Agile is gaining substantial popularity the world over. More organizations are turning to this revolutionary technique that banishes rigid work in silos.
Companies use this method to maximize the output of each stage of a project. Rather than viewing projects as a single entity with an end goal, it breaks them down to place more focus on each stage and help solve issues as they arise.
It’s more than just how we complete tasks. It's a philosophy that first came to light in software production and has been implemented in many industries to boost teams’ productivity and well-being, not to mention the quality of products offered to customers.
Agile at Santander
To tell the story about Agile at our entity we have to go back to 2014, when we created a Centre of Global Excellence, a place where we successfully brought together the work of all of our geographies and units in Agile transformation. Since then, this methodology has become a reality at Santander and at our various units: from HR to Technology, Operations and Costs. This transformation has been decentralised and each unit has been able to identify its purpose.
There are several concepts under the Agile methodology. 10 core terms are:
- Agile coach: A specialist trainer who encourages people to discover new ways of handling situations and boost problem-solving.
- Scrum: A set of practices that piece together the incremental deliverables of a product.
- Ceremonies: Scrum team meetings that are split into five stages (Sprint Planning Meeting, Daily Scrum, Product Backlog Refinement, Sprint Review and Sprint Retrospective).
- Daily: Per diem meetings where attendees discuss progress and next steps. They should never last longer than 15 minutes.
- Sprints: Short-term tasks (1 to 4 weeks) that make up the whole project and deliver an increment of the usable product.
- Development Team: A team of 3 to 9 members whose aim is to create the product. It also delivers the product increments, i.e. the tasks completed in each sprint.
- Frameworks: Ways of working that help develop the product under the Agile philosophy.
- Product owner: A person who seeks to add value to the business with the product the team develops.
- Stakeholders: Interested parties who participate in the project for discovery and to ratify certain elements, thus guaranteeing a more strategic approach.
- Team agreements: The rules and regulations that govern the well-being of the team, reduce conflict and bolster the commitment of everyone involved to achieve objectives.
