敏捷开发，不再是技术团队的专利

Posted 2021-04-25 ACS美国化学会

Agile, it's not just for tech teams anymore

Chris McCue

Vice President,

Marketing, CAS
副总裁，市场，美国化学文摘社

由于客户需要更新更好的产品，需要高度敏锐的反馈支持，在这种市场变化和压力下，机构必须不断改变发展使之运转得更加高效。虽然指导我们工作的方法有很多，但是经久不衰并持久见效的是“敏捷”方法。事实上，当今社会无处不谈“敏捷”。

CAS历经110年，从纸本的《化学文摘》出版商，发展成为了提供科技信息全方位服务的解决方案提供商。我们的发展历程及方式也已演进为强调科技变革、客户需求和商业实践。近些年来，“敏捷”方法已超越技术功能，对我们的成功产生积极重大的影响。请来了解，在这短短不到一年时间里，CAS市场部门如何从“敏捷”中获益，以及我们汲取的一些教训。如果你的团队正在进行或者优化“敏捷”实践，这也许正是你所需要的。

什么是敏捷工作方法？

敏捷方法首次出现于2001年，一组软件程序员出版了《敏捷软件开发宣言》一书，书中描述了全新软件开发的4个核心价值：

• 个人和互动高于流程和工具

• 工作软件高于详尽的文档

• 客户合作高于合同谈判

• 响应变化高于遵循计划

 

创立一段时间后，敏捷方法在技术团队中取得成功，自2011年开始大范围使用，并从根本上改变了软件的开发。近来一项对开发人员和IT从业者的调查显示，有超过2/3的在组织在使用敏捷工作方式作为主要的开发方法。在最近几年里，软件开发领域的敏捷方法已经跨越了组织部门，熟悉的便签、看板经常能在不同的工作部门和项目类型中看到。事实上，2017年项目管理协会（Project Management Institute）的一项调查显示，超过70%的组织在项目管理中使用敏捷工作方法。AgileSherpas/Kapost 2018年度敏捷市场报告中显示，35%的市场人员使用敏捷工作方法。

老人也可以学习新事物

作为多年位于市场部门管理层的我，我必须承认我从未想过自己会使用敏捷工作方法，更不用说我会成为它的完全拥护者。事实上，在CAS很多项目中以及最近在我们市场部门中使用的敏捷方法，已经彻底改变了我和我的团队工作方式。不依赖非常正式的简报和会议，我现在通过站会、冲刺会议和回顾会议与我的团队实时沟通。这不只是简单地改变了我每日工作的内容，更重要的是我惊叹于敏捷工作方法在很多方面改变了我们组织的文化和战略方向；并且帮助我们为我们的销售团队及客户提供更多的价值。

更清晰的组合观点

在市场部门内部，通过帮助我的团队理解和找到各自能力和资源需求，“敏捷工作”支持提升活动组合管理能力。在决策层，将看到完成进度（如交付日期）、依赖性和资源间冲突。通过在更广泛的管理团队提升可见度，我们能确保一致的优先级，找到资源短板，更好规划未来。

更快交付

敏捷工作最重要的一个特征是个体问责。这就好像与朋友约定后，你就更有可能出现在健身房。常规的敏捷团队的会议、任务追踪和独立责任，使每个人实现自己的承诺。每个人同时承担多个项目，敏捷带来的责任感大大提升工作效率。

更好的跨部门合作

敏捷方法对我们部门最重要的是文化影响。像许多组织一样，CAS在部门和团队层次拥有强大的工作组，但有时在更广泛的组织内寻找参与者相当困难。这有可能造成错过一些机会或做不必要的重复工作。

敏捷工作强调促进参与者的合作。敏捷过程要求从团队一开始组建就必须将主要参与者纳入其中。在很多情况下，跨部门的敏捷团队将会组建。一些团队甚至包含组织外部人员，如顾问或者市场公司，他们也会高度参与某些项目。

全球增长推动化妆品知识产权领域转变

这里需要澄清，虽然使用敏捷方法让CAS市场部受益颇多，但也不总是一帆风顺。这种工作方式需要我们多方面的投入，以及灵活性和耐心。从重建工作空间到提供指导，为员工提供发展机会，我们所有人都必需进行重大改变以使敏捷工作方式能够不断适应我们每一个工作实践。

在实践中，我们更能体会组织变革管理（OCM）的重要性。如果你没有受到组织变革管理的培训，建议寻找外部支持。很多伴随剧烈工作结构变化带来的人力的挑战，可以在一个良好的结构变革管理的过程中减弱。现在CAS有专门的OCM团队在组织内持续帮助我们改变，以适应变化的市场环境。

我们学到的关键的一点，尤其对已采用敏捷方法的市场部团队来说，我们不再害怕打破旧有的模式。敏捷工作方式天生是一种结构方法。为使它能适应你的工作情景，你可以设计自己的敏捷方法。与团队成员远程工作？试试数字看板。感觉每日站会对这个项目太频繁了？改成一周两次。不能让团队成员同时做一个项目？设计资源分享模式。

在实践中，对所有单元或项目，完全采用纯敏捷工作框架是不现实的，但是至少每个团队都能从敏捷方法中受益。从使项目工作流程更可见的责任驱动开始，实施多次团队沟通保持工作方向，在项目结束时安排回顾会议，并以文档总结经验和庆祝成功。

重点：为我们客户传递更多价值

CAS历经创新110多年，我们始终站立在日新月异的科技浪潮前沿，我们在内容、技术和专业领域为客户提供最大化的价值。敏捷工作只是我们运用新的工作方法的一个例证，这些新的工作方法确保我们保持在全球创新中起到关键性作用。

想了解更多CAS的变化，请点击“阅读原文”订阅博客。

As the market evolves and pressure mounts to deliver new and better products and provide highly responsive support to ensure customer success, organizations must also grow and change to operate more efficiently, empower collaboration and quickly adapt to change. Though frameworks to support this type of evolution come and go, one that is enduring and demonstrating lasting benefits is the Agile methodology. In fact, these days it seems that Agile is everywhere.

As CAS has evolved over its 110-year history, from a publisher of chemistry abstracts in books to a modern full-service scientific information solutions provider, our processes and approaches have also evolved to address changing technology, customer needs and business practices. In recent years, the Agile methodology has had significant influence on our success well beyond our technology function. Read on to see what key benefits CAS marketing is attributing to Agile less than one year in on our journey, as well as some lessons we have learned along the way that your teams may want to consider if they are embarking on or optimizing an Agile practice.

 

What is Agile?

The Agile methodology first emerged in 2001 when a group of software engineers published a Manifesto for Agile Software Development, describing four core values in a fundamentally new approach to software development:

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

• Working software over comprehensive documentation

• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

• Responding to change over following a plan

Though it took a while to catch on, Agile has found success among technology teams, and starting around 2010, began to see wide adoption, fundamentally changing software development. A recent survey of development and IT professionals showed that more than two-thirds cite Agile as the primary development methodology being used in their organization.

In recent years, the positive impacts of Agile on software teams has attracted interest across organizational functions and the familiar sticky notes of the Kanban board are now often seen across a wide array of work units and project types. In fact, a 2017 survey from the Project Management Institute indicated that more than 70% of organizations use Agile for project management and the 2018 State of Agile Marketing Report produced by AgileSherpas and Kapost shows that more than 35% of marketers are using Agile methodology.

You can teach an old dog new tricks

As a marketing executive with more years of experience than I care to disclose, I must admit that I never thought Agile would catch up to me, let alone that I’d become an all-in advocate. In reality, the adoption of Agile across many CAS projects, and most recently in my own marketing division, has been a refreshing change that has completely transformed the way my teams and I work. Rather than rely on more formal briefings and reporting meetings, I now have the ability to keep up with teams’ work real-time in stand-up, sprint and retrospective meetings. More than simply changing my work day, I have been surprised and impressed with the many ways Agile has changed our organizational culture and strategic approach, and most importantly, how it is helping us deliver more value to our sales colleagues and customers.

Clearer portfolio view

Within marketing, Agile supports enhanced campaign portfolio management by empowering our teams to understand and track their capacity and resource needs. At the strategic level, this data shows the pace of progress, likely delivery schedule, dependencies and any resource conflicts. By enhancing visibility for the broader leadership team, we ensure alignment with organizational priority, identify resource gaps and improve our ability to plan for the future.

Speedier delivery

One important feature in Agile is the accountability it requires of each individual. Just as you are more likely to show up at the gym if you are meeting someone, the rigor of regular Agile team meetings, task tracking and accountability to a team compels individuals to deliver on their commitments. Added up across many individuals on many projects, the sense of accountability driven by Agile makes a huge impact on productivity.

Better cross-functional collaboration

One of the most important outcomes of our shift to Agile has been the cultural impact. Like many organizations, CAS had developed strong affiliations at the division or work team level, but sometimes struggled to engage stakeholders in the wider organization. This created the risk of missed opportunities and unnecessary rework.

By its nature, Agile drives collaboration among stakeholders. The process mandates identification of key stakeholders from the beginning for inclusion on the team. In many areas, this has led to cross-functional Agile teams. Some teams have even included external individuals, such as consultants or marketing agencies that are highly engaged with the project.

A word of caution before jumping in

To be clear, though the adoption of Agile practices is delivering many benefits for CAS marketing, it has not always been smooth sailing. It has required investment of many kinds, as well as flexibility and patience. From renovation of building spaces to providing coaching and development opportunities for staff, we have all had to manage significant change to make Agile work and continue to evolve our practices on an on-going basis.

One key learning from our experience is the importance of understanding organizational change management (OCM) at the beginning. If you don’t have trained OCM practitioners in your organization, consider seeking outside support. Many of the natural human challenges that arise from a drastic change of work structure can be mitigated with a well-structured change management process. CAS now has a dedicated OCM team that continues to help develop change agility within our organization so we can keep up with the dynamic market environment.

Another key learning, especially for teams in marketing that have adopted Agile practices, is not to be afraid to break the mold. Agile is inherently a structured approach. To make it work for your situation, you can’t be afraid to make it your own. Have remote team members? Try digital Kanban boards. Daily stand-ups feel too frequent for the pace of work on a project? Go to twice a week. Unable to dedicate teams to one project at a time? Design a resource-sharing approach that works.

In reality, fully adopting the pure Agile framework does not make sense for every unit or project, but almost every team can find benefits from some Agile approaches. Start by making project work processes more visible to drive accountability, implementing frequent team touchbases to keep work on track and scheduling retrospectives at the end of projects to document learnings and celebrate success.

The point: Delivering greater value to our customers

CAS has been evolving and innovating for 110 years to ensure we continue to stay ahead of the ever-growing tidal wave of scientific information and maximize the value our customers can derive from our content, technology and expertise. Agile is one example of how new approaches help us maintain a critically important role in empowering global innovation.

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