Agile – The Layers Within An Enterprise
How does Agile fit within a business?
Agile – The Layers Within An Enterprise – The layers of an organization can be managed differently. Not all need to use an agile methodology. The process or method selected is specific to the organisation, hopefully dependent on need, sometimes due to habit and history.
L1 – The executive or governance layer, exists above projects, determining; resourcing, initiatives, budgets, strategic direction, portfolio management, timing and return on investment (ROI) and risk based decisions.
- Risk
- Investment: Funds fighting opportunity costs
- Architecture: Assets we can re-use, or build on; Skills, perhaps even a database
- Output: Value
L2 – Projects fit within a business. This runs in its own layer, under the executive layer. It manages the health of the project overall – aligned to the Product Owner.
- Stakeholder engagement; ROI Progress Feedback to the Governance Layer.
- Release Structuring
- Risk Analysis
- Contract Management
- Project Team unencumbered and creating value
L3 – The iteration layer manages the details of the individual timeboxes, reporting to the project layer. Linked to the user stories and sprints, and the development of the product.
- Iterate and improve
- Sprint Planning and Review
- Team Leadership
- Morale, managing and mentoring of people
- “Engine room of activity”
L4 – The expertise layer; How we should do things specific to the project? eg.
- Testing methods
- Decisions
- Policies
- Expertise