Microsoft Innovation Center Brussels

Agile SCRUM project management methods

Nowadays, companies are facing new challenges coming from dynamic markets, unexpected competitors and bouncing customer needs. The way they face these challenges is related to their ability to embrace complexity, innovate and develop their collaborative culture.

In the software industry, standard project management methods are slowly substituted by Agile methods like SCRUM to empower the adaptation, transparency and continuous improvement of teams. Indeed, Agile best practices have proven to boost efficiency and performance of development teams.

Based on 2011 VersionOne survey, 50% companies use SCRUM framework to implement Agile in software development. Thanks to the open Agile manifesto and free SCRUM Guide, non-IT professionals and managers from non-IT industry successfully implemented Agile elements in marketing, sales and production where Lean Management had already been known for years.

Is the excess of efficiency still efficient?

However, the harmful tendency of Lean & Agile methods is they make companies’ leaders believe that optimization and performance are the only key elements to drive a project to success.

Though Lean & Agile encourage human relationships, a lot of companies use these methods only as performance tools, looking for optimization and focusing on efficiency, thus generating stress for employees. Some of these organizations have sadly been called “burn-out” generators.

Indeed, these companies’ leaders do not take human aspects into account. They neglect collective intelligence and employees’ autonomy even though they are crucial for human resources. At stake: collaboration, better results and readiness to face new challenges.

Efficient, but human still

This is the reason why Lionel Barets, expert in participatory organizations, and Michel Duchateau, expert in agile innovation, have launched ParticipAgile.

ParticipAgile is a new approach combining Agile and participatory methods’ best practices. It is aimed to organize and facilitate collaboration in order to develop activities’ performance as well as clients and workers’ overall satisfaction.

ParticipAgile is a synthesis from various methods, among which Agile methods, participatory methods, sociocracy, holarchy and Lean Startup. It helps you improve:

• tasks efficiency
• project management
• uncertainty management
• teams participation
• creativity
• collective intelligence
• continuous improvement
• customer relationship
• employees’ wellness.

ParticipAgile can be used in various environments such as big companies, SMEs and startups with larger or smaller teams. It is really adaptable: companies may choose to customize these methods as it best suits their needs.

ParticipaAgile itself has been built according to Agile methodologies, step by step, iteration after iteration. It is now at its 2nd iteration and has been applied successfully in numerous companies.

The power of hackathons

Hackathons are among new ways for companies and startups to boost innovation. Generally speaking, a hackathon is a competition-like event where people gather in teams to build something together in a limited period of time. In other words, they rush for the cup.

From 2007 on, more than 100 entrepreneurs meet each weekend to build tech startups in 54 hours at Startup Weekends, the most famous entrepreneurs hackathons. At the end of the weekend, 10 formed teams present their prototypes, business models and results to a jury.

Among 600 events in Europe, 12 events have been organized in Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia.

In Belgium, from 2014 on, more and more managers participate to Startup Weekends with colleagues in order to learn new mindset, new management tools and Agile methods from entrepreneurs.

In addition, companies have sponsored and helped Startup Weekend events in order to reach entrepreneurs communities and involve startups in their innovation process, like Lampiris did for Startup Weekend Lège in June 2014.

Professionals come back with a lot of ideas, management tools and a collaboration mindset it would have taken 4 months to learn through normal channels.

Moreover, Startup-Weekend-like private hackathons are now organized within the walls of companies to initiate theirs teams to Agile methods, Design Thinking, and intrapreneurship. Employees get a sense of accomplishment from this experience they seldom have in their day-to-day tasks.

ParticipAgile is certainly a precious tool participants can use to improve the way they work during hackathons and Startup Weekends. See you at iteration 3 😉

www.participagile.com
Twitter : @participagile
Facebook : facebook.com/ParticipAgile

Michel Duchateau
Twitter : @miduchateau
LinkedIn : linkedin.com/in/mduchateau

Michel founded CreaDelta in 2011, a consulting and training company for entrepreneurs and companies to spread best practices of innovative project management and entrepreneurship.

Passionate about startups & innovation, Michel has been a Startup Weekend organizer in Belgium and a Startup Digest Curator for Brussels. He is now Global Facilitator for Startup Weekend Europe. Michel helps as an expert, speaker, coach and jury member more than 15 coaching structures for entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs associations. He helps them spread best practices and serendipity. Civil engineer, Michel worked during several years as a project manager on large ICT projects for companies like Electrabel or Orange before creating his own startups.

Today Michel shares best practices from the startup world with large companies & European institutions, organizing hackathons, workshops and conferences.