6. They ensure quality assurance is built in at every stage of every process
Products must get to market quickly so quality cannot be left to the end of the process.
7. They know that business objectives are also IT objectives; they share a common goal
Having metrics that cut across traditional structures is a powerful way to make collaboration a reality and focus different departments on delivering the business’ overall objectives – not just their individual responsibilities. IT is no longer confined to a department—it is everywhere.
8. They clearly define results and metrics, and the teams are fully accountable and rewarded for delivering them
Agile teams ensure every member focuses on a shared goal, but recognize and reward individual achievements as well as the team’s successes.
9. They learn from each other and implement what they’ve learned
Start-ups use small teams, with a core of agile coaches, engineers, creative designers, strategists, business analysts and other champions. These “master craftspeople” liaise across the individual teams, sharing knowledge and spreading best practices.
10. They build innovation into daily life and roadmaps
These teams use hackathons to accelerate innovation and tackle problems fast. They exhibit a strong test-and-learn culture and they regard every service as a beta. Nothing is ever finished if constant innovation is your goal.
11. They redistribute what they can’t do to highly skilled partners and negotiate based on business outcomes
Trying to solve every problem internally can slow down your progress. Agile teams recognize when they need back-up in the form of specialized skills and services and they secure it quickly. In fact, they build out an ecosystem of partners whom they can rely upon at short notice.
12. They start small and dream big
The size of your teams is no barrier to creating a big impact when you have the instant scalability that cloud-based infrastructure delivers.
