Agile Development for SAP Benefit #4 Business Value

The remaining major benefit of the Agile approach is reduced time to business value.

Again this kind of a contradictory benefit…. given that we can’t see exactly what a solution will look like, and therefore exactly how much time will be required how can we say that it’s possible to realize the value sooner?

It’s basically a cheeky slap across of the face of the waterfall approach. Most Waterfall approaches over-run because they misidentify the problem and therefore the solution.

So the true cost of a Waterfall project is almost always higher, and this is enough compensation for us to at least give Agile a try and trust it can deliver a solution that solves the problem in a way that is compatible with normal budgetary planning.

I estimate that my first attempt at implementing an “Agile Transformation” took at least a year. It was hard work, some of the subtleties of the approach are difficult to put into practice, especially when you consider that so many different teams are impacted.

In my next blog, I’m going to share some of the Agile traps that I’ve avoided and walked into! Like estimating, cultural challenges and loss of control to name but just a handful.

In the meantime, if you want to see how to run Agile for SAP check out this ebook.