Introduction to five steps for agile transformation in financial services

Evidence indicates that agile software delivery results in a higher success rate for software projects as compared to waterfall delivery. The product (I’m going to substitute Product instead of Project going forward, the agile way) is of higher quality, Quality Assurance costs go down, and more scope can be shipped to market in a shorter period of time. In fact, we’ve seen a tenfold decrease in costs for delivery of identical software products for Tier 1 banks when an agile approach and toolset were used. Why then do some companies insist on the slower waterfall process?

Software delivery success – Agile vs. Waterfall

Image source: The Chaos Manifesto, The Standish Group 2012

Blame the industry. Historically, regulated industries such as financial services, healthcare, and electric power all struggle with adoption due to the burden of regulatory compliance. Processes established years ago still govern, even with the software delivery landscape changing dramatically. What we’ve come to discover, however, is that these organizations can get 80 percent of the value from Agile while changing only a fraction of their processes and practices, without, in any way, compromising on regulatory requirements. In fact, quite the opposite.

Following are a list of topics covered in this white paper:

Step 1: Reduce project (product) size

Step 2: Use lean requirements to jump-start delivery

Step 3: Upgrade your tools to improve communication

Step 4: Invest in continuous integration and delivery

Step 5: Integrate Quality Assurance into your delivery team

Let’s start by biting off a smaller piece of the apple to help with our new, Agile way of chewing.