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 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.
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.
That is a process that requires a continuous feedback loop to develop a valuable product and build a viable businessmodel. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
Key Highlights
AIOps: AIOps stands for Artificial Intelligence for IT Operations. It involves the application of AI and machine learning to manage and optimize IT operations in modern digital-based organizations.
Agile Methodology: Agile is a software development methodology based on continuous iteration and collaboration. The Agile Manifesto, created in 2001, defines the principles of Agile development.
Agile Project Management (APM): APM breaks large projects into smaller iterations and focuses on completing each section with a project life cycle, from design to testing and quality assurance.
Agile Modeling (AM): AM is a methodology for modeling and documenting software-based systems that supports the rapid and continuous delivery of software.
Agile Business Analysis (AgileBA): AgileBA is a certification and training program for business analysts working in agile environments, helping them align agile projects with organizational missions and strategies.
Agile Leadership: Agile leadership embodies the principles of the Agile Manifesto and impacts both the structural and behavioral levels of a business.
Business Model Innovation: Business modelinnovation involves crafting a compelling value proposition to create a lasting competitive advantage and achieve success with existing products and technologies.
Continuous Innovation: Continuous innovation is a process that involves a continuous feedback loop to develop valuable products and build viable business models centered around customers’ problems.
Design Sprint: A design sprint is a five-day process for answering critical business questions through speedy design and prototyping, with a focus on end-users.
Design Thinking: Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation, balancing desirability, feasibility, and viability to solve critical problems.
DevOps: DevOps refers to practices that automate software development processes and promote seamless collaboration between development and operations teams.
Lean vs. Agile: Lean and Agile are both process improvement methodologies that prioritize customer value and continuous improvement, but they have different approaches and origins.
Lean Startup: Lean startup is a methodology for high-tech businesses focused on rapid innovation and growth through continuous improvement and viral loops.
Kanban: Kanban is a lean manufacturing framework that visualizes work, identifies bottlenecks, and optimizes processes for efficient product development.
Rapid Application Development (RAD): RAD is a software development methodology focused on delivering rapidly through continuous feedback and frequent iterations.
Retrospective Analysis: Retrospective analyses are meetings held after projects or iterations to reflect on work performed, check the project team’s pulse, and plan for the next sprint cycle.
Scaled Agile: Scaled Agile Lean Development (ScALeD) helps businesses transition to agile and respond to change by combining lean and agile values and practices.
Spotify Model: The Spotify model is an autonomous approach to scaling agile, focusing on culture, communication, accountability, and quality.
Test-Driven Development (TDD): TDD is an approach where failing tests are written before writing any code, ensuring rapid and sustainable software development.
Timeboxing: Timeboxing is a time-management technique that proactively schedules blocks of time for specific tasks.
Scrum: Scrum is a methodology for effective team collaboration on complex products, primarily used in software development.
Scrum Anti-Patterns: Scrum anti-patterns refer to attractive solutions that make problems worse, and they should be avoided in Scrum practices.
Scrum At Scale: Scrum at Scale is a framework used to address complex problems and deliver high-value products in large organizations.
Stretch Objectives: Stretch objectives are tasks that agile teams plan to complete but do not expressly commit to, typically used when capacity is uncertain.
Summary Table
Concept/Methodology
Description
Key Elements
When to Use
Advantages
Drawbacks
1. AIOps
AIOps is the application of artificial intelligence to IT operations, optimizing IT management in dynamic environments.
AI integration, IT operations, dynamic environments
IT management, incident resolution, efficiency
Improved IT performance, predictive analytics, automated tasks.
Dependency on data quality, complexity in AI implementation, potential job displacement.
2. Agile Methodology
Agile methodology emphasizes iterative development, customer collaboration, and adaptability, fostering a flexible approach to software development.
Efficient documentation, aligns with agile development, responsiveness to change.
May lack detailed documentation, requires experienced practitioners, potential inconsistency.
5. Agile Business Analysis
Agile Business Analysis provides guidance and training for business analysts in agile environments, facilitating alignment with organizational strategies.
Risk of disruption, resource-intensive, requires market research.
8. Continuous Innovation
Continuous innovation involves iterative development and customer-centric product design, focusing on customer problems rather than technical solutions.
Requires dedicated team time, limited scope within a week, potential for biased outcomes.
10. Design Thinking
Design thinking integrates human-centered design principles with technology and business considerations, balancing desirability, feasibility, and viability.
Cultural change required, complex implementation, potential for resistance.
12. Dual Track Agile
Dual Track Agile integrates discovery and delivery tracks, ensuring that customer-loved products are built through effective product discovery and development.
May require mature development practices, potential complexity, limited adaptability.
14. eXtreme Programming
eXtreme Programming (XP) is a software development methodology that emphasizes software quality, adaptability, and customer responsiveness through iterative practices.
Accelerated growth, sustainable business models, customer-centricity.
Uncertain outcomes, resource-intensive, potential for premature scaling.
17. Kanban
Kanban is a lean manufacturing framework that visualizes work, identifies bottlenecks, and optimizes engineering processes through just-in-time manufacturing.
Work visualization, bottleneck identification
Manufacturing, process optimization
Visualized workflow, process optimization, efficiency improvement.
Requires discipline in maintaining the board, may not suit all processes, potential for bottlenecks.
18. Rapid Application Development
Rapid Application Development (RAD) focuses on rapid delivery, continuous feedback, and frequent iterations to deliver high-quality software.
Speedy development, high-quality software, user feedback integration.
May require skilled practitioners, potential for scope changes, documentation challenges.
19. Retrospective Analysis
Retrospective analysis assesses project performance and identifies improvements through team reflection and discussions, commonly used in Agile project management.
Team reflection, performance assessment
Agile project management, process improvement
Enhanced team communication, performance improvement, actionable insights.
Requires dedicated time, potential for resistance, may not lead to immediate change.
20. Scaled Agile
Scaled Agile Lean Development (ScALeD) helps businesses address complex scaling challenges by applying lean and agile values through various frameworks and practices.
Lean and agile values, scalability, framework selection
Complex scaling projects, organizational change
Scalability, adaptability, improved alignment with lean and agile principles.
Complexity in implementation, potential for resistance, framework selection challenges.
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.
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