In search of a work management upgrade

In recent years, Ingelectus has gone a step forward in their work management methodology. The need to be more adaptive and efficient in product development has encouraged the team to integrate new management approaches. As a result, the company has reached a more optimal way of working that has been a key in product development.

Since there are a wide range of working management approaches, the team asked themselves:

“What is the best approach for us?”

There is no perfect solution but there are methods that adapt better to the team, the product you want to develop or the circumstances. Ingelectus tried out Agile and achieved good results.

Why an Agile approach?

The intense work dedicated to product development should come with proper management. The company is working on products that are mainly of software type, which means that conventional management techniques (Waterfall model) are less efficient and do not fit properly. In its place, Agile approaches are highly recommended in the literature. Agile is intended to adapt the way of working to the conditions of a software project: is an interactive and incremental approach.

While working in product development, the team realised that product requirements were usually modified or new ones were requested. It was clear that these conditions required for the company a flexible working methodology and frequent interactions with the customer.

That is what Agile approaches offer: a working methodology based on incremental deliverables that are improved in an interactive process. From its appearance, these approaches have been evolving into more effective versions to make software projects successful.

Choosing an Agile approach

Among the different Agile approaches, the company has gone for Scrum that it is the prevailing Agile method for software development. Scrum is based on three main pillars: transparency, inspection and adaptation. In this approach, interactions are called sprints, and incremental deliverables are known as sprint backlogs.

The key point of Scrum is that it presents a framework with clear events and roles designed to apply its three pillars and reach valuable increments of the product. This approach allows the company to improve the product in each sprint, and at the same time, to improve team interaction, and working environment. That is the reason why Scrum is also applied in non-pure software type projects or why it is used as a hybrid version with other approaches.

Managing the new products through Scrum

Ingelectus is applying Scrum widely to develop its new products. This implementation has been gradual and reinforced to the extent the staff gained experience with the approach and product development produced results. To make the integration possible, Ingelectus opted to train its team in the Scrum approach.

Currently, the company is working on several projects with the Scrum approach. Through these projects, the staff has learned to play the three Scrum roles and to assume a different role depending on the project. This allows the team to have the perspective and functions of each role. This approach also entails the integration of Scrum events in the working methodology of the company, such as the well-known sprint or the daily Scrum.

By Applying Scrum, the team is encouraged to be more proactive and self-organize. This approach is not intended to designate a leader that manages the project and organises team tasks, as conventional management techniques do. In this case, the roles are somewhat different, and the work methodology is designed for a self-organized and cross-functional team. After a while applying Scrum, the company can say:

“We have improved our work as a team, being more proactive and well-organized”

Encouraging others to use Scrum

Going for this approach not only means to have a Scrum team, but also Scrum customers. Working with a company to improve or continue a product that has been developed in the Scrum framework poses the need of a Scrum customer. This would enable the team to maintain the framework applied from the product inception.

The previous consideration raises some questions: Is it easy to integrate Scrum in a company? Would applying a Hybrid Scrum approach be a possible solution when companies with different methodologies work together?

For Ingelectus, integrating Scrum has been a key in product development and has reinforced the company working methodology. As of today, the staff continues working with enthusiasm in the application and integration of Scrum. Ingelectus is aimed to choose the best approach for each project and customer and thus achieve an optimal way of working on the innovative electrical solutions it offers.