Adding business value to Agile organizations and the management process

Agile organizations are often excited about the topic of business value. The original concept comes from economics but today is strongly represented in product development. The Product Owner role in Scrum, for example, is responsible for providing business value to the product being developed.

The entire Scrum team works together to achieve high business value.

Agile project managers also need to think carefully about this topic today. Agile project management derives from Scrum and other Agile practices. That is why we will present the topic in detail and give examples.

The examples in the topic are based on the 13 topics of business value created in 2018 by the organization Business Value-Oriented Principles Ltd. All business value topics are described in their BVOP Ultimate Guide. The first published evidence is by Marta Cooper, PolicyMatters magazine (ISSN: 1941-8280, 1941-8272, ISSN National Centre for the USA, the United States. Issued by the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkley)

13 Agile themes of business value by priority

• Consumer and customer satisfaction
• Behavior, skills, and maturity of employees
• Usability, usefulness, and value of the products
• Human relations
• Relationships between business and people
• Innovation
• Reduction of surpluses in the organization and among the teams (time, money, labor)
• Work processes
• Shortened production processes
• Total contribution
• Organizational culture
• Human Resources
• Time to reach the market

Consumer and user satisfaction

Consumer satisfaction and loyalty are the main factors for the success of the company in a market economy. Satisfied customers trust the company, recommend it to friends and acquaintances. Consumer satisfaction is a prerequisite for subsequent purchases – purchase and sale of the company’s products, etc .. To win back lost customers due to dissatisfaction with the product is extremely difficult. It is essential for a modern company to have information on how satisfied its customers really are. Reference: https://wikipedia-lab.org/examples-of-business-value-and-business-value-added/

Behavior, skills, and maturity of employees

Employees must have a high degree of self-awareness – both of their qualities and shortcomings, and of their moods and prejudices.
This is important because the characteristics, attitudes, and beliefs directly affect the behavior and mood of employees and through them – the achievement of organizational goals. Reference: EduWiki.me

Usability, usefulness, and value of the products

The product used is easy, convenient, satisfying, unobtrusive, and allows its users to do the work for which it is intended without problems and imperceptibly. The product is a utility for the consumer and has value when he uses it in the long run.

Human and professional relations

Investing in human relationships is fundamental. The growth of some companies and enterprises leads to greater social distance between workers and employers; the worker performing a partial work task, which he fails to connect with the whole work, tends not to show interest in the enterprise/company in which he/she works. Therefore, in order to maintain a favorable social climate in the workforce, it is necessary to meet the psychological needs of employees, to increase interest in the company, and to improve human relations in it. Human resource management can create a mobilizing system, thanks to which each member of the team will strive to contribute to the success of the enterprise/company.

Relationships between business and people

Developing a business network is quite useful. When you have a community, running a business is much easier for a number of reasons – you have a network of people you can seek advice from, a service, other businesses you can partner with, and markets through which you can explore the world of business through other eyes.

What project managers, Scrum Master and Product Owner roles need to do in Agile organizations to provide business value.

Organizational culture provokes people to be proactive, to contribute, to share, and to be aware of the business goals of the organization.
Employees must have self-awareness and responsibility – both for their qualities and shortcomings and for their moods and prejudices. Reference: https://mstsnl.net/examples-of-business-value-added-for-organisations-projects-and-products/

Modernization and innovation.

Monitoring of innovations and technologies so that the organization can have a high degree of modernization and ideas for projects from the desired ones on the market.
People in the organization show respect for each other and work productively.
Respecting each other, the collegial relations are smoothed and so the team works easier, which is of great importance in the work processes.

The number of people leaving the organization is limited to a minimum.

Undoubtedly, every company should have its own rules, but these rules should help for successful activity, and not the other way around. In addition, it is irrational to impose rules, where this is not necessary.
Conflicts and negative environments are minimized.
Socialization helps to develop the character of a person, it is advisable to avoid a negative environment.

The image of the organization increases.

With the improvement of the qualities of the work processes and the good marketing of the finished products, the image (rating) of the organization increases.
Everyone in the organization is constantly improving their personal and professional qualities.
The development of everyone who is part of the team is of great importance for the organization. As everyone develops and improves, the company will produce high-end products.

The members of the Scrum team look for and remove the obstacles themselves

Team members seek and remove obstacles without waiting for management to do so.
If a problem is noticed by a team member, it should be reported to the project manager and then removed.
Management and team members work together to optimize processes and speed up development time.
Strengthening the motivation of the team helps them work together.

Read more: Managing business organizations and adding business value.

An Agile Manager’s Guide to the Theory of BVOP.org https://www.vbprojects.org/13-examples-of-added-business-value-by-bvop-org/

Business value is a concept of economics and business disciplines that gives an abstract explanation of essential activities in business processes. https://brightonbot.com/how-to-add-business-value-to-your-business-organizations-projects/

Costs are managed and planned carefully.

The planned costs lead to a structured and even development process
The tools and the environment are constantly improving.

Working with the latest technologies and equipment leads to a faster work process in most cases.

Unnecessary documents, processes, and communications are avoided.

Development time is valuable and therefore there is no need for unnecessary documentation.

The main causes of problems, defects, and obstacles are analyzed, tracked, and eliminated.
It is important that if a problem occurs, it is analyzed exactly what caused it. Understanding this, the problem can be easily fixed.
Quality standards are followed and implemented without significant loss of time and resources.
Strictly follow the quality standards without spending extra time on
Fatigue is managed and teams do not spend too much time on trivial tasks.
It is important to take frequent breaks for a short time, if possible.
The documentation and requirements are created and maintained in an easy and convenient style so that everyone understands them with ease and saves time from unnecessary discussions and misunderstandings.

Following the good practice in describing documentation prevents wasted time from unnecessary discussions.
Meetings and discussions do not lead to a waste of time and always lead to desired results.
Discussing new ideas only lead to positive results. Team synchronization meetings – too.
Product development focuses on the most important goals and needs.
The realization of a usable product is one of the most important priorities
All results, concepts, and versions of the products are validated with real users, and the risk of an unwanted product is limited.
The product used is easy, convenient, satisfying, unobtrusive, and allows its users to do the work for which it is intended without problems and imperceptibly. The product is a utility for the consumer and has value when he uses it in the long run.
Customer and consumer satisfaction is constantly growing.
Consumer satisfaction and loyalty are the main factors for the success of the company in a market economy. Satisfied customers trust the company, recommend it to friends and acquaintances

Real-time business analysis in consumer services

Users long for the latest information, especially if they think it concerns critical systems and processes. Integrate real-time business analysis into your services

Improving customer service

In the online world, a customer’s anger is multiplied through social media. If this dissatisfaction is detected at the outset through real-time business analysis, the problem can be resolved before it becomes widely known.