What is Digital Transformation?

I was asked this week to define the term digital transformation, which means slightly different things depending on your perspective and your own experiences. Here is my personal take on the subject:

What is Digital Transformation?

Digital transformation is the ability to motivate a diverse set of talents to drive change within an organisation to help solve the following challenges:

Image Source: Scaled Agile Framework
 
Successful digital transformation results in new opportunities for organisations, including entering new markets, transforming business models and realising new revenue streams.
 
It’s a multi-year journey requiring leaders who can mentor and coach their colleagues, negotiate and collaborate with their partners, and provide exceptional client experience. 
 
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The key to becoming such as leader is to understand cultural change, through the 3 ways:

  1. Flow – Continually removing barriers and bottlenecks from projects, programmes, systems and processes.
  2. Feedback – Giving and taking open, honest feedback through interactions, events and automation.
  3. Innovation – Allowing people to experiment in a safe environment, where no-one is judged and risk-taking is encouraged.

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The three ways are the foundational pillars of Agile, Lean and DevOps cultures.
 
Let me provide some specific examples:
 

Flow

 
Removing delays in a value stream or process to speed up production. A great example is the use of automation when developing software or making cars. Tesla has demonstrated their commitment to improving flow, as they have moved from producing 1500 Tesla Model 3 vehicles per month to over 5000 per week.
 

Feedback Loops

 
Ensuring that people collaborate more closely by asking for feedback. Not just personal feedback, but business -focused feedback such as: 
  • Does this product meet your expectations?
  • How can I improve the experience for you?
This can take the form of surveys or chats, but is most effective in a face to face context. The use of automated testing is a great way of shortening feedback loops. What would take a test team 4 weeks to test, would be achieved in a few hours with automation. The feedback is much faster, which tests failed and why?
 

Experimentation & Learning

 
Allowing your team to experiment, make mistakes and effectively learn quickly from those mistakes, is the road to innovation. It needs to be done in a way that is safe for them. The more risks you’re willing to take, the greater the payback. Atlassian, known for their DevOps enabling toolsets, are a great example. 
 
They run innovation days once a month. All employees are encouraged to work on anything they want, as long as they present back the next day. Beer, cake and a relaxed atmosphere, conducive to innovation are supplied.  Some of the best ideas and product prototypes have come from those days. 
 
Just look at the suite of Atlassian offerings:
 
Want to learn more about what we’ve discussed? ALC Training offers the following courses:
 
 

Why I have switched my search engine away from Google

The Internet used to be a friendlier place. In the late 1990’s, it was Microsoft versus the rest of the world. We had Gopher and WAIS as early pre-cursors to Internet search engines, then along came AltaVista, Yahoo and Google. I was never keen on Yahoo, AltaVista was kind of interesting, but Google was it for me; as a geek with a UNIX and security background, it was the search engine I constantly used, until recently. I used to say to people, “Have you tried using Uncle Google to find what you are looking for?”

Over the years, it has become apparent that many online services are not only annoying, but downright invasive. I read a book called Future Crimes by Marc Goodman which outlined succinctly how companies such as Google, Facebook and many others mine your data and target you with advertisements, or sell your mined data to others so they can bombard you with services. Even the browsers we use, by default, usually connect into Google somewhere, so I am constantly being mined. There is no such thing as a free Internet service.

Isn’t this a perverse situation? For those of us who read George Orwell’s 1984 about a future world where there is no privacy, aimed at the former Soviet Union, it is perverse that we are in exactly the same position in the so-called free world; perhaps my improved ration of cabbages will appear after all.

According to recent surveys, most of the world (approximately 80%) uses Android by Google, especially in developing countries. Countries such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States, United Kingdom and much of the EU use the Apple ecosystem. Switching to Apple doesn’t safeguard you either, you still need to go to your settings and select a different search engine. If you are a diehard Android fan, consider CopperheadOS, a stripped-down version of Android that works on a modded version of the Nexus or Pixel range. Blackberry, Windows Mobile or SymbianOS anyone?

So, I have switched my search engine to DuckDuckGo. Why? Because it is what Google used to be. Light. Simple. Non-invasive. Anonymous. Private. And most importantly, I am not being tracked. Am I missing out on any search results? Yes, I am – I am not getting paid-for Ad services appearing at the top of my search results – what a relief! In reality, you get less search results, but is that such a bad thing? When was the last time you went beyond the fifth page of search results? With DuckDuckGo, you receive higher quality results without the data mining and cross-milling of junk you don’t need.

I value my anonymity and privacy, and specifically try to keep a light footprint wherever I go. DuckDuckGo is the new default search engine for me. #ComeToTheDuckSide

How Scrum Can Help You Manage Your Marketing Campaigns

Marketing agencies operate in a real-time digital environment, with instant access to information and data. Challenges can include disruption associated with technology as well as traditional ones like achieving results for customers. More than ever, marketing agencies need to have tools that help them manage and run multiple campaigns. Agile project management and one of its particular methodologies, Scrum, could be the answer. This approach can help identify challenges and quickly address them.

The challenges faced by marketing agencies

The top challenges faced by marketing agencies include the following:

3 Ways agile project management helps marketing agencies

Agile could be the key to building better marketing teams that deliver on time and within budget. Agile originated in IT but is today successfully used across many industries. The outcome could be improved communications, enhanced teams and better planning and management of multiple client accounts and marketing campaigns. Scrum can also allow you to improve prioritisation so you can quickly identify current challenges and manage your team to address them.

1. The iterative approach for effectiveness

Marketers have already used Scrum to boost outcomes and effectiveness. For example, the iterative approach to planning and guiding project process allows you to target multiple campaigns in increments known as iterations. Work can be broken down into, say, two-week sprints. This way outputs are divided into manageable chunks and ownership is assigned.

This could result in more accountability as well as rapid iteration and correction for better marketing outcomes. A daily scrum (short, 10-minute standing meetings) lets the whole team get together to identify any new challenges and address them.

2. Agile for a rapidly changing digital environment

Marketers have had to keep pace with the internet-centric, digital-focused omnichannel environment and some have found agile to be a valuable tool, especially for managing workflows and innovating quickly. Switching from a focus on annual marketing plans to using data to improve marketing outcomes has been effective for some.

A 30-day plan that uses real-time data enables marketing agencies to respond rapidly and directly to clients and leads. These shorter time frames requires faster execution by your marketing teams, and this is where agile comes in.

Moving away from the traditional waterfall workflow where the entire marketing campaign is designed from start to finish means your teams can stop working on nonexistent static targets. Instead, your teams work in small iterative steps (again, organised by sprints) with constant reevaluation built in. This ensures the work stays relevant to current conditions and feedback.

Learn how Amazon and Spotify used agile methodology to improve the way they work

3. Improved collaboration and teamwork

Another way Scrum has enhanced the work of marketing agencies is through boosting collaboration. The teams at the centre of the agile way of working can come together to collaborate on high-value projects. The iterative approach facilitates collaboration by allowing teams to complete projects, assess results (and failures), and improve results – all collaboratively.

For marketing agencies juggling multiple campaigns and ever-changing challenges, agile project management could be a way to supercharge improvements and productivity by unleashing the collaborative power of your teams. Because you’re producing rapid campaigns that can be tested and optimised quickly, you’re responding more effectively to feedback and data coming in.

Scrum is made for marketers

Marketing agencies face traditional and disruptive challenges: the digital landscape, an ever-changing marketing environment, and customer demands and tight budgets. Using Scrum methodologies can allow marketers to face these challenges more effectively. The iterative, incremental approach could improve effectiveness, and the short sprints associated with agile could support better responsiveness. Finally, agile could also enhance collaboration and teamwork for better campaign and business outcomes.

Are you ready to manage your marketing campaigns like a pro? Sign up for ALC Training’s Professional Scrum Master™ (PSM) course to become a project management guru and deliver outstanding marketing results.

How Agile Methodology Can Streamline Infrastructure Projects

Infrastructure is one of the critical components of a healthy economy, though few people realise just how significant it is. To put it into numbers, a 10 percent rise in infrastructure assets improves a nation’s GDP by one percentage point. Nations that have poor infrastructure suffer when undertaking other large projects, because the roads are too narrow, there aren’t enough railways or ports are poorly designed and under-utilised.

And yet, for all their importance, large infrastructure projects often run into problems with risk management. Too often, the complexity and the scale of the projects mean that it’s difficult to plan for rapid changes in conditions, or the scope of the project.

This means that it is important for large construction and infrastructure projects to be able to adapt an agile project management approach, in order to meet unforeseen challenges that might emerge and keep projects on track.

How does agile working help construction and infrastructure project management?

Agile working originated as a technology term, used by software developers. But the reality is that the agile method can apply incredibly well to construction and infrastructure projects.

Consider one of the principle strengths of the agile methodology: agile projects are flexible in the way they deliver through iteration and increments. When designing a project around an agile methodology, you break it down into small pieces, and then release those deliverables after determining the order or priority. In this way, the final project “grows” in an organic manner, from its foundations through to finalised solution, rather than trying to deliver everything in one go.

Learn how Amazon and Spotify used agile methodology to improve the way they work

3 ways agile working helps infrastructure project management

1. Stay on track

Because the project is broken into components, approaching construction from an agile perspective also helps to keep budgets and timelines on track. Part of the agile methodology is constant feedback and assessment, while monitoring each arm of the project in real time. Project managers will regularly review priorities and status updates for each component of the project, and this means that problems can be addressed early, making the solution less expensive.

Because projects are broken down into manageable portions, there’s more opportunity to manage any problems that may appear. This helps to keep the project on schedule, with one part of the work only commencing when a previous component had been finished, reducing the risk of inefficient bottlenecking.

2. Dealing with turnover

Another issue that large projects often face is replacing staff who leave. Handovers and bringing new team members up to speed can be a time-consuming process, which is rarely accounted for in planning sessions. Under an agile working framework, someone who joins midway through a project would only need to understand the component currently underway, which is easier and less risky.

3. Visualisation

A crucial benefit of agile methodologies is that they help the entire team visualise the project, and their role in it. That visualisation can help keep a project focused, instead of a “pie in the sky” vision that can only can lead to confusion and poor discipline, as individuals on the team apply their own ideas.

Skilling up a team to approach project design through the agile methodology is not an onerous process. It’s highly beneficial to have your project leader trained in the art of agile project management, so they have access to the in-depth knowledge and advanced techniques to successfully use agile to manage large-scale projects.

Want to become qualified in the world’s leading framework and certification for Agile Project Management? Sign up to our AgilePM® Foundation / Practitioner Combined course

ALC Training offers courses in Agile methodology that your staff will love. Not only will it provide them cross-disciplinary skills that will help them in their own careers, but it’s a fast learning process that provides the modern construction organisation a considerable competitive advantage at tender, allowing them to provide their government or enterprise clients with clear, precise, and reliably costed project design documents.

Become a certified Agile Project manager

For more information on how the agile methodology can benefit companies from outside the technology space, contact ALC Training on 1300 762 592 or browse our industry leading agile project management courses such as our comprehensive Prince2 course.  

The Benefits Of Agile Project Management For Financial Institutions

Agile project management offers advantages for financial institutions as competition from fintechs and regulatory pressures continue to challenge them. What are the possible benefits of agile for financial institutions? We look at some of the top challenges agile could help solve, including managing large teams.

The red tape of financial services

The financial sector’s critical role in our economy and everyday lives means it’s a heavily regulated industry. This means financial institutions often need to integrate compliance into their daily operations. Procedures, protocol, and standard operating procedures make up some of the red tape institutions have to deal with. Reporting and data submission requirements are another element of the red tape involved in running a financial institution.

As laws change, your organisation needs to keep up. The regulatory and compliance burden can also increase as your organisation expands and your customer base grows. For example, you might go from dealing with tens of thousands of accounts to dealing with millions of customer accounts. That means a lot more online data to keep secure, additional customer journeys to track and more accounts to audit and report on.

Red tape is seen as an encumbrance, but it could help protect your organisation, reduce risk, and ensure accountability across individuals, teams, and senior management. At the same time, over emphasising red tape could lead to bureaucratic approaches that constrain innovation and collaboration, which are critical for competitive advantage in an era of low credit growth. The key then is to have an effective way to manage red tape within your financial institution without compromising dynamism.

How ANZ uses agile working

Banking giant ANZ has turned away from hierarchies and bureaucracy to embrace agile teams, following the practice of technology businesses like Facebook and Google. Taking a Scrum approach, it’s drastically restructuring its former bureaucracy into “squads” of 10, and these teams in turn are grouped into “tribes.” The teams are led by coaches and product owners instead of managers.

As for other financial institutions adopting agile, Capital Finance group, Farm Credit Services of America, BNP Paribas, and Capital One are some of the overseas financial sector operators that have implemented agile with success.

How ANZ uses agile working

Learn how Amazon and Spotify used agile methodology to improve the way they work

The impact of agile project management in the finance industry

So as operators in a heavily regulated sector, financial institutions could trend towards bureaucratic structures and command-and-control ways of working. Together with strict reporting lines and centralised control, these could constrain innovation and collaboration. In contrast, agile practices offer a fast, flexible way of work that supports businesses in responding quickly to changing market conditions.

Agile covers a broad range of approaches and three common ones are Scrum, Lean, and Kanban.

For the financial industry, the scrum approach to project management can include daily stand-up meetings and strictly-timed project delivery sprints, for your large teams, and for projects over the long term. Instead of specialised departments and specialists, the focus might be on collaboration and on generalists with customer outcomes as goals. This could make your teams more dynamic and efficient.

Hierarchies are removed, although organisations will typically maintain divisions at the highest levels. Teams have more authority and accountability, which can seem at odds with heavily regulated and risk-conscious industries like the financial sector. The outcome could be higher customer satisfaction due to focusing on customer outcomes rather than hierarchical ways of working.

Want to become qualified in the world’s leading framework and certification for Agile Project Management? Sign up to our AgilePM® Foundation / Practitioner Combined course

Agile in IT departments

Another way agile approaches project management could be invaluable for financial institutions is in IT. As a significant consumer of IT resources, the financial sector is also facing the rising demand for mobile, online, and convenience banking. As a financial institution, you might be dealing with problems like ageing legacy infrastructure.

This might result in the need for an internal IT team that’s capable of patching, maintenance, and upgrades dynamically and responsively. Your financial software system might need to interface seamlessly with a number of peripheral systems and interfaces. So the challenges for your IT teams can be significant.

Agile project management could, again, provide the best alternative to traditional “waterfall” approaches. Waterfall development practices tend to be time – and resource-intensive, as opposed to the light, responsive IT teams you need to meet the demands of the digital age. Financial institutions can spend too much time on gathering project requirements and defining each requirement before the actual development stage. The whole process could take years, at which point technology and business processes might have changed.

Agile project management could reduce software defects, allow for shorter development times, and lead to higher customer satisfaction. It could help you avoid products, features, and systems becoming outdated before they’re even complete. Because of the rapid iteration process, you could integrate customer and/or user feedback into the development stage, allowing for a better product.

Become an agile project master

Financial institutions have traditionally trended towards hierarchy and bureaucracy. But in a highly competitive digital era, this might be a constraint to achieving dynamism and higher market share. Agile project management approaches could offer a fast, flexible way of structuring your organisation and its roles, allowing you to responding quickly to changing market conditions. These approaches could also led to better internal IT development processes.

ALC Training is the premier national provider of agile project management courses. Sign up to our AgilePM® Foundation / Practitioner Combined course and you to can master the framework of agile project management.

Why Government Contractors Need Agile Working Practices

Organisations that deal with government agencies are facing a new wave of challenges. Small and medium sized contractors are feeling the bulk of these new tensions, but many of the issues apply to contractors of all sizes.

Some of the current challenges facing contractors include:

Government agencies are tightening their belts

This means there are fewer projects going around, and contracting officers are often under-trained and overworked. This, coupled with the pressure to do more with less, is affecting officers’ ability to make the best decisions for a project.

Automation

A degree of automation is creeping into the tendering process, meaning that groups of potential bidders will be pre-qualified for tasks. For those outside the favoured pool, this makes the bidding process almost impossible.

Solutions, not purchases

Government is now less interested in making purchases than it is in looking for solutions. This means that bidders need to develop substantial “value add” capabilities and find staff with deep government-related skill sets to implement the solutions.

How does agile working help manage government projects?

Many of the challenges organisations face with regards to government contract projects can be resolved by adopting agile methodologies, particularly the Scrum approach.

The Scrum framework has been gaining a lot of steam in recent years thanks to the emphasis that it places on collaboration, iterative development and meeting evolving requirements over time.

4 advantages of using Scrum

1. Meeting evolving needs

What does this mean from a government perspective? In short, the Scrum methodology is compatible with the government push for solutions, rather than products. The iterative nature, and ability for Scrum projects to meet evolving requirements over time allows a government agency to take a broader approach to tenders.

Rather than offer a single technology-driven solution for a single problem, the contracts instead allow contractors to provide a degree of “future proofing” by designing a solution that can be scaled to the agency’s changing needs.

2. Win-win situation

This benefits the contractor, too, since it provides them with the potential for an ongoing project. Additionally, this form of project is a more effective way to ensure that the development and delivery of the project meets or exceeds the baseline expectations of the client.

In short, the client gets a more efficient service when the contracted agency is able to iterate on the product based on the unique needs of the client, as opposed to the submission of outputs that only meets the initial requirements.

Learn how Amazon and Spotify used agile methodology to improve the way they work

3. Better evaluation

Another important benefit of adopting the Scrum approach is that the development team will be afforded a better opportunity to properly evaluate the requirements of the government client, and establish a more accurate project schedule.

This is because Scrum projects are focused around the schedule of rollouts and iterations, rather than an attempt to finalise the project in a single instance and then provide an ongoing support contract afterwards.

Additionally, the iterative approach to development means that there’s a great deal of transparency between developers and the government agencies, and this in turn facilitates better communication and outcomes for the government client.

4. One size fits all

Another critical benefit gained with the Scrum methodology is that it is easily reusable across a wide range of government projects – mobile application development and websites right through to data transfer projects and audits. They can all be managed through a Scrum project management framework to improve the overall results of the project.

For the contractors, adjusting the approach to become Scrum-orientated couldn’t be easier. By becoming a certified Scrum Master, you will be armed with advanced knowledge and techniques to efficiently manage large-scale government projects under the Scrum banner.

Learn more about becoming a Professional Scrum Master

Arm yourself with Scrum knowledge with ALC Training

If your business works with government bodies, then meeting their evolving needs in an increasingly-complex and competitive space is important. Now is the time to adopt the Scrum methodology in your business. Contact the team at ALC Training to begin the training process.

Agile Project Management Solutions for Supply Chain Management

Running an agile supply chain is quickly becoming a necessity for modern businesses. It sounds simple on paper, but as most companies know, building agility into a supply chain doesn’t happen overnight. Here’s a look at some of the common challenges facing supply chain management, and how introducing an agile framework into the mix can provide simple solutions to complex problems.

Common challenges facing supply chain management

Despite how important, integrated and efficient supply chain management is, there are many challenges that businesses still face in today’s landscape. These key challenges can be broken down into the following.

Customer demands

Customers want their products quicker and at a better price. But keeping up with this demand isn’t always financially or logistically realistic for companies.

Globalisation

Due to the growing customer demands, companies are often forced to outsource to countries where their products can be produced at a cheaper cost. But this can complicate the supply chain and lengthen delivery times, and as companies become more global there’s an increasing pressure to adapt products to suit local markets.

Fast-changing market growth

Increasing your customer base to grow your business can be tricky. You have to keep up with trends, consistently innovate and create new products, and update features on existing products. What’s more, these products need to be of the highest quality, which often goes hand-in-hand with compliance. This means you need to constantly keep on top of trading and government policies, fees, and regulatory standards in the industry.

Cyber risks

As the supply chain becomes more connected and digitised, cyber risks begin to present themselves. Keeping a supply chain secure is a growing issue as cyber threats can come from anywhere, whether it’s in emails, attachments, or even public Wi-Fi.

Take our cybersecurity quiz to see how your knowledge stacks up  

How agile supply chain management works

As consumer buying patterns rapidly change, supply chain management needs to change as well. The fact is, businesses need to be ready for this if they want to remain competitive. One method of doing so is through implementing agile working practices to improve customer satisfaction, project control and product quality and manage your supply chain

What is an agile supply chain?

The main drivers of an agile supply chain are speed, cost and delivery. Essentially, an agile supply chain is based on the increasingly sensitive demands of the consumer. It uses responsiveness, competency, flexibility and speed to better manage how well it works on a day-to-day basis, which is done using real-time data and information.

What are the benefits of an agile supply chain?

Perhaps most importantly, an agile supply chain helps businesses better respond to volatile markets and unpredictability. They’re built to be flexible, which means they can adapt to changes in the economy, changes in technology and changes in customer demands.

To break it down further, here’s what an agile supply chain can help with:

Want to become qualified in the world’s leading framework and certification for Agile Project Management? Sign up to our AgilePM® Foundation / Practitioner Combined course

 

4 tips for building agile supply chain management

  1. Create an agile team

Building an agile team within supply chain management can help your business create products or services that better align with the needs of your customers. You’ll ideally need a group of multi-disciplinary employees who can not only create quickly, but also test and redevelop quickly.

  1. Reward wins (and failures)

Experimentation is crucial in agile working methods. In many companies, to fail means to risk your career. But for a company that encourages agility in their supply chain management, failure should be seen as constructive.

Building agile supply management means encouraging teams not to fear failure, but to learn from mistakes, move on and focus on the bigger picture. So don’t just reward wins – reward failures too.

  1. Be agile with supplier contracts

To meet the changing needs of the market, consider creating more flexible supplier contracts – for example buy-back contracts and zero-volume contracts. To harness the potential of the blockchain, which enables the use of bitcoin, you could also consider creating “smart contracts”.

It’s also important to promote the flow of information with suppliers and develop collaborative relationships with them. For example, you can create an e-hub that connects your company with the supplier via the internet.

  1. Be more aware

There are a few ways to boost your supply chain awareness, which might include:

Being aware also means being prepared. According to Hau L. Lee, it’s also important to draw up contingency plans and put together a team that knows how to put them into action.

Learn how Amazon and Spotify used agile methodology to improve the way they work

Don’t work hard, work agile

Often the best way to implement agility into supply chain management is to have someone show you the ropes. This means mastering an agile framework such as Scrum.

At ALC Training,we have two outstanding courses to teach you how to optimise value, reduce total cost of ownership, deliver more frequently, and improve the overall efficiency and effectiveness of your business.

Check these out:

Our industry-leading AgilePM Agile Project Management course

Our cutting-edge PSM (Professional Scrum Master) course

Top 6 Cloud Service Providers in 2018

For the first time in 2018 it’s become easier than ever to gauge the state of the cloud market. New data from the top cloud providers has allowed us to really see who is dominating the landscape. In this study, I’ve chosen to look at the total revenue as an indicator of success. Partly because it’s easy to measure, but also because it gives an indication of relative market opportunity and growth. 

This chart is taken from a great ZDNET article that was published earlier this year:

1. Microsoft Commercial Cloud

By revenue Microsoft is the dominant force, which I predicted would be the case back in 2016. My colleagues at DXC Technology will attest to that prediction. I think it’s also a reflection on a number of compelling events that have materialised over the past few years:

2. Google Cloud Platform/G Suite

Although Google offers their G-Suite, I don’t really see it as a serious competitor or replacement for Office 365. In fact they complement each other. I typically use Google for managing both business and personal data on my Google Pixel and then Office 365 for Surface Pro, MAC and iPad and then OneDrive across all of them. Below is a quick snapshot of how Google and Office stack up:

3. Amazon Web Services

On the Amazon Web Services side, there is much progress and improvement especially in the area of new services. AWS are very good in the Serverless and PaaS spaces, adding a whole series of new innovations. These and exciting innovations were announced at the AWS ReInvent 2017 conference last year and include:

You definitely can not accuse Amazon of being static or boring with all this innovation coming thick and fast.  Amazon are certainly pushing the curve, as there are no Microsoft Azure equivalents for some of these services.  Amazon Sumerian is a case in point:

4. Oracle

Oracle are coming up fast, probably as a result of their push in the past 12-18 months. A rep at Oracle invited me to attend Oracle Cloud World, which introduced me to the maturity and sleek look of their latest cloud offerings.  The pics below gives a quick overview of the Oracle Cloud offerings:

 

5. IBM

IBM is a little way behind the top 2 leaders with their suite of cloud offerings. IBM Watson is probably the best known. I’m still waiting for IBM to approach me to, and invite me to their conference. Check out the screenshot below:

More information on IBM cloud services can be found here. 

6. Alibaba

Alibaba are definitely one to watch. My prediction is that by 2020 Alibaba will be No. 3 by revenue and may well be looking to eat up AWS with a takeover strategy to compete with Microsoft. Here is a quick overview of the predicted growth of Alibaba revenue vs AWS:

And here is a good article that articulates how large and dangerous Alibaba really is. I do apologise for all the popups, but the free content on the site IS worth the pain.
 ​
This article gives another perspective on the Microsoft / AWS revenue growth story, outlining some of the great customers stories to come out of the Azure platform.  These include:

Finally if you feel you need some specialised training or business advice on AWS, Microsoft Azure, IBM, Oracle or Cloud CyberSecurity, feel free to reach out to me or learn more about ALC Training’s comprehensive cloud computing course. 

What is Scaled Agile Framework?

Scaled Agile Framework, or SAFe for short, is a large interactive knowledge-base of best practices, case studies, courses and toolkits. The patterns and resources are proven, backed up by numerous case studies. It is specifically designed to work for both small businesses and multi-billion dollar corporate giants. How does it do that?

Well there are a number of components that allow the method to scale. This includes a list of the key principles, outlined above, but also used the concept of Agile Release Trains. These are teams of teams, containing all your resources, including suppliers and partners, that are co-ordinated through program increment (PI) planning. These planning sessions ensure all the trains are moving in the same direction and that all the work is decomposed into features and stories. This results in working code shortly after the first sprint.

The framework itself comes in four flavours:

  1. Essential SAFe
  2. Portfolio SAFe
  3. Large Solution SAFe
  4. Full Safe

The order and selection of the above configurations is highly dependent on the organisation’s vision, commitment and maturity to adopting Agile.  Below are all the frameworks for comparison.

1. Essential SAFe

 

2. Portfolio SAFe

 

3. Large Solution SAFe

 

4. Full SAFe

Still not convinced…..well there are a wealth of case studies on the SAFe site.

Below is are a few of my favourites:

Want to know more about how to use SAFe? 

Please check out my Leading SAFe 2 Day Course. Please let myself or ALC Training know when and where we can run this course for your organisation.

What Is Cloud Computing and How Can It Make Your Business More Agile?

Cloud technology has become a buzzword of sorts in the tech industry. Yet, a report from the International Data Corporation (IDC) shows that 86 per cent of businesses in Australia were using cloud computing in some form back in 2013. 

But, what is cloud technology?

The definition of cloud technology

Cloud computing is a fairly new technological innovation in the commercial world.

According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology‘s (NIST), it is a technological mechanism that facilitates on-demand access to a shared supply of flexible IT resources.

The NIST definition provides five fundamental attributes of cloud computing:

  1. On-demand self-service;
  2. Broad network access;
  3. Resource pooling;
  4. Rapid elasticity or expansion; and
  5. Measured service.

Alongside these, cloud computing is also grouped into three other categories.


A public cloud is a technological innovation that allows service providers to use the internet to make IT resources available to a range of consumers.Public, private and hybrid clouds

Storage and applications, or software-as-a-service, are made available without the required hardware and bandwidth costs. Typically, public clouds are a pay-as-you-go service as costs equate with what has been used.

There are a few limitations to this model, for instance, the low-level security features make it a far-less-attractive choice for those looking to store or transmit sensitive data. 

Private clouds, on the other hand, offer consumers better IT security because they are provisioned for use by only one organisation. Anyone who has attended an information security training course will know that limiting who can access can The cloud infrastructure is usually operated by a third-party, however, they can also be governed by the organisation or a combination of both.

Hybrid cloud infrastructure, in most cases, is a composite of public and private cloud infrastructure. Hybrids have the distinct benefit of allowing organisations to maintain control of an internally managed cloud while at the same time utilising public cloud architecture when needed.

During peak use periods, applications, services and data can be relocated to a public cloud, circumnavigating the obstacle of space or accessibility. Hybrid clouds offer organisations greater scalability as well as excellent information security. 

Public clouds offer a range of benefits, however, very rarely will an enterprise deploy all its applications into one.

Agile IT project management and cloud computing

In today’s business environment, organisations need to be able to respond quickly to changes in the commercial environment. This is especially important as workforces are becoming more mobile though the fragmentation of employee environments.

Agile management methodologies are currently being utilised to shorten service deployment time and integrate customer feedback quickly. However, in most industries, an agile approach is not effective without other specific components. 

For instance, a software development company needs a platform that can facilitate quick development cycles. Cloud computing can make the difference. It’s online status allows end users to get their hands on the product or service quicker.

To employ cloud computing in such a way, a manager will need to seek out an IT project management training course, such as a PRINCE2 Agile.

PRINCE2 Agile combines the flexibility and reactivity of agile with the standardised and robust framework of PRINCE2 training. When this best practice is combined with cloud computing, a company’s agility and resilience can be greatly improved.   

To get access to a quality project management training provider, contact ALC Training today and find out more.

What are the current trends in project management?

 

Project management is in a constant of flux, evolving to accommodate the news needs of businesses and their projects. Consequently, it is important to keep up with the current trends in the industry, so you know what kind of expertise and IT project management training you need in order to deliver the best results.

Here are some of the trends we are seeing in project management right now.

Teams are now free to use technology to develop products remotely.

1. Remote project management

These days, it is no longer necessary for a team to be all in the same place in order to work on a project. As a result, more and more teams are operating from different location using virtualisation, rather than being all together in one location.

According to CIO magazine, this development makes logical sense, because the drive to constantly produce more innovative projects naturally results in team members being distributed throughout a range of geographical areas. CIO adds that using offshore development teams can also help to reduce costs, yet project managers are still able to easily oversee the progress using technology.

2. Project managers as thought leaders

Another interesting development for project management is created by the increasing popularity of content marketing. As the experts in their field, many project managers are being looked to by companies to create informative, insightful content that has the added benefit of incorporating SEO, which helps to promote the business.

Project management specialist LiquidPlanner says that it’s important for project managers to establish a greater understanding of the “story” created by the various aspects of the project throughout its lifecycle, as this will better enable them to be thought leaders and pass this knowledge on to others though content.


Project managers are now thought leaders as well.

3. Greater emphasis on change management

Projects are becoming more involved in change management right now than they have been in the past. According to business performance company TwentyEighty Strategy Execution, this is a fundamental skill for all project managers, as change is often an inherent aspect of any project. The company says that technical skills are not enough to oversee a significant change effectively, and as such relational and strategic skills are essential for good change management.

In addition, actively cultivating these skills is essential for a company to ensure it will experience a smooth transition into new undertakings.

The shifting demands of the market mean project managers need to have new skills to draw on.

4. Upskilling and certification

Likewise, the upskilling of project managers is becoming particularly important. The demands of the industry are rapidly changing and professionals need to have the expertise to effectively develop products in the shifting market conditions.

TwentyEighty Strategy Execution reveals there are several skills that project managers need to be able function well, including the ability to think analytically, good communication skills, established technical expertise, a solid grasp of strategy and a business-driven mindset. These skills span a variety of disciplines and work together to make the project managers more effective in the marketplace.

Likewise, having certifications in project management frameworks can be a useful tool to cultivate, and can be achieved though PRINCE2 training and similar methodologies.

5. More focus on Agile project management

Finally, more and more businesses are recognising the benefits of using Agile project management. According to PM Times, the Agile approach was once reserved for software development, but is now being embraced by a variety of industries. It allows for a more flexible, consumer-driven management of projects, increasing efficiency, improving marketability and reducing risk.

Consequently, Agile project management is becoming more more frequently used, and integrated into other methodologies.

It’s apparent that project management is shifting in a number of ways, and it is therefore essential that professionals look for ways to keep up with the current trends. Whether through expanding their knowledge of product development or through IT governance training, ALC Training can help project managers to deliver the best results for their business.

Is Klout The First Casualty Of The GDPR Laws?

Klout was a social media tool that helped online influencers measure their influence online. It was bought for $200 million by a company called Lithium in 2014. It targeted the most popular social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube and provided you with an influencer score. The higher the score, the more influential you were likely to be.

As of the 25th of May, Klout was retired. This coincided with the timing of the new European Union, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) laws. These came into force on the same date.

So why did Lithium retire Klout?

It really boils down to return on investment. Lithium bought the people, intellectual property and the technology to help them improve their products. They specialise in creating products that improve your customer service via social media channels. Understanding the influence and pervasiveness of a brand, was crucial to their strategy, and Klout provided this service. This allowed Lithium to acquire talent and knowledge. 

In addition, Klout does not provide an obvious or known revenue stream for Lithium, as it’s a free tool. It’s a similar problem that Facebook and Twitter have faced in the past, until they utilised advertising and promotion as a means of making revenue.  

Finally GDPR is complex legislation with a heap of complexities associated with it. Let’s provide some real examples using Klout:

Klout is used by millions of social media users around the world. A proportion of them live in the EU, which consists of 28 separate countries. That means Lithium would need to comply with the GDPR legislation. This would include some key investments in the Lithium business to comply with GDPR. Here are some examples:

For more information on GDPR, check out our simple guide to the GDPR.

The great news for social media influencers, like myself, is that there are two viable alternatives to Klout:

  1. Kred
  2. Skorr 

How to use Kred

Kred is a well known tool that scores both influence and outreach using a publicly available algorithm. “Influence” measures the likelihood that someone will act upon the user’s posts, while “Outreach” measures the user’s tendency to share other people’s content. 

The way in which Kred scores a user can be seen in how it allocates the metrics for influence and outreach. This information is available when the user logs in and provides an audit trail of how the scores have been calculated.

Another upside to Kred, is that there is open API integration into the platform. Which means third party companies that wish to use the data, can do so. Here is a great example of how Kred is being used by rise.global to create social influencer charts. 

How to use Skorr

Skorr – although not as well known – really impressed me with the downloadable Android app, that is a work of art in itself. It’s very easy to use, there’s no problems with OAUTH or login. It also has a few really awesome features in the app. My favourite is the chart which shows where you are in terms of score in relation to your fellow influencers. As you can see I have some catching up to do…

​It also includes a really great FAQ that answers many of my questions, around how the app scores you.  

The only downside seems to be from a developer perspective, as the APIs are not available for general use. This means it can’t be used by third parties. You could argue that is a good thing, if you don’t want your score to be used autonomously in an app. Or a bad thing, if you want to see how you rate against other influencers in a third party charting system. Overall I believe in open APIs, so I see this as a downside for the world of influencing.

Interesting in learning more about social media scoring, GDPR or cloud security? ALC Training provides comprehensive cloud computing training courses, taught by yours truly.

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