Agile Consulting Services:
Business Outcome led Transformations

Scaling Agile is a natural progression applied to a product environment where you may need more than one team (actually many teams) and with that comes challenges with communication, collaboration, transparency, managing risks and dependencies and integrating solutions. It requires a systematic approach which can balance between structure and agility to deliver value continuously. Our team comprises agile at scale consultants having experience with varied scaling frameworks like SAFe, LeSS, Nexus, DAD, Spotify and others. We have partnered with such organizations and helped them with such systematic approaches. Our secret, as an agile consulting firm, is to not prescribe the set frameworks or practices but help organizations in finding their own balance with just-enough and high impact practices.

Compliance and Regulatory requirements are adjusted as usual requirements in agile implementation consulting but will have more detailed specifications, exact timelines, repercussions and other related aspects. They are considered primarily as business rules within features or enablers. Like other requirements, they are vetted between business and technology who further on identify ways to meet those constraints. There are many ways to meet compliance as there is no such thumb-rule hence such requirements can also be done through agile approaches through iterations, culture of pull and failing faster.

There are a lot of tools that are used in organizations of varied size to meet their demands for agile project management. The most popular are JIRA, Azure DevOps, Aha!, Rally and TargetProcess. While agility requires more transparency, engagement, proactive attitude, continuous improvement and ability to learn faster hence the tools that we have extensively used apart what mentioned earlier are mentimeter, zoom, MS Teams, Padlet, Mural, Miro and many more.

Yes we do. We have categorised our enterprise agile consulting services in 4 categories. The first one is ‘pre-game’. Here we focus on learning the area of problem, objectives, the understanding of people and their challenges, evaluate aesthetics and do playback of findings. Based on that, we get in the ‘Game’ state where we partner with a team to improve the processes, coach people and establish a strong foundation of excellence, openness and continuous delivery, mostly at the level of teams. Another category is ‘Big League’ where we do implement agile at scale at the levels of portfolio, units, groups and overall organization. And our last category is called ‘post-game’, and at the state the organization maturity has been attended in terms of self-managing the transformation and continuing the journey forward, so we help them with any advisory support they look up for.

The key reason why teams do-not collaborate is because of the culture of assigning the work to individuals and focusing more on individual work-tracking and not on team’s collective responsibility to deliver an excellent product. We closely work with the team and design an approach that helps in redefining the way of working which creates a one-team mindset, allows constructive disagreements, team ownership and appreciating experimentation instead of punishing team or individual. That is agile for us because such teams are fluid as they do not resist change albeit, they welcome changes and continuously explore opportunities to delight customers. This is not relevant to only agile software development consulting but any team in general.

Selecting the write framework is a later stage. First, we observe the current ways of working. It helps us understand what is working well and what not. We interview all the internal and external stakeholders to understand their role, contributions, expectations and challenges. We also conduct round tables, anonymous surveys, and various focused sessions with individuals and groups to analyse deeper causes. Post then, we come up with recommendations of agile frameworks or approaches that the team could use. Many times we find hybrid approaches working very well. We should always remember that satisfied customers, agility of business and realisation of value matters the most over implementing framework or fascination of new processes and tools in the market. Common-sense and our extensive knowledge of various self-developed and marketed frameworks are the most that we apply to address business needs.

We as an agile consulting firm very much believe in sharing our knowledge and the channels we use to do it are customised agile workshops, certification workshops, webinars, blogs, videos (please check our youtube channel), articles and also lightning sessions at client venues. Our Agile business consultants work closely with teams and furnish templates, ready reckoners, process guides, role based workshops, required frameworks, in-house community of practices like Scrum Master Group, Product Ownership and many other interventions to provide needful education and resources to help with continuous learning of people in the organisation.

Agile Software Consulting is a service provided by individuals or firms specializing in advising and guiding organizations through the planning, adoption, implementation, and optimization of Agile methodologies for software development and project management. Agile methodologies, such as Scrum, Kanban, Lean, and Extreme Programming (XP) focus on flexibility, continuous improvement, customer satisfaction and the ability to adapt to change. Agile Software Consulting can cover a wide range of activities like agile transformation, training and coaching, process improvement, tool integration, performance measurement, scaling agile and cultural change management. Agile software consultants come with a wide range of experience and use cases as they serve multiple customers across domains. They are usually relatively more flexible from organisational constraints and get more independence as subject matter experts to bring in the change within an organization.

We believe that getting external consulting helps organizations adopt a quick, time-bound, outcome-driven Agile transformation journey marrying culture, mindset, process, tools, and hands-on implementation expertise. Our clients have one problem less to solve and can focus on their key business while creating internal competencies and leveraging new ways of working. Organizations may choose to use Agile business consulting services for several reasons summarized below. The leaders should ask agile consulting companies about their transformation approach when they are evaluating them for leading their agile business transformation and agile at scale engagements.

Outside-in Neutral Perspective : An external Agile consultant is not influenced or biased with any particular person or management. They bring in an objective perspective on the table with recommendations derived from their observation.

In depth Analysis of current state: The sole purpose of an Agile consultant is to implement agile within the organization. Hence is it a key thing for them to understand all the aspects of current work culture without being partial.

Expertise: External Agile consultant brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the table, having worked with a variety of organizations and helped them successfully adopt an Agile approach. They can provide valuable guidance and support to organizations as they navigate the challenges of adopting Agile.

Customization: External Agile consultants can tailor their services to the specific needs of an organization, helping them to design and implement a customized Agile solution that meets their unique needs and goals.

Timebound Agile Transformation: By working with an external Agile consultant, organizations can save time and resources that would otherwise be spent on training and developing internal Agile expertise. An Agile consultant is focussed with one thing on their plate, they can create positive tension and a sense of urgency which helps teams achieve their agility goals on time.

Milestone Driven Approach: A good Agile consultant is mostly milestone driven. That is, in an implementation roadmap, they focus on the milestones achieved and quickly inspect and pivot.

Consultants play an important role in helping companies adopt agile ways of working. Agile Business Consultants are subject matter experts and generally come with a lot of ground level experience and are unbiased in their implementation approach.Here are a few pointers on how consulting firms can help bring agile within teams, 

As Is Assessment and Strategic Roadmapping – Agile consulting firms start their implementation journey with an assessment to understand the current team’s maturity and practices. Based on the assessment, they create a tailored customized roadmap to align with the problem statement or goals
Framework Agnostic, Outcome Driven Transformation – Consultants are SMEs who have knowledge of various frameworks. They design and recommend framework implementation based on need rather than just applying one framework because of organizational norms. They cater to solving a problem with best suited framework with agility in mind versus adopting agile for the sake of it
Education/Awareness and Education – Consulting firms provide training and programs to train teams and stakeholders with Agile principles, practices, and frameworks such as Scrum, Kanban, and Extreme Programming (XP). Training sessions may include workshops, seminars, and hands-on exercises to reinforce learning based on the need
Coaching and Handholding – Agile business consultants  work closely with teams and leadership to guide them through the Agile transformation process. They provide ongoing support, feedback, and guidance on implementing Agile practices, resolving challenges, and adapting to change.
Unbiased, Outside-In Perspective – Agile Consultants are generally contract based and the contracts are usually outcome driven. Their experience having worked with multiple companies enables them to overcome challenges/resistance with a lot more ease and help organizations with insights with their experience. 
Metrics and Milestone Based Transformations – Consultants contracts are usually for a specific duration and outcome driven. There are intermediate milestones and KPIs based on the roadmap more like a checkpoint. This enables the transformation to be faster and more effective.

Agile Innovation Consulting can be a powerful engine for driving business growth by integrating agile principles into the innovation process. This approach helps organizations become more adaptive, customer-focused, and efficient in their operations. It fosters business growth by reducing time to market, Enhancing Customer Satisfaction, Improving Product Quality, Increasing Flexibility and Adaptability, increasing Employee Engagement and Productivity, Optimized Usage of Resources and Reduced Costs and Risk Mitigation.

Our Agile Consulting Experts stand out in the competitive landscape for several key reasons, blending deep expertise with a unique approach that ensures our clients not only adopt Agile methodologies but also embody the Agile mindset at the core of their organizational culture. Benzne focus on building strong relationships with our clients, delivering exceptional value and consistently exceeding expectations. Our time bound, business context driven, framework agnostic focus differentiates us from other agile consulting companies. Also, at Benzne, we run it like the Center of Excellence, where consultants who are deployed to different accounts, often meet & share their challenges, achievements & best practices with each other. 

Agile Enterprise Consulting plays a pivotal role in transforming organizational culture by embedding Agile principles and values into the very fabric of a company’s operations and mindset. Bringing agility is not a top-down or bottom-up process, instead it should be started from somewhere and then expects all the changes to bring in harmony aligned to business strategy, employee satisfaction, qualitative products and effectively functioning value streams. This transformation is essential for organizations seeking to become more adaptive, innovative, and customer-centric in today’s fast-paced business environment. Fostering a mindset of continuous improvement, promoting collaboration and communication, empowering teams, enabling customer-centric approach, increasing adaptability and flexibility, embracing failure as a learning opportunity and building a sustainable work environment are few ways in which agile enterprise consulting facilitates cultural shifts within an organization.