Complexity & Agility

Help! What was the added value of our product again?

How We Add Value with Agility even in Complex Environments

“Agility empowers organizations to deal with complexity in a way that generates competitive advantage” Marcel Laubmeyer

The Complex Environment of Our Customers

Our experience shows that in long-term projects it is difficult to keep the focus on the added value and benefits of a product. Admittedly, this is not an easy task either.

Especially since in today’s complex world in which our customers operate, the parameters change practically by the minute. Today, almost everything is networked with everything else, whether we look at the global market or our own organization.

Complexity is everywhere. All kinds of things interact and depend on each other. There is so much information available that neither we humans nor our organizations can grasp it holistically.

Acting in a Complex Environment

The complexity lies in the fact that it is no longer possible to predict how our actions will affect each other. Thus, the same actions sometimes lead to different results. In addition, the premises around us can change even without our doing. Just one new product or start up can upend the entire market. Or can you remember life without Netflix or smartphones?

Added Value Through Agile Approach

By implementing agile approach, we help our clients deal with the constant changes of the complex world by focusing together on the added value and benefits of the product vision or service. It is important to have a clear vision of the eventual product. What needs of the end customer should be satisfied by the product? In addition, it is important that each person working on the product also knows this vision. This allows everyone involved to prioritize their decisions and actions in terms of the vision. For this reason, we often conduct vision workshops with our customers. However, a single workshop is not enough. Experience shows that it is worthwhile to question the vision once it has been established at regular intervals. Because just like the complex environment in which we operate, the added value is dynamic and can change just like the market during the development of the product.

Incremental And Iterative Product Development To Minimize Risk

In order to mitigate the risk that arises from the constantly changing environment, we help our customers to develop the product incrementally. For example, frameworks such as Scrum, SAFe, LeSS and Nexus are useful here. It is important to develop prototypes that are repeatedly tested in the market or by potential end users. The development team can then in turn take the feedback with them into the next phase of development. This gives our customers the opportunity to regularly review their actions and decisions. In this way, a product can be developed that offers real added value to the end customer, even in a complex, dynamic environment.