Agile

I knew nothing about Agile until I attended a talk recently. The first sight on the word - Agile gave me an impression that  it was something not related to the industry that I was working in. But, since I was eager to learn something new and that was why I signed up for the talk. Based on Wikipedia, Agile is considered a set of values and principles for software development under which requirements and solutions evolve through the collaborative effort of self-organizing cross-functional teams.

The speaker is with information technology background and has years of professional experiences working in a few International MNC. Currently he is working in banking industry and is the in-charge of the industry's digital transformation that is taking place now. Based on what he shared, the typical procedures used in everyday banking can be very tedious and troublesome. Many of the procedures are still manual and since banking is a highly regulated industry, lots of manpower involved in checking and counter-checking the input and output. For example, a client submit a form to change his home address, the bank may need to take at least a week to complete change. The application form is circulated from one department to another and it takes time and labor to make a small change. A digitalized banking service enables the banks to reduce the processing time and also cut down the manpower involved. However, there are so many things to improve and all changes simply cannot happen overnight.

Agile concept is adopted. Different sprint groups are created for different tasks and coaches who are familiar with the concept are sent to all groups to teach the concept and guide the team members. Usually a sprint group is made up of 6-7 developers with different skillset and also a business owner as a leader of the team. From the explanation given by the speaker, the concept is different from the traditional project management approach and it is very similar to the start-up approach that used in the IT industry. The questions for the people who attend the talk are whether or not this concept can be applied in the industry they are in and how all these changes can be carried out.

I feel that in this digital age, we must always try our best to learn some new skillsets in order to stay competitive. However, new skillsets are merely sufficient for our survivals. If we want to be a leader and stay ahead of other competitors, we must learn from others too how to improve the efficiency and shortening the problem-solving duration. It is quite hard to run a company using the management skill learnt from 80s or 90s. I believe a good leader can foresee the future trend and take advantages of it to build up the company.

A question is raised by an attendant about the factors that must be taken into consideration when a team member of agile team is selected, the speaker mentioned that he usually consider 3 factors – self learning, passion and possession of new skill set. Also, the ability to work with a team is necessary since teamwork is important in agile concept. Obviously, some soft skills are still necessary in securing a job! I really give my soft skill a big boost~

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