ENTERPRISE AGILE TRANSFORMATION

Agile is fluid and flexible. There is no one “right way” to be an Agile Enterprise. Just as no two businesses are identical, no two Agile transformations are identical. Agile is about adapting to change not only at the team level, but as well, and more importantly at the Enterprise level as well.

Best-practices can be informative, but they shouldn’t lead to stagnation and immobilization. The most successful Agile transformations take into consideration each unique characteristic of your entire organization, what makes it unique, and finds a way to embrace those skills while providing a framework for success.

Agile is more than just a way to manage technology and software; it is a path to flexibility, responsiveness and the ability to always knowing which direction you are moving towards. While many of its principles are derived from software and product development, its goal is much broader. Agile is designed to help position an Enterprise to conquer processes so that in the ever-changing world of today’s businesses companies aren’t stranded. Agile is designed to teach companies how to orient themselves, to match the changing course of clients’ needs and demands, and to consistently deliver quality and value to customers. 

Larger businesses don’t find their bearing overnight. Nor do they always find it easily. The complexities of larger businesses: regulatory framework, complicated organizational structures, challenges of geographic diversity, potential language barriers, and even the presence of legacy technology all impact the Agile transformation. But, with the right assistance and execution, your Enterprise will be positioned to successfully pivot as the landscape changes!

AGILE COACHING & TRAINING

Our team brings with it a wealth of expertise so when we assess your organization, we can provide the right balance and depth of coaching and training that is especially suited to your needs. In addition, we provide a broad spectrum of specific coaching and training across teams and roles. Our coaches and trainers have the experience necessary to take your organization to the next level, having collaborated with clients ranging from start-ups to Fortune 100 organizations across many industries.
 

Coaching

Several of our coaches and trainers at Bearing Agile started their Agile journey with the help of an Agile Coach that worked with their prior organization and team at the start of an Agile transformation. Although the talent may have been varied, those who worked with a skilled coach felt that getting started on the right foot wouldn't have been possible without the coach and really couldn’t have imagined making a successful transformation without them.  In addition, teams will tend to naturally drift from their processes as time goes by, making it necessary for periodic coaching to get organizations and team back on track. At Bearing Agile, we strongly believe in the importance of experienced coaching at the critical times in your agile journey. Whether it’s an Enterprise agile coach helping you with an agile transformation, an Agile Coach mentoring individual team members or a team coach, Bearing Agile will deploy the right coach for your exact business needs.

Training

Based on the outcome of our assessment and commentary with our recommended coaching plan, our team will design a training plan highly aligned with the needs of your organization. Training can be in a classroom setting or small groups, aligned by teams, roles, and/or departments, or whatever makes the most sense for your needs. Although not based in the specific requirements of your organization, we can also provide the suite of Scrum Alliance Training for any certification opportunities. All our trainers have had actual experience in agile organizations and agile teams, allowing them to articulate first-hand real-life examples during the training curricula. Professional training materials are available in all mediums to the organization post training.

ASSESSMENTS AND CONSULTING

Teams

Agile coaches that can directly work and integrate with teams can be extremely beneficial. Our coaches take the necessary steps to first learn team processes and dynamics through a through assessment process and then instruct and facilitate at appropriate times during agile ceremonies. Coaches will also speak to individual team members off-line for additional development and learning. 

Scrum Master

There are a plethora of Scrum Master coaching and training options currently in the marketplace. Why choose us? First, in most cases we always make our coaching and training offerings based on your specific needs that are uncovered during our assessment. Our assessment will rank the maturity of your organization across many attributes, identifying which needs are most critical. Our Scrum Master Coaching and Training plan is based on your unique situation. Various conditions may include:

• Individuals that are new to Agile/Scrum

• Scrum Masters that work on multiple projects

• Scrum Masters that also wear a project manager hat

• Scrum Masters that deal with remote teams

• Teams that are currentlyperforming the Scrum Master role by committee

• Any other challenge that your organization faces with the Scrum Master role

We won’t just arrive with plain vanilla Scrum Master Training or supply coaches with certifications but with minimal to no experience.

Product Owner

It cannot be overstated how important the Product Owner is to product success. A company culture that allows the Product Owner to be successful by providing both a combination of being empowered to take the product in the right direction and creating an environment so that the right type of leaders get hired and can improve their skills. Likewise, our coaches can work with your organization to make sure that your culture is one where Product Owners can be successful and flourish. Its doesn’t stop with a good understanding of agile methodologies, lean approaches and a good understanding of user experience practices are also tremendously beneficial to the Product Owner. In addition, individual coaching can be extremely beneficial to improving the skills of your product owners, assisting with specific projects and/or sharpening their skills. For larger groups, Product Owner training is available.

UX

Most organizations have concluded that user experience (UX) practices are critical to product success. However, many struggle with integrating the UX design process with their adopted agile processes. The UX design effort must start before the development effort begins (the myth of “Agile means no upfront design” had been primary debunked, including UX) and equally as important, stay ahead of each development iteration. This sounds simple but to successfully execute this cadence requires first-hand experience in getting it right. Bearing Agile has a team of Agile UX experts that can coach and train your team to get over these difficult hurdles. Getting UX and Agile right also requires an honest look at company culture, together with looking at individuals and their UX skills sets. Also, how the UX team is organized across the enterprise and distributed into agile teams can make a critical difference. 

PRogram MANAGEMENT

Whether you are talking about traditional Program Management or Release Train Management, in short you are referring to managing a group of projects that are somewhat tied to a value stream, or at least they should be. We have extensive experience in both traditional waterfall program management as well as Scaled Agile, Value Stream and Release Train management. We are experts at navigating both fields and more importantly have extensive experience working across both so that both Agile and traditional models can coexist together.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Most organizations today have a mature Project Management capability in place either through a PMO and/or a team of experienced project managers. However, as industries continue to incorporate agile methodologies into their processes and practices, it has become necessary for the role of the project manager to evolve with this agile adoption.  The breadth or scope of the duties of project manager has typically remained the same, however with a new subset of agile practices, the lines can get blurred as to responsibilities covered with the members of the scrum team, especially the scrum master and the product owner. Also, traditional PM activities such as planning, estimation, costing, and resourcing can be difficult with new agile practices in place. Our experienced coaches can help project managers navigate agile terrain to maximize project success and enhance their existing skill set to thrive as agile methodologies continue to become more pervasive within organizations.  

BUSINESS ANALYSIS

Business Analysts are an important resource for any organization, especially given the growth of positions across all industries and the rapid maturity of the profession in recent years. We recognize the importance of Business Analysts in the enterprise as well as the significant contribution they make in development and agile teams. While the Business Analyst is not specifically called out as a member of an agile team, we believe they play a critical role, whether its writing user stories and test criteria to supporting the Product Owner in backlog prioritization and sprint planning. We have coaches and trainers that have business analysis experience in agile team that can coach and train your organization on how to best utilize your business analysts in an agile environment.

Compliance Consulting

A natural outgrowth of the consulting done in the financial services space, Bearing Agile has the expertise and experience to help you adapt to the ever changing regulatory landscape. Whether helping with a project like starting up a new adviser, broker-dealer, or fund, or revising policies and procedures we know it is important to be able to adapt with the business’ needs and with the fast paced regulatory environment. We understand that changes are constantly needed to accommodate new rules, in response to the changing needs of the firm, or in response to your technological and operational needs, we can assess your needs and help you achieve your goals. Even when - or especially - when you find you need to change quickly. Bearing Agile’s core agile business uniquely positions us to quickly find the balance between the regulatory requirements and then adapt your firm to help safeguard both your firm and your clients.

With experience gained working for some of the industry’s largest asset managers, separate account providers, insurance companies and FINTECH providers, we know that your success comes from Compliance and business working together. Compliance programs must work for the business and the business must work with Compliance. Compliance should help you grow and protect your business, all while navigating SEC and FINRA requirements.

Your Goals are our goals. Together we can:

• Quickly and efficiently develop and implement new or updated polices and procedures.

• Assess the needs of the business and review applicable regulations.

• Change policies and procedures as needed when the business calls for it.

• Assess your compliance program to see what changes would benefit your firm.

• Optimize team structure and responsibilities to ensure proper regulatory oversight while still growing your business and servicing your clients.

We have expertise in:

• Investment Advisers (State and Federally Registered)

• Broker-Dealers

• Private Funds

• Registered Investment Companies

• Managed Accounts (SMAs, UMAs, Model Marketplaces, etc.)

• FINTECH

Services Include:

• Mock Exams

• Compliance Manual/WSP Reviews and Revisions

• Initial Registration

• Continuing Membership Application Drafting

• Form ADV Drafting

• 3120/3130 Testing

• 206(4)-7 Reviews

• Marketing Review

• Exam Consulting

• Custom Training Programs

• Vendor Due Diligence

• System Reviews