You may have been hearing about our IT colleagues working under the “agile” approach or building new applications in “scrum teams.” Yes, this new collaborative style to pursuing our technology initiatives has taken hold across all of IT—and is already making an impressive difference.
The agile methodology dates back to 2001. Its genesis was expediting software development by collaboratively—and iteratively—developing business requirements and building solutions. This differs from the “waterfall” method where requirements were documented first—and then handed over to IT to build, with no interim previews. Over time, agile’s proven benefits (e.g., improved collaboration, speed to market, etc.) has prompted broad adoption across many industries and expanded into areas beyond IT divisions.
In the past two years, OneBeacon has transitioned its development teams to the agile approach, beginning with our online/on-demand efforts. More recently, the experience is being extended to business areas that work closely on technology initiatives, such as Finance, Enterprise Underwriting, Legal and Marketing & Communications.
Given the new protocol and unique language surrounding agile, the first step has been an in-person training session often facilitated by OneBeacon’s own agile experience coach, Barry Dillon. Last month a group gathered in our Plymouth office for such a session, also supported by IT’s Lisa Ellerton. Including some friendly team-building competition throughout the day, it was a successful introduction to our agile methods.
So if you hear about two-week sprints, don’t imagine we have colleagues participating in some sort of ultra-running competition. Sprints are one of agile’s inherent elements, where development tasks are tackled in two-week (+/-) intervals with outcomes presented at each sprint’s conclusion.
Interested in more insights? Check out the official “Scrum Guide” or ask your IT partners for insights!
