discussions around these three essential components. 

The problem with Governance is that it is seen by most as a necessary evil, thought up by naive do-gooders and policed by narrow-minded jobsworths. What’s more, many hold the opinion that neither of these groups really understand what it means to operate in the ‘real world’ and seem hell-bent on getting in the way of doing just that.  

In today’s VUCA world, it is vital for organisations to rapidly adapt to fluctuating market conditions, cater to changing customer requirements, and continuously refine products or services. It is not always easy to do these things but as a business leader, understanding these challenges and finding ways to successfully address them is essential.

What is agile business analysis? Business analysis is usually defined as ‘the process of identifying and defining business needs, problems, and opportunities, and co-creating solutions that deliver value to stakeholders.  ​It involves gathering and analysing data, eliciting and managing stakeholder needs, and ensuring alignment with business goals and objectives.’ 

Today's rapidly changing business environment demands that organisations adapt to remain competitive and relevant. Agility has become a vital component of organisational success.  

In today's fast-paced business environment agility has become a key factor for success and finance functions are no exception. The traditional methods of financial management are no longer sufficient to keep up with the rapidly changing market dynamics, regulatory requirements, and technological advancements.

Agile market research is expanding fast in consumer markets, where connecting with customer audiences early and often in the product development cycle provides increasing customer centricity. It’s an exciting field that means product marketers no longer need to be tempted to make decisions based on opinion or historic scenarios. They can ask the target audience and receive results in just a few hours.

Over the last three decades, I’ve expended an inordinate amount of my professional life grappling with complexity and complicatedness. Striving to render the complex less complicated, make the complicated simpler, and eliminate the unnecessary.

This blog is based on our event: Beyond Budgeting – Business agility in practice. What do you think of when you hear the word ‘budget’? Something strict and inflexible – something that you MUST stick to if you are to succeed? In its adjectival form, ‘budget’ means ‘inexpensive’— a budget holiday for example. But what is the true cost of putting traditional organisational budgeting processes on a pedestal? 

This blog is based on the interview with the Agile Business Consortium’s Andrew Craddock and APMG’s Richard Pharro. AgilePM for Scrum is a brand new business agility solution designed for people using Scrum who also have a need for project-based working, and for project managers who need to embrace Scrum for team-based working.

Based on the latest research paper from the agile Research Network (ARN), we will look at the challenges and resulting tensions those organisations encountered and the questions businesses can ask themselves before the transformation process begins to avoid or minimise these. The questions were developed using the lens of paradox theory.

What are the skills and abilities needed in an agile workforce? This was one of the key questions we asked in our previous blog on Agile HR. Building an agile workforce has been identified as crucial for preserving organisational competitiveness and promoting agility.   But first, what is an agile workforce?  

The Agile Business Awards are a fantastic way for businesses to be recognised for what they’ve achieved so far on their agile journey. Celebrating the journey is, after all, what taking an agile approach is all about. But what if you haven’t started that journey towards making your processes more agile, where do you start?

Here’s why TCC, sponsor of our Agility in Finance award, thinks the Agile Business Awards are an opportunity not to be missed.

Much has been researched and written about organisational agility, but what if you’re an organisation just starting out on your agile journey — how do you go about it?

Discussions abound on whether Agile is a mindset or a method, and agilists generally agree that applying the process, or method, of agile isn’t enough. We can restructure our teams, divide our work into timeboxed sprints, and add a cadence of team meetings, but if we don’t change the way we think then overall success tends to elude us.

The COVID-19 crisis forces us to organize differently. It brings uncertainty, ambiguity, requires adaptation and flexibility. In particular in health and safety, in education, but also in political decision-making and in providing the necessities of life. And now in the Netherlands, gradually, we are preparing for this crisis to continue for some time to come.

For an organisation to be truly agile, every department and every individual needs to buy in to the agile way of working, so there is surely little point in agility specific to a particular function.