The COBIT framework is designed to assist organizations in effectively managing and governing their IT processes and controls. It provides a set of principles, domains, processes, and control objectives that align IT activities with business objectives. COBIT offers benefits in governance, risk management, and compliance. While its implementation can be complex, it helps organizations address IT-related challenges and achieve better alignment between IT and business goals.
COBIT is a framework developed by ISACA (formerly known as the Information Systems Audit and Control Association) and first released in 1996. Over the years, it has evolved to keep pace with the changing landscape of IT and business environments. COBIT is now in its fifth edition, known as COBIT 2019, and continues to be a leading framework for IT governance and management.
Key Objectives of the COBIT Framework
COBIT is designed to address several key objectives within organizations:
Governance: COBIT helps organizations establish a robust IT governance framework. This involves defining roles and responsibilities, setting strategic goals, and ensuring that IT investments align with business objectives.
Management: The framework provides guidance on the effective and efficient management of IT resources, processes, and risks. It aids in optimizing the use of IT assets while controlling associated risks.
Alignment: COBIT emphasizes the importance of aligning IT initiatives with business strategies. It ensures that IT decisions and investments are directly supportive of an organization’s goals.
Delivery of Value: COBIT helps organizations realize the value of their IT investments by ensuring that IT services and processes meet business requirements and expectations.
Risk Management: The framework assists in identifying, assessing, and managing IT-related risks. It promotes a proactive approach to risk management.
Resource Optimization: COBIT guides organizations in the efficient allocation and utilization of IT resources, leading to cost-effective operations.
COBIT Principles
The COBIT framework is built on a set of key principles that guide its implementation and usage:
Framework-Based: COBIT provides a comprehensive framework that includes processes, governance structures, and tools. It is designed to be customized to meet the specific needs and circumstances of each organization.
End-to-End Coverage: COBIT encompasses the entire IT landscape, from strategic planning to day-to-day operational activities. It ensures that all aspects of IT are considered in the governance and management processes.
Enterprise-Wide Approach: COBIT takes an enterprise-wide perspective, recognizing that IT governance and management impact all areas of an organization. It encourages collaboration and alignment across different functions.
Single Integrated Framework: Rather than relying on multiple, disparate frameworks, COBIT provides a single, integrated framework that simplifies governance and management efforts.
Holistic Approach to Governance and Management: COBIT addresses both governance (what should be done) and management (how it should be done). This holistic approach ensures that governance decisions are effectively translated into operational practices.
COBIT Framework Components
The COBIT framework is structured around four main components, each serving a specific purpose:
Framework: The framework component outlines the core principles, objectives, and components of COBIT. It provides an overview of the entire framework and serves as a reference point for organizations seeking to implement COBIT.
Processes: COBIT defines a set of IT-related processes that cover the full spectrum of IT activities. These processes are categorized into domains, each addressing a specific area of IT governance and management. Examples of domains include “Align, Plan, and Organize,” “Build, Acquire, and Implement,” and “Monitor, Evaluate, and Assess.”
Governance and Management Objectives: For each IT-related process, COBIT defines governance and management objectives. Governance objectives focus on ensuring that IT activities align with business objectives and are managed effectively. Management objectives provide more detailed guidance on how specific IT activities should be performed.
Performance Management: COBIT includes performance management components that help organizations assess the maturity of their IT processes and the effectiveness of their governance and management practices. The COBIT maturity model provides a structured way to evaluate process maturity and identify areas for improvement.
COBIT 2019 Principles and Focus Areas
COBIT 2019 builds on the core principles of the framework and introduces several focus areas to address contemporary challenges in IT governance and management. These focus areas include:
Digital Transformation: COBIT 2019 recognizes the increasing importance of digital transformation initiatives. It provides guidance on how organizations can effectively leverage digital technologies while managing associated risks.
Cybersecurity: With the growing threat of cyberattacks, COBIT 2019 places a strong emphasis on cybersecurity. It offers guidance on establishing robust cybersecurity practices and integrating them into the broader IT governance framework.
Data Governance: Data is a valuable asset for organizations, and COBIT 2019 includes principles and practices for effective data governance. It helps organizations manage data quality, privacy, and compliance.
Cloud Computing: As cloud computing becomes more prevalent, COBIT 2019 provides guidance on how to govern and manage cloud services effectively. It addresses the unique challenges and opportunities presented by cloud adoption.
Agile and DevOps: COBIT 2019 recognizes the importance of agile and DevOps methodologies in IT delivery. It offers guidance on integrating these approaches into existing governance and management processes.
Benefits of Implementing the COBIT Framework
Implementing the COBIT framework can yield several benefits for organizations:
Improved IT Governance: COBIT helps organizations establish clear governance structures and processes, ensuring that IT decisions align with business objectives.
Effective Risk Management: The framework provides guidance on identifying and mitigating IT-related risks, reducing the likelihood of costly incidents.
Resource Optimization: COBIT helps organizations optimize their IT resources, leading to cost savings and improved efficiency.
Enhanced Compliance: COBIT assists organizations in achieving and maintaining compliance with relevant regulations and standards, reducing the risk of non-compliance penalties.
Value Delivery: By aligning IT initiatives with business goals, COBIT ensures that IT investments deliver tangible value to the organization.
Continuous Improvement: COBIT’s performance management components enable organizations to assess and improve their IT processes continually.
Challenges and Considerations
While COBIT offers numerous benefits, its successful implementation can be challenging. Organizations may face obstacles such as resistance to change, resource constraints, and the need for executive buy-in. Additionally, customization of the framework to suit an organization’s unique context and requirements requires careful consideration.
Conclusion
The Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies (COBIT) framework is a powerful tool for organizations seeking to establish effective governance and management of enterprise IT. By providing a comprehensive framework, guiding principles, and performance management components, COBIT enables organizations to align IT with business objectives, manage risks, optimize resources, and deliver value to stakeholders. In today’s rapidly evolving IT landscape, COBIT remains a valuable resource for organizations striving to harness the full potential of information and technology while managing associated challenges and risks.
Key Highlights
Framework for IT Governance: COBIT is a widely recognized framework designed to help organizations govern and manage their IT processes effectively.
Alignment with Business Goals: It ensures that IT activities are aligned with business strategies and objectives, enhancing overall organizational performance.
Four Domains: COBIT organizes IT management into four domains: Plan and Organize, Acquire and Implement, Deliver and Support, and Monitor and Evaluate.
Control Objectives: COBIT sets clear and measurable control objectives to manage IT processes and ensure compliance with regulations and standards.
Structured Processes: The framework defines specific IT-related activities and processes, providing a structured approach to IT governance.
Guiding Principles: COBIT is built on guiding principles that emphasize stakeholder needs, end-to-end coverage, a holistic approach, and dynamic governance.
Risk Management: COBIT assists in identifying and mitigating IT-related risks, ensuring data security and minimizing business disruptions.
Compliance Support: Organizations can use COBIT to achieve compliance with industry regulations, standards, and best practices.
Implementation Flexibility: COBIT can be tailored to an organization’s unique needs, allowing for effective adaptation and implementation.
Continuous Improvement: COBIT promotes continuous improvement by facilitating ongoing monitoring and evaluation of IT processes.
Global Adoption: Widely adopted across industries, COBIT provides a common language for IT governance and management practices.
Industry Use Cases: COBIT is used in financial institutions, healthcare organizations, government agencies, and various sectors to enhance IT control.
– ITIL is a set of best practices for IT service management (ITSM) that focuses on aligning IT services with the needs of the business. While ITIL primarily addresses service delivery and operations, it intersects with COBIT in areas such as governance, risk management, and compliance (GRC). ITIL provides guidance on processes, roles, and responsibilities for managing IT services throughout their lifecycle, enhancing operational efficiency and service quality.
– When implementing IT service management initiatives, improving service delivery processes, or enhancing IT governance practices. – Integrating ITIL processes and principles with COBIT frameworks to establish a comprehensive approach to IT governance, risk management, and compliance that aligns with business objectives and regulatory requirements.
– ISO/IEC 27001 is an international standard for information security management systems (ISMS) that provides a systematic approach to managing sensitive data, protecting information assets, and mitigating security risks. While ISO/IEC 27001 focuses on information security controls and practices, it intersects with COBIT in areas such as security governance, risk assessment, and compliance management. ISO/IEC 27001 helps organizations establish a framework for identifying, assessing, and addressing information security risks, ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information assets.
– When implementing information security management systems, addressing cybersecurity threats, or achieving regulatory compliance. – Integrating ISO/IEC 27001 requirements and controls with COBIT frameworks to strengthen IT governance, align security practices with business objectives, and establish a risk-based approach to information security management.
NIST Cybersecurity Framework
– The NIST Cybersecurity Framework is a voluntary framework developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to improve cybersecurity risk management across critical infrastructure sectors. While the NIST Framework focuses on cybersecurity practices and controls, it aligns with COBIT principles in areas such as risk management, control objectives, and regulatory compliance. The NIST Framework helps organizations assess their cybersecurity posture, identify gaps, and prioritize investments to manage cybersecurity risks effectively.
– When enhancing cybersecurity resilience, implementing risk-based security controls, or aligning with industry best practices. – Leveraging the NIST Cybersecurity Framework to complement COBIT frameworks, address specific cybersecurity challenges, and enhance overall IT governance and security capabilities.
COSO Internal Control Framework
– The COSO Internal Control Framework, developed by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO), provides a comprehensive framework for designing, implementing, and monitoring internal controls to achieve organizational objectives. While COSO primarily focuses on internal controls and enterprise risk management (ERM), it intersects with COBIT in areas such as control objectives, control activities, and monitoring mechanisms. The COSO Framework helps organizations establish a structured approach to internal control, enhance accountability, and mitigate operational risks.
– When strengthening internal controls, improving risk management processes, or enhancing corporate governance practices. – Integrating the COSO Internal Control Framework with COBIT frameworks to establish a holistic approach to governance, risk, and compliance (GRC), aligning internal control practices with strategic objectives and regulatory requirements.
PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard)
– PCI DSS is a set of security standards designed to ensure the secure handling of credit card information by merchants and service providers. While PCI DSS primarily addresses payment card data security, it intersects with COBIT in areas such as compliance management, risk assessment, and security controls. PCI DSS helps organizations protect cardholder data, prevent data breaches, and comply with regulatory requirements.
– When securing payment card data, achieving compliance with industry regulations, or mitigating cybersecurity risks. – Aligning PCI DSS requirements and controls with COBIT frameworks to establish robust IT governance, enhance security practices, and meet industry-specific compliance obligations while aligning with broader business objectives.
PRINCE2 (Projects IN Controlled Environments)
– PRINCE2 is a project management methodology widely used in various industries for managing projects effectively. While PRINCE2 focuses on project governance, processes, and methodologies, it intersects with COBIT in areas such as project portfolio management, IT governance, and strategic alignment. PRINCE2 helps organizations plan, execute, and control projects using a structured approach that ensures alignment with business objectives and stakeholder expectations.
– When initiating, planning, executing, or closing projects, particularly in IT or business transformation initiatives. – Integrating PRINCE2 project management principles with COBIT frameworks to establish governance structures, define project objectives, allocate resources, and monitor project performance to achieve desired outcomes while maintaining alignment with strategic goals and priorities.
Agile Methodologies (e.g., Scrum, Kanban)
– Agile methodologies, such as Scrum and Kanban, are iterative and adaptive approaches to software development and project management that emphasize collaboration, flexibility, and continuous improvement. While Agile methodologies focus on iterative delivery and customer-centricity, they intersect with COBIT in areas such as project governance, risk management, and stakeholder engagement. Agile methodologies help organizations respond to changing requirements, deliver value incrementally, and enhance project transparency and accountability.
– When managing software development projects, IT initiatives, or organizational change initiatives in dynamic and uncertain environments. – Integrating Agile methodologies with COBIT frameworks to optimize project governance, streamline delivery processes, and enhance IT governance practices while fostering collaboration, innovation, and responsiveness to customer needs and market trends.
TOGAF (The Open Group Architecture Framework)
– TOGAF is a widely used framework for enterprise architecture that provides a structured approach to designing, planning, implementing, and governing enterprise IT architectures. While TOGAF focuses on enterprise architecture principles and methodologies, it intersects with COBIT in areas such as strategic alignment, IT governance, and technology management. TOGAF helps organizations align business and IT strategies, optimize IT investments, and drive digital transformation initiatives.
– When developing enterprise architecture frameworks, defining IT strategies, or optimizing technology investments. – Integrating TOGAF architecture principles with COBIT frameworks to establish governance structures, align technology solutions with business goals, and facilitate decision-making processes to ensure effective IT governance and enterprise-wide alignment with strategic objectives.
Lean Six Sigma
– Lean Six Sigma is a methodology for process improvement that combines principles from Lean manufacturing and Six Sigma methodologies to eliminate waste, reduce variation, and improve operational efficiency and quality. While Lean Six Sigma primarily focuses on process optimization and quality management, it intersects with COBIT in areas such as performance management, risk mitigation, and continuous improvement. Lean Six Sigma helps organizations identify process inefficiencies, streamline workflows, and enhance customer satisfaction.
– When optimizing business processes, reducing defects or errors, or driving performance improvement initiatives. – Integrating Lean Six Sigma methodologies with COBIT frameworks to establish performance metrics, monitor process performance, and drive continuous improvement efforts that align with strategic objectives and stakeholder expectations while minimizing risks and maximizing value delivery.
ISO/IEC 38500 (Corporate Governance of IT)
– ISO/IEC 38500 is an international standard that provides guidance on corporate governance of IT, emphasizing the role of governing bodies in overseeing IT investments, strategies, and performance. While ISO/IEC 38500 focuses on IT governance principles and practices, it intersects with COBIT in areas such as governance frameworks, control objectives, and regulatory compliance. ISO/IEC 38500 helps organizations establish governance structures, define IT responsibilities, and ensure alignment between IT and business goals.
– When enhancing IT governance practices, improving board oversight of IT investments, or achieving regulatory compliance. – Aligning ISO/IEC 38500 principles with COBIT frameworks to establish governance mechanisms, clarify roles and responsibilities, and enhance transparency and accountability in IT decision-making processes, fostering effective IT governance and value creation for the organization.
AIOps is the application of artificial intelligence to IT operations. It has become particularly useful for modern IT management in hybridized, distributed, and dynamic environments. AIOps has become a key operational component of modern digital-based organizations, built around software and algorithms.
Agile started as a lightweight development method compared to heavyweight software development, which is the core paradigm of the previous decades of software development. By 2001 the Manifesto for Agile Software Development was born as a set of principles that defined the new paradigm for software development as a continuous iteration. This would also influence the way of doing business.
Agile Program Management is a means of managing, planning, and coordinating interrelated work in such a way that value delivery is emphasized for all key stakeholders. Agile Program Management (AgilePgM) is a disciplined yet flexible agile approach to managing transformational change within an organization.
Agile project management (APM) is a strategy that breaks large projects into smaller, more manageable tasks. In the APM methodology, each project is completed in small sections – often referred to as iterations. Each iteration is completed according to its project life cycle, beginning with the initial design and progressing to testing and then quality assurance.
Agile Modeling (AM) is a methodology for modeling and documenting software-based systems. Agile Modeling is critical to the rapid and continuous delivery of software. It is a collection of values, principles, and practices that guide effective, lightweight software modeling.
Agile Business Analysis (AgileBA) is certification in the form of guidance and training for business analysts seeking to work in agile environments. To support this shift, AgileBA also helps the business analyst relate Agile projects to a wider organizational mission or strategy. To ensure that analysts have the necessary skills and expertise, AgileBA certification was developed.
Agile leadership is the embodiment of agile manifesto principles by a manager or management team. Agile leadership impacts two important levels of a business. The structural level defines the roles, responsibilities, and key performance indicators. The behavioral level describes the actions leaders exhibit to others based on agile principles.
The andon system alerts managerial, maintenance, or other staff of a production process problem. The alert itself can be activated manually with a button or pull cord, but it can also be activated automatically by production equipment. Most Andon boards utilize three colored lights similar to a traffic signal: green (no errors), yellow or amber (problem identified, or quality check needed), and red (production stopped due to unidentified issue).
Bimodal Portfolio Management (BimodalPfM) helps an organization manage both agile and traditional portfolios concurrently. Bimodal Portfolio Management – sometimes referred to as bimodal development – was coined by research and advisory company Gartner. The firm argued that many agile organizations still needed to run some aspects of their operations using traditional delivery models.
Business innovation is about creating new opportunities for an organization to reinvent its core offerings, revenue streams, and enhance the value proposition for existing or new customers, thus renewing its whole business model. Business innovation springs by understanding the structure of the market, thus adapting or anticipating those changes.
Business modelinnovation is about increasing the success of an organization with existing products and technologies by crafting a compelling value proposition able to propel a new business model to scale up customers and create a lasting competitive advantage. And it all starts by mastering the key customers.
A consumer brand company like Procter & Gamble (P&G) defines “Constructive Disruption” as: a willingness to change, adapt, and create new trends and technologies that will shape our industry for the future. According to P&G, it moves around four pillars: lean innovation, brand building, supply chain, and digitalization & data analytics.
That is a process that requires a continuous feedback loop to develop a valuable product and build a viable business model. Continuous innovation is a mindset where products and services are designed and delivered to tune them around the customers’ problem and not the technical solution of its founders.
A design sprint is a proven five-day process where critical business questions are answered through speedy design and prototyping, focusing on the end-user. A design sprint starts with a weekly challenge that should finish with a prototype, test at the end, and therefore a lesson learned to be iterated.
Tim Brown, Executive Chair of IDEO, defined design thinking as “a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.” Therefore, desirability, feasibility, and viability are balanced to solve critical problems.
DevOps refers to a series of practices performed to perform automated software development processes. It is a conjugation of the term “development” and “operations” to emphasize how functions integrate across IT teams. DevOps strategies promote seamless building, testing, and deployment of products. It aims to bridge a gap between development and operations teams to streamline the development altogether.
Product discovery is a critical part of agile methodologies, as its aim is to ensure that products customers love are built. Product discovery involves learning through a raft of methods, including design thinking, lean start-up, and A/B testing to name a few. Dual Track Agile is an agile methodology containing two separate tracks: the “discovery” track and the “delivery” track.
eXtreme Programming was developed in the late 1990s by Ken Beck, Ron Jeffries, and Ward Cunningham. During this time, the trio was working on the Chrysler Comprehensive Compensation System (C3) to help manage the company payroll system. eXtreme Programming (XP) is a software development methodology. It is designed to improve software quality and the ability of software to adapt to changing customer needs.
Feature-Driven Development is a pragmatic software process that is client and architecture-centric. Feature-Driven Development (FDD) is an agile software development model that organizes workflow according to which features need to be developed next.
A Gemba Walk is a fundamental component of lean management. It describes the personal observation of work to learn more about it. Gemba is a Japanese word that loosely translates as “the real place”, or in business, “the place where value is created”. The Gemba Walk as a concept was created by Taiichi Ohno, the father of the Toyota Production System of lean manufacturing. Ohno wanted to encourage management executives to leave their offices and see where the real work happened. This, he hoped, would build relationships between employees with vastly different skillsets and build trust.
GIST Planning is a relatively easy and lightweight agile approach to product planning that favors autonomous working. GIST Planning is a lean and agile methodology that was created by former Google product manager Itamar Gilad. GIST Planning seeks to address this situation by creating lightweight plans that are responsive and adaptable to change. GIST Planning also improves team velocity, autonomy, and alignment by reducing the pervasive influence of management. It consists of four blocks: goals, ideas, step-projects, and tasks.
The ICE Scoring Model is an agile methodology that prioritizes features using data according to three components: impact, confidence, and ease of implementation. The ICE Scoring Model was initially created by author and growth expert Sean Ellis to help companies expand. Today, the model is broadly used to prioritize projects, features, initiatives, and rollouts. It is ideally suited for early-stage product development where there is a continuous flow of ideas and momentum must be maintained.
An innovation funnel is a tool or process ensuring only the best ideas are executed. In a metaphorical sense, the funnel screens innovative ideas for viability so that only the best products, processes, or business models are launched to the market. An innovation funnel provides a framework for the screening and testing of innovative ideas for viability.
According to how well defined is the problem and how well defined the domain, we have four main types of innovations: basic research (problem and domain or not well defined); breakthrough innovation (domain is not well defined, the problem is well defined); sustaining innovation (both problem and domain are well defined); and disruptive innovation (domain is well defined, the problem is not well defined).
The innovation loop is a methodology/framework derived from the Bell Labs, which produced innovation at scale throughout the 20th century. They learned how to leverage a hybrid innovation management model based on science, invention, engineering, and manufacturing at scale. By leveraging individual genius, creativity, and small/large groups.
The Agile methodology has been primarily thought of for software development (and other business disciplines have also adopted it). Lean thinking is a process improvement technique where teams prioritize the value streams to improve it continuously. Both methodologies look at the customer as the key driver to improvement and waste reduction. Both methodologies look at improvement as something continuous.
A startup company is a high-tech business that tries to build a scalable business model in tech-driven industries. A startup company usually follows a lean methodology, where continuous innovation, driven by built-in viral loops is the rule. Thus, driving growth and building network effects as a consequence of this strategy.
As pointed out by Eric Ries, a minimum viable product is that version of a new product which allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort through a cycle of build, measure, learn; that is the foundation of the lean startup methodology.
Kanban is a lean manufacturing framework first developed by Toyota in the late 1940s. The Kanban framework is a means of visualizing work as it moves through identifying potential bottlenecks. It does that through a process called just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing to optimize engineering processes, speed up manufacturing products, and improve the go-to-market strategy.
Jidoka was first used in 1896 by Sakichi Toyoda, who invented a textile loom that would stop automatically when it encountered a defective thread. Jidoka is a Japanese term used in lean manufacturing. The term describes a scenario where machines cease operating without human intervention when a problem or defect is discovered.
The PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle was first proposed by American physicist and engineer Walter A. Shewhart in the 1920s. The PDCA cycle is a continuous process and product improvement method and an essential component of the lean manufacturing philosophy.
RAD was first introduced by author and consultant James Martin in 1991. Martin recognized and then took advantage of the endless malleability of software in designing development models. Rapid Application Development (RAD) is a methodology focusing on delivering rapidly through continuous feedback and frequent iterations.
Retrospective analyses are held after a project to determine what worked well and what did not. They are also conducted at the end of an iteration in Agile project management. Agile practitioners call these meetings retrospectives or retros. They are an effective way to check the pulse of a project team, reflect on the work performed to date, and reach a consensus on how to tackle the next sprint cycle. These are the five stages of a retrospective analysis for effective Agile project management: set the stage, gather the data, generate insights, decide on the next steps, and close the retrospective.
Scaled Agile Lean Development (ScALeD) helps businesses discover a balanced approach to agile transition and scaling questions. The ScALed approach helps businesses successfully respond to change. Inspired by a combination of lean and agile values, ScALed is practitioner-based and can be completed through various agile frameworks and practices.
The SMED (single minute exchange of die) method is a lean production framework to reduce waste and increase production efficiency. The SMED method is a framework for reducing the time associated with completing an equipment changeover.
The Spotify Model is an autonomous approach to scaling agile, focusing on culture communication, accountability, and quality. The Spotify model was first recognized in 2012 after Henrik Kniberg, and Anders Ivarsson released a white paper detailing how streaming company Spotify approached agility. Therefore, the Spotify model represents an evolution of agile.
As the name suggests, TDD is a test-driven technique for delivering high-quality software rapidly and sustainably. It is an iterative approach based on the idea that a failing test should be written before any code for a feature or function is written. Test-Driven Development (TDD) is an approach to software development that relies on very short development cycles.
Timeboxing is a simple yet powerful time-management technique for improving productivity. Timeboxing describes the process of proactively scheduling a block of time to spend on a task in the future. It was first described by author James Martin in a book about agile software development.
Scrum is a methodology co-created by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland for effective team collaboration on complex products. Scrum was primarily thought for software development projects to deliver new software capability every 2-4 weeks. It is a sub-group of agile also used in project management to improve startups’ productivity.
Scrumban is a project management framework that is a hybrid of two popular agile methodologies: Scrum and Kanban. Scrumban is a popular approach to helping businesses focus on the right strategic tasks while simultaneously strengthening their processes.
Scrum anti-patterns describe any attractive, easy-to-implement solution that ultimately makes a problem worse. Therefore, these are the practice not to follow to prevent issues from emerging. Some classic examples of scrum anti-patterns comprise absent product owners, pre-assigned tickets (making individuals work in isolation), and discounting retrospectives (where review meetings are not useful to really make improvements).
Scrum at Scale (Scrum@Scale) is a framework that Scrum teams use to address complex problems and deliver high-value products. Scrum at Scale was created through a joint venture between the Scrum Alliance and Scrum Inc. The joint venture was overseen by Jeff Sutherland, a co-creator of Scrum and one of the principal authors of the Agile Manifesto.
Six Sigma is a data-driven approach and methodology for eliminating errors or defects in a product, service, or process. Six Sigma was developed by Motorola as a management approach based on quality fundamentals in the early 1980s. A decade later, it was popularized by General Electric who estimated that the methodology saved them $12 billion in the first five years of operation.
Stretch objectives describe any task an agile team plans to complete without expressly committing to do so. Teams incorporate stretch objectives during a Sprint or Program Increment (PI) as part of Scaled Agile. They are used when the agile team is unsure of its capacity to attain an objective. Therefore, stretch objectives are instead outcomes that, while extremely desirable, are not the difference between the success or failure of each sprint.
The Toyota Production System (TPS) is an early form of lean manufacturing created by auto-manufacturer Toyota. Created by the Toyota Motor Corporation in the 1940s and 50s, the Toyota Production System seeks to manufacture vehicles ordered by customers most quickly and efficiently possible.
The Total Quality Management (TQM) framework is a technique based on the premise that employees continuously work on their ability to provide value to customers. Importantly, the word “total” means that all employees are involved in the process – regardless of whether they work in development, production, or fulfillment.
The waterfall model was first described by Herbert D. Benington in 1956 during a presentation about the software used in radar imaging during the Cold War. Since there were no knowledge-based, creative software development strategies at the time, the waterfall method became standard practice. The waterfall model is a linear and sequential project management framework.
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
