Agile Management Outside of Software Development

Abstract

Agile
Management
is
a
management
method
based
on
the
principles
behind
Agile
Software
Development.
Compared
to
Traditional
Management,
Agile
Management
is
more
iterative
and
is
therefore
suited
for
fast
paced
and
unsecure
environ-­‐
ments.
Even
though
agile
is
a
fairly
old
methodology;
there
are
few
case
studies
outside
the
software
industry.
There
are
indi-­‐
cations,
though,
that
Agile
Management
can
work
for
other
industries,
especially
those
similar
to
software.
To
be
able
to
use
agile,
some
enablers
and
practices
exist
according
to
theo-­‐
ry
that
are
important
for
agile
to
be
successful.
Klarna
AB
is
a
fast
growing
financial
institute
where
some
teams
work
with
agile
today.
Credit
Strategy
&
Analytics
is
one
of
these
teams,
which
consists
of
seven
members
who
wanted
to
explore
whether
this
methodology
could
work
for
them.
Agile
Management
Outside
of
Software
Development
vi
Purpose
The
purpose
of
the
Master
Thesis
Project
was
to
examine
how
agile
methodology
can
be
used
at
Credit
Strategy
&
Analytics
at
Klarna
AB
by
defining
Success
Factors
and
conducting
a
case
study.
More
specifically,
the
aim
was
to
provide
recommenda-­‐
tions
on
how
the
team
can
exploit
agile
methods
in
order
to
enhance
their
results.
Research
Questions
In
order
to
serve
the
purpose
of
the
Master
Thesis
Project,
four
research
questions
were
formed.
When
they
were
answered
the
goal
was
attained.
RQ
1:
What
agile
practices
are
proposed
in
theory
and
previ-­‐
ous
case
studies?
RQ
2:
What
Success
Factors
does
a
team
need
to
possess
in
order
to
benefit
from
working
with
agile
compared
to
other
management
methodologies?
RQ
3:
What
are
the
gaps
between
the
Success
Factors
and
prac-­‐
tices
that
a
team
ideally
should
have
to
benefit
from
working
with
agile
and
the
capabilities
and
practices
the
case
team
cur-­‐
rently
has?
RQ
4:
What
can
be
done
in
order
for
the
case
team
to
fill
the
gaps
mentioned
in
RQ3?
Delimitations
The
case
study
was
limited
to
analyzing,
evaluating
ongoing
processes,
and
proposing
recommendations
to
Credit
Strategy
&
Analytics
at
Klarna
AB
in
Stockholm.
This
means
that
no
im-­‐
plementation
of
the
recommendations
was
prepared,
conduct-­‐
ed,
or
evaluated
at
the
case
team.
The
survey
that
was
carried
out
only
covered
the
basic
enablers
for
working
with
agile
and
due
to
the
time
limitation
of
the
Master
Thesis
Project,
it
was
limited
to
62
agile
professionals.
Agile
Management
Outside
of
Software
Development
vii
The
time
limitation
of
the
Master
Thesis
Project
was
20
weeks
and
any
areas
that
were
not
covered
are
suggested
as
future
research.
Methodology
The
Master
Thesis
consisted
of
a
theory
review,
a
qualitative
case
study
at
Credit
Strategy
&
Analytics
at
Klarna
AB,
and
a
quantitative
survey
with
representatives
outside
the
case
company.
Primary
data
was
collected
from
the
case
study
as
well
as
the
survey.
Secondary
data
was
found
through
a
theory
review
as
well
as
from
previous
case
studies
within
the
field.
The
case
study
consisted
of
unstructured
interviews,
observa-­‐
tions,
a
survey,
and
in-­‐depth
interviews.
The
research
has
been
conducted
using
an
abductive
approach
and
was
carried
out
in
an
iterative
manner
to
ensure
good
results
in
the
end.
Conclusion
The
Master
Thesis
Project
came
up
with
nine
Success
Factors
for
a
team
using
agile.
A
Success
Factor
is
an
enabler
the
au-­‐
thors
consider
to
be
of
large
importance
to
be
able
to
benefit
from
using
agile.
These
are:
Flexibility,
Acceptance,
Manage-­‐
ment
Support,
Understanding,
Leadership,
Small
teams,
Dedicat-­‐
ed
Stakeholders,
Long-­‐term
perspective,
and
Collocation.
The
Master
Thesis
Project
also
came
up
with
recommenda-­‐
tions
for
the
case
team
based
on
these
nine
Success
Factors
together
with
theory
and
previous
case
studies
regarding
prac-­‐
tices
and
tools.
The
recommendations
for
the
case
team’s
agile
strategy
include
adding
an
education
about
agile,
both
for
new
and
current
employees,
creating
competence
cards
for
the
team
to
increase
competence
visibility,
become
better
at
being
on
time
for
the
short
stand-­‐up
meetings,
and
start
using
Kan-­‐
ban
instead
of
Scrum.
Agile
Management
Outside
of
Software
Development
viii
The
authors
have
also
created
an
alternative
recommendation
for
continued
use
of
Scrum.
The
recommendations
for
the
use
of
Kanban
include
stopping
time
estimating
tasks,
having
slightly
longer
stand-­‐ups
where
short
planning
sessions
are
included,
and
have
a
Kanban
board
with
a
continuous
flow
of
work.
The
recommendations
for
the
use
of
Scrum
include
add-­‐
ing
a
Scrum
master
role
in
the
team
that
changes
between
the
team
members
every
sprint,
to
plan
for
70
instead
of
80
hours
in
a
sprint
to
have
time
for
ad
hoc
assignments
and
meetings,
and
also
to
create
tasks
in
a
way
so
that
they
are
possible
to
finish
within
a
sprint
of
two
weeks.

• author: Alenmyr, Kajsa and Nilsson, Antonia
• supervisor: Bertil Nilsson
• organization: Production Management
• course: MIO920
• year: 2016
• type: M1 - University Diploma
• subject: Technology and Engineering
• keywords: Agile, Agile Management, Enabler, Kanban, Scrum, Sprint, Suc-­‐ cess Factor, Traditional Management, Financial Institute
• other publication id: 16/5544
• language: English
• id: 8892352
• date added to LUP: 2016-09-23 09:55:02
• date last changed: 2016-09-23 09:55:02