Agile Coaching

Al Donte Consulting specializes in Lean, Agile, and Kanban coaching services, aimed at enhancing the efficiency, transparency, and predictability of technology organizations. Numerous organizations have embraced agile methodologies, reaping initial rewards. Yet, there persists a belief that deeper commitment to Lean/Agile/Kanban principles can unlock additional benefits. Technology organizations aspire to build stronger trust, transparency, and collaboration with their business partners, moving away from the traditional, directive waterfall model where technology functions as an “order taker.” Instead, they endeavor to instigate a culture shift towards a dynamic, agile environment where technology and business teams unite as active collaborators in value creation.

In particular, our coaching services help a technology organization to:

Implement processes to make the timeline of software delivery more predictable, allowing for strategic planning and innovation cycles that align with market demands.
Streamline workflows to expedite the release of enhancements, ensuring that new features reach the market faster, thereby responding more swiftly to user feedback and emerging trends.
Employ agile methodologies to efficiently address and significantly reduce the accumulation of pending business requests, facilitating quicker turnaround times for new initiatives and improvements.
Adopt more nuanced metrics for tracking progress, providing clear visibility into both achievements and areas needing attention, which helps in steering innovation efforts more precisely.
Highlight and analyze the root causes of delays and obstacles, offering insights into their impact on value delivery, and fostering a proactive approach to problem-solving and innovation.
Work towards minimizing variations in cycle times, promoting a more reliable and efficient development process that supports consistent innovation and delivery rates.
Deepen the IT team’s understanding of Lean Kanban and Agile principles, enhancing their ability to adapt to changing demands and to incorporate innovative practices in product development.
Enhance IT team skills in critical areas such as user story creation and continuous improvement processes, enabling them to contribute more effectively to the innovation pipeline.
Cultivate a comprehensive grasp of the Lean Kanban process across IT teams and business stakeholders, ensuring a unified approach to agile practices that supports collaborative innovation efforts.

By coaching and mentoring team members to apply Agile/Lean Kanban principles and engage in continuous improvement, Ariel Partners can help a company jump-start a “virtuous cycle” where small positive changes support additional small positive changes, ultimately leading to large improvements over time. For example, the IT organization may be able to establish service level objectives/service level agreements (SLO/SLA) with the business for all defects and enhancements.