Beyond 2020: Are Non-Conventional Service Delivery Models Going to Take Over?
In the last decade, the world has transformed beyond our recognition. If we look back at the world 10 years ago, the idea of paper thin devices becoming mainstream was only a prototyped dream.
As we now move into the future rapidly, conventional service delivery models may only be slowing us down.
But what are conventional service delivery models? And how and why are they slowing companies down?
What's Your Current Service Delivery Model?
Your speed to market determines your ability to respond to change. The quicker you can respond, the more effective your business is in capturing trends, increasing consumer satisfaction, and servicing disenfranchised users who are searching for a better alternative.
Gone are the days of waterfall methodologies where development and delivery can take years. Agile may feel like a buzzword, but when used properly, it can speed up, and greatly benefit, your business.
However, there's a new service delivery model that's emerging: agile co-op resourcing.
Agile co-op resourcing is the process of bringing together the right people, regardless of organizational affiliations. This means you might send off your marketing person to aid another company, while this same company lends you their software development expertise. A third company may provide strategic guidance and a fourth may give logistic advice.
It sounds like a lot, but it works. Why? Because each party comes into the team as highly skilled members. It allows each facet of the team to cross-pollinate the project with diversity of thought, knowledge and experience.
How is Using the Old Model Affecting Your Business?
Limiting your project to just internal resources can cause it to become isolated from the industry.
There's much more to delivering a project, and when you use an agile co-op approach, it helps enforce a certain structure involved in the expected running of your project.
Below is a short exploration of the differences of the impacts between this new way of working and the ‘old’ way of working on projects.
Clear Goals and Decisions
Agile co-op approach: everyone on the team starts with a blank slate. There's no prior expectation or experience with your brand, product or project. This means that clear goals and decisions are established in an explicit manner.
Your current model: your project may be fully serviced by an internal team, which means that there is already an established set of expectations and outcomes. However, these expectations and outcomes are implicit, which leaves room for error and misinterpretation.
Focused Sessions
Agile co-op approach: everyone is much more mindful of time. When you have an agile co-op structure, your team members may be working in a different city, or even country. Team meetings might involve navigating between different time zones. This often leads to highly focused sessions with clear agendas and expected outcomes.
Your current model: internal teams are able to access everyone too readily. It might just be a matter of walking up to that person's desk or sending them an email. Meetings might be ad-hoc and highly unfocused due to the implicit goals and decision making.
Connected Teams
Agile co-op approach: team connection is more than just drinks on Friday nights after work. It's about trust and the ability to communicate effectively. Agile co-op teams often have high confidence in their team members' ability to deliver on their part and provide positive and meaningful input to the project. Co-op teams also tend to have members who are able to 'speak', or, at least, understand what others are saying because of their cross-functional skills. This gives each member the ability to communicate in a middle ground area that overlaps experiences and expertise while adding to it at the same time.
Your current model: team members may be isolated in their work silos. This disconnection makes it hard to facilitate meaningful conversations. The lack of cross-functional skills can lead to disjointed and jagged communication, with issues falling through until it is caught by the customer or end user. There could also be an unfair expectation that the project manager should catch everything, rather than there being a joint team effort in identifying and solving issues.
Clear Roles and Product Owners
Agile co-op approach: roles and responsibilities are delegated, allowing for the project manager to focus on the macro deliverables and to trust the team to deliver the micro parts. This is often achieved through various parts of the team being responsible for each part of the project. This delegated hierarchy gives the team the ability to apply their skills without being micromanaged by another member who may not be skilled in that area.
Your current model: there is only one person truly responsible for the project. The success or failure of your project depends on how skilled and knowledgeable your project manager is in all areas of the project's requirements. A miss-step or gap in knowledge can lead to the project falling into itself.
How We Can Help You
According to Ambysoft's 2013 Project Success Rate Survey, Waterfall based projects had a 49% success rate, compared to a 64% success rate for agile projects. A project's failure can be due to numerous factors such as market pivots, incorrect team compositions and unclear direction.
That was in 2013 - when the world was just beginning to accelerate. Even then, the old model of structuring projects and teams was cracking under the pressures of creativity, speed and flexibility.
In 2010, we predicted the move to a remote, no-shore borderless work model. It allowed us to establish our position and experience with the right people. For 2020 and beyond, we are predicting an agile co-op approach to take hold over old ways of working.
If you've got a project, idea, strategy or working vision in mind, talk to us today. We can help you establish this new structure and provide you with what you need.
Co-authored by:
Dave Wesley ~ President, SRG
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Aphinya Dechalert ~ Marketing Communications, SRG
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