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Agile methodology, created to fast-track software development, is now being used throughout organizations by teams that want to execute projects quickly. But those efforts often don’t pan out, say Babson’s Rob Cross and Alia Crocker and Harvard Law School’s Heidi K. Gardner. Their research reveals that many large agile initiatives not only miss their goals but also cause organizational disruption—including staff burnout, the loss of key talent, and infighting among teams. What’s going wrong? With the help of organizational network analysis—a methodology for mapping how people collaborate—the authors have identified where unforeseen barriers undermine agile initiatives. The main problem they found: Traditional practices for executing agile projects are ineffective. Companies err by staffing agile teams only with stars, isolating them from the main business, and dedicating members 100% to teams. This article offers alternative approaches: tapping “hidden stars,” who will be less overloaded, for agile initiatives, and then identifying and reaching out to highly connected potential resources who can bring in expertise as needed. INSETS: Who Makes the Best Team Member?;Who Should Lead a Project?;What Is Organizational Network Analysis?. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 25 to 30 years, agile innovation methods have greatly increased success rates in software development, improved quality and speed to market, and boosted the motivation and productivity of IT teams. Now those methods are spreading across a broad range of industries and functions and even reaching into the C-suite. But many executives don’t understand how to promote and benefit from agile; often they manage in ways that run counter to its principles and practices, undermining the effectiveness of agile teams in their organizations. From their work studying and advising companies that have successfully employed agile methods, the authors have discerned six crucial practices for capitalizing on agile’s potential: (1) Learn how agile really works; (2) understand when it is appropriate; (3) start small and let passionate evangelists spread the word; (4) allow teams that have mastered the process to customize their practices; (5) practice agile at the top; and (6) destroy corporate barriers to agile behaviors. They expand on each, providing executives with a practical guide for accelerating innovation and profitable growth. INSET: Agile Values and Principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on Indian businesses have started leveraging Cloud technologies to a great extent as they attempted to cope with these uncertain times, and power innovation for greater adoption of Cloud across various industries. Topics include the views of Lionel Legros, General Manager of OVHcloud, on the multi-cloud approach provides the most comprehensive mix of public and private clouds, and the unprecedented global crisis caused by COVID-19 pandemic has not only rendered states.

The article discusses a several conference of Cloud Expo Europe and DevOps Live 2020 held in Europe. Topics include deploying and managing cloud-native applications with GitLab CI and Terraform, successful tool adoption low friction, high impact, and Securing the DevOps landscape: Making sure your organisation is not a front page story.

The article discusses the modification of the practices involved in outsourcing computer software projects. There has been a modification of the outsourcing process for computer software which eliminates the bureaucracy in favor of individuals and interactions which is defined in the Agile Manifesto that can be accessed at http://agilemanifesto.org/. The computer software outsourcing method termed agile development features a focus on customer satisfaction and the empowerment and valuing of employees rather than processes and tools. Also, it focuses on working software, customer collaboration with the software programmers, and creativity in response to change.

The article explores the stories of using solutions-focused thinking over several years, both in the large and in the small organizations at the single-person and single-team level. The consideration of the organization as a product and the application of core Agile principles by a company to its development are tackled. One of the major beneficiaries of the spread of solution focus is outlined that involves the evolution of the annual performance review.

The article explores how BOSSA nova synthesizes proven concepts by fusing beyond budgeting (B), open space (OS), sociocracy (S), and agile (A) while reflecting the interdependence of strategy, structure, and process. The use of organizational open space to extend a standing invitation in the company to come up with ideas for creating a new feature other than using it as a facilitation technique is tackled. The use of the approach of probes to make emergent patterns more visible is outlined.

The article presents the authors' views on the challenges facing organizations in realizing business strategies, highlighting the value of business architecture in agile execution approaches. The case of an intellectual property office which sought to transform public engagement and cross-agency by creating a transparent business ecosystem is cited. Also discussed are the keys to successful strategy realization, the benefits of business architecture and its value and enabling capabilities.

The article presents the author's views on various issues related to a balanced architecture governance practice, highlighting a method to establish a non-blocking architecture governance practice of Agile development teams. He states that dependencies can be found in the core of the business technology ecosystem and that dependency-awareness is common among players in the architecture lifecycle. Also discussed is the typical daily routine of an architect.

The article presents the author's views on the rules of agile business architecture. These rules include allowing the architecture to emerge, treating the architecture like a product, and building in testability and resilience. He also discusses the things he learned from leading technology organizations to develop products through Agile.

The article discusses the differences between agile architecture and enterprise architecture (EA). Topics include the common pitfalls and bad practices when using agile and enterprise architectures, the advantages and disadvantages of both systems, and the factors that make EA inferior to Agile. Also explored are the challenges in introducing agile practices.

The article discusses various issues related to ensuring the agility of a complex business environment, highlighting the possible impact of agility through antifragility on business performance. Topics include the importance of building technical and business systems that aim to be antifragile to change, the factors that contributed to the growth of the agile industry, and the Antifragile Systems Design process. Also tackled is the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity analysis.

The article discusses several recommendations for agilifying a digital organization. These recommendations include appreciating the mental challenge of agility, developing and sharing visions of agility, and initiating actions that promote abilities that enable visions. It emphasizes the need for modern organizations to be agile to maximize opportunities offered by the digital world.

The article offers information on the use of Open Space and Sociocracy (OSS) for agile transformation of business enterprises. Topics discussed include the beyond, budgeting, open space, sociocracy, and agile (BOSSA) nova enterprise strategy, organizational structure and culture, and the role of information technology (IT) department and executives.

The article discusses the significance of continuous learning for agile technology leaders through the Agile Performance Holarchy, which provides a basic framework and curriculum for teaching these leaders. Topics include the significance of Johann Friedrich Herbart's worn on the science of learning among agile leaders, herbartianism which provides a framework for learning that includes preparation, presentation and association, and the six performance circles of the Agile Performance Holarchy.

The article discusses planning considerations for an incremental approach toward the modernization and transformation of health and human services information technology (IT). It offers tips on how to adopt an incremental and agile approach to systems developments and modernization, which include developing a vision and guiding principles, performing a gap analysis, and developing a roadmap toward achieving the vision.

The article reflects on role of information technology in developing architecture. Topics discussed include use of Agile practices in developing architecture along with exploring and exploiting new business models, impact of new business models in changing business strategies such as delivering value added services, sustainable shareholder values, and adaption to dynamics and unpredictability of digital businesses, and challenges faced by architects in developing new skills.

Industry updates WHEN CONSIDERING THE DATA ARCHITECTURE needs and challenges that many organizations are facing today, it is natural to first think of cloud migrations, building and maintaining hybrid and multi-cloud architectures, creating data pipelines for streaming data, and the agile delivery of all of these things. There are specific activities that data architect leaders can take to cultivate this data culture while communicating the capabilities of the data architecture: • Advocate for business data enable-ment. Data strategy, architecture, and business data enablement are three pillars that support enterprise success with data and analytics. [Extracted from the article]

In thinking about businesses that require the leader to build flexibility into every aspect, farming might not come to mind immediately for most people. Bringing greater flexibility into your leadership mindset is the first and best step you can take toward increasing the flexibility of your farm business. One area of the farm where farm leaders often say they like having a partner in making plans and building more flexibility is around the markets. [Extracted from the article]

In terms of processing data in our application systems, the short-term plan is to solidify a digital inventory of our systems of record - those authoritative sources of the data. We are working through the information that we have, like the DON IT Portfolio Repository/DON Application and Database Management Systems (DITPR-DADMS), and evaluating that against the portfolio of investment plans that the Assistant Secretary for Research, Development & Acquisition (ASN RDA) is working on. B Galbraith: b I think that question would be better addressed by the DON Chief Data Officer, Thomas Sasala, but we are working very closely together. [Extracted from the article]

As teams strive to mature Agile and DevOps processes, there is a need to change culture, processes and technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the increasing popularity of Agile software development among organizations. It is stated that Agile software development is done through collaboration between self-organizing, cross-functional teams, and it promotes adaptive planning and rapid response to change. VersionOne Inc., a company that provides Agile project management tools, conducted a survey which found that Agile adoption has been on the rise during 2012. Computer company Microsoft Corp. has adopted Agile.

The article discusses the business strategies of Allocadia Software Inc. It states that founders Kristine Steuart and Katherine Berry adopted the low-cost technique called agile development by introducing their products to interested customers and sought feedback on how the products should be further enhanced. Furthermore, they also used the freemium business model, in which other customers get free basic services, while others pay for more complicated service.