Report urges change in management practice

Public and private sector organisations should adopt many of the newer techniques that are used to implement software today to manage the business in general, according to a new report by IT services company, Sogeti Ireland.

'The traditional ways of implementing software no longer work due to rapid change and today’s economic pressures. The same is true of management practice,' commented Declan Kavanagh, CEO of Sogeti Ireland and author of the study. The report Can business management learn from Agile Development? is available to download on www.sogeti.ie.

Mr Kavanagh said that rapidly changing market conditions and the need for flexibility mean that three to five year management planning horizons or two-year software development cycles are inappropriate.

The Sogeti Ireland study points to the adoption of Agile software development and implementation which results in closer involvement of stakeholders; quicker and more frequent delivery of functionality and benefits to users and improved financial performance. It says that traditional 18 months software development cycles are not acceptable in today’s environment where rapid change is the norm.

The drivers of Agile software development are time to market; matching client needs; responsiveness to change; focus on added value activity; quality and fashion. 'Some or all of these drivers also top many organisations’ management agendas,' commented Declan Kavanagh.

The Sogeti report proposes an ‘Agile business model’ which will deliver short execution cycles within a planning framework; accommodate change without creating waste; deliver frequent output that can be used to impact the organisation’s internal/external customers; and engage users effectively on a more frequent basis.

'In implementing good management practice we must learn not to "boil the ocean" and excessively plan activities,' said Mr Kavanagh. 'Rather we should gather the stakeholders to agree what priority results should be delivered over short cycles thus making continuous improvement visible to all stakeholders.'

He added, 'managers must acknowledge that change happens and accommodate this in a flexible responsive manner that delivers the maximum to the bottom line or boosts stakeholder satisfaction.'