Agility beats software – Reporter

IT Business

Kanban, Scrum and Lean methodologies are gaining ground. Why are different from the traditional ones. Pros and cons. Companies that join the trend.

Although technological advances tend to outperform existing solutions, there are certain methodologies developed in the past that are still valid. If Kanban is a Japanese term meaning ?? ?? flashcards. This is a technique after World War II created by the automaker Toyota to monitor the progress of work in the context of the production line. Among its features, keeps a steady pace of work through rapid identification and resolution of issues blockers, while making visible the level of productivity of professionals and eliminates bottlenecks.
Within the software industry, Kanban, Scrum and Lean with make up the Agile ?? ?? most used in the world, according to the study State of Agile Survey, based on 6,042 cases surveyed by VersionOne, US firm is dedicated to helping implement. The agile methodologies are called ?? ?? as they allow a solution will adapt to the needs that arise as development goes underway. Therefore, unlike traditional, do not wait until the project is completed to start making appropriate adjustments. “Given the speed with which different industries move, the traditional software development system is outdated compared to the agile methodologies, which speed-time work and results. Furthermore, as users are watching developments product and try it from incipient stages, modifications can be made on the fly. In short, the work is perfectly suited to the context, and not vice versa, “says Juan José D’Alessandro, Business Manager Softtek oriented services company IT processes
A concrete example. the insurance firm Zurich wanted to optimize the work that the Service Corrective Maintenance and Improvement. Even the professionals in this area had difficulty prioritizing tasks efficiently and bottlenecks were generated. On the other hand, wished to see more metrics and indicators to assess team performance. Additionally, they wanted to reduce staff turnover and service quality increases.
Against this background they decided to implement Kanban. Fernando Sanabria, manager of Applications in Zurich Latam, who leads a team of 30 professionals, explains: “We consider that this methodology is based on visual aids to see the status of each task and its duration also serves to establish. a maximum number of activities that can be performed in each of the phases with the premise of not start a new task until you finish the previous one. In this way, is accomplished professionals focus on closing their jobs and increase productivity “.

More productivity

With respect to implementation, which took about two months of work and about 300 man hours, two similar boards, one at the offices of Zurich and another in Softtek were armed , including handwritten cards whose colors indicate if the task is improvement or maintenance. “After two months of its implementation, Zurich -a company that employs 800 people in Argentina and invests more than $ s 2,000 million annually globally technological level began to notice a decrease downtime and necks bottle. Moreover, the methodology of regular work was not changed, but simply a graphic resource appealed to display the work process, no rejections or barriers to adoption by the professionals involved were recorded, “explains D’Alessandro.
According says Sanabria, team professionals admitted feeling more motivated and comfortable from the launch of Kanban. For experts, this point is critical because in the area of ​​maintenance of any technology project rates of staff turnover is high.
Finally, the area of ​​systems-composed of experts from business intelligence services architecture , web environments, tools of knowledge management (KM) and development- it became much more proactive and productive. “By being more productive, pursue improvements were achieved, as the implementation of KM tools, dashboards and productivity accessible via web and even some change request project area,” says Sanabria.
D’Alessandro highlights “Given that 67% of the IT budget of a company goes to maintenance, it is interesting as Kanban, to accelerate projects and increase productivity, optimizes the budget allocated simultaneously motivates the team” .
Meanwhile, in Sancor Seguros use Scrum about four years ago. Under this methodology, a project is executed in short periods (called iterations) that can be two weeks or more. Whenever concludes a stage, interacting with the end user to make adjustments. For this reason, we say that a strategy of incremental development is adopted, instead of appealing to the planning and subsequent full implementation of development.
“We decided to implement Scrum because we were messy to carry out tasks related to system maintenance and migrations. I was not well organized or coordinated therefore could not meet the stipulated time in planning. Since using this methodology, we work in a more orderly manner and can meet delivery times, “says Alejandro Boetto, Development team leader Emission company based in the province of Santa Fe.
Regarding his experience during the early days with Scrum, most complex was to get end users involved in the process development: “Since the adoption of Scrum, users had to get involved in the process, something we found it to his liking, but, over time, learned to value,” explains

Not suitable for. all age groups

Despite the advantages, so that the implementation of agile methodologies to be successful must be given certain conditions: “The company culture is critical, so there are organizations still prefer the older methodologies “explains Marcelo Schenone, delivery manager GlobalLogic, a firm that develops software.
In this sense, although Scrum, Lean and Kanban are used for about 14 years in the IT industry, there is still resistance when companies other markets require software developments. According Schenone, Banking & amp; Finance, Government and Health are the most reluctant sectors: “In many cases, agile methodologies are perceived as chaotic as the documentation for the transfer of information is not used Furthermore, advances are at the discretion of the development team and there. corporations that do not like to depend so much on the autonomy of professionals, “he says, adding:” That’s why we are working hard to evangelize those firms that have a structured culture and that asking a project prefer to stipulate scope, characteristics, delivery and price before commencing work, since under agile methodologies all this is being defined during project execution. We are talking about the need for a big cultural change by the team and the corporation. “
Asked about the main criticisms of those who oppose its implementation, GlobalLogic executive explains:” As there it focuses on the documentation, for smooth progress requires the stability of professionals. This item is important because in the IT industry there is high turnover, “he concludes.
In addition, experts indicate that there are very valuable to customize solutions that are sold packaged.