Why agile strategy, of all things?
Strategy work has often been stuck in the past, even though operational work is already being managed using agile models that respond to results and changes. If you still think about strategy mainly in Q4 and plan to update it next year, you can make a significant impact by trying agile strategy work with us.
The most important aspect was how we progressed towards customer usage. Under the guidance of Taskmill’s coach, we visualized the goal and the path from that moment to the first customer test and the actual launch.
Telia IT Business Manager, Jani Heinola
A broader agile transformation is already underway. Transition with us from the old annual cycle world to strategy work that evolves with customers and staff on a quarterly basis. Address the needs of tomorrow, not yesterday.
This is how it’s done
- Forming the Strategy: Let’s ensure together that the top-level vision and mission are understandable. We will set focus areas and strategic objectives for the next iteration period, such as the next quarter, in workshops with the management team and key personnel. Each objective will have a designated product owner. Strategic objectives are closely linked to productive concreteness and are visible as part of the ongoing routines.
- Implementation, Monitoring, and Metrics of the Strategy Period: Each concrete objective is broken down into key results with the product owner from the management team, following the OKR model. In addition to result metrics, we set predictive lead metrics: what questions and numbers can we use to predict success instead of just monitoring the past? Strategic metrics are linked to employee performance goals with HR managers.
- Retrospective and Adaptation of the Strategy Work: The importance of this phase cannot be overstated. Preparation for the retrospective involves ensuring that the realizations of the set lead and result metrics are accurately known and understood by everyone. Qualitative feedback and NPS are also collected from customers, end-users, and staff. In the retrospective, results are thoroughly reviewed, focusing on discussing HOW they were achieved. By analyzing the how – not just the what – we can most effectively influence our future performance. What trends or signs indicate that we will succeed tomorrow?
Both communication and work transparency clearly improved when we started managing our tasks using familiar agile methods and tools.
Pop-Pankki Program Director, Juha Hallikas
What is an Agile Strategy?
Functional and Trackable
Goals, results, and metrics must be clearly defined to make the objectives more approachable and achievable.
Realistic but Inspiring
Strategic objectives should be attainable, yet ambitious enough to drive innovation.
Significant and Inclusive
The strategy should be articulated in a language and with meanings that people understand, making it something the entire organization owns.
What Are the Benefits?
Organizations that have adopted agile strategy work have reported the following core results:
- Faster responsiveness and competitiveness
- Increased employee satisfaction, retention, and trust in leadership
- Less siloed organization with unified goals across the board
From the extensive list of requirements, we have been able to focus on the functionalities that bring the most benefit to our customers.
SSA Digi CEO, Mauricio Martinez