Establishing effective collaborative software development between IT and the business has been the Gordian Knot of information technology for decades. Many have tried and failed to various degrees, others claim they have it, but results overall don’t seem to indicate that. McKinsey recently found that ‘while an increasing number of non-IT executives give IT a score of 61% for basic services like email and laptop support, only 26% rank IT high in the most vital area of proactively engaging with business leaders on new ideas or systems enhancements.’ I would hardly call that high grades.
Are Agile and DevOps methodologies the Alexandrian sword that cuts through the Gordian Knot? Even though our experts have been very successful implementing Agile methodologies in Fortune 100 companies, a consistent challenge remains. Senior non-IT executives have difficulty understanding how to relate to Agile approaches. Many still expect development process and project artifacts in a Waterfall style. This puts a lot of strain on establishing these methods. It is not surprising that only 40% of software development projects fail to meet their functionality, schedule, quality and financial objectives (Cavendish). Any CFO will tell you the situation is unacceptable. Can Agile work well? Yes! Is Waterfall dead? NO. Can the Knot be untangled, then? Absolutely! We have the knowhow and experience to help you make it work at all levels. Contact us and let’s have the conversation.