Agile Project Management

Leadership for Professionals, Funding for Agile Companies & Methods, Developing Strategies, Making the right Decisions, Creating Concepts, Solving Problems

Simone Janson, Simone Janson, Simone Janson

• Editorial: Best of HR – Berufebilder.de®
• Año: 2024
• ISBN:
  9783965960732
• Edición: 4
• Categoría: Economics
• Categoría: International Economics

In the 4th, completely revised edition of this groundbreaking guide, published by an award-winning publisher, renowned experts (overview in the book preview) combine their knowledge with interactive AI. This unique combination of decades of experience and state-of-the-art technology enables you to master challenges on a whole new level. Thanks to the innovative transfer of information, complemented by personal experiences of success, you can realize your goals and reach your full potential. Because agile project management is the synonym for turning away from stiff and inflexible organizational processes in companies. Developed already in the 90s to make project processes lighter and more flexible, the term has started an unprecedented triumphal procession in the past years. No wonder, the method ultimately helps to accelerate continuous improvement in the development of a product or service in short development cycles - also known as 'sprints'. For its concept "Information as Desired, " the publisher won the Global Business Award as Publisher of the Year and received government funding. It is also a partner of the Ministry of Education and Research of the Federal Republic of Germany. The goal to give you the best possible content on topics such as career, finance, management, recruiting, or psychology goes far beyond the static nature of traditional books: The interactive AI Extended Books not only provide AI-optimized content in several languages based on data analysis but also allow you to ask individual questions and receive advice tailored to your personal interests. Each book contains detailed information and examples for your successful use of AI. You can utilize AI software for free, download e-courses, collaborate with workbooks, or engage with an active community. So you gain valuable resources that enhance your knowledge, stimulate creativity, and make your personal and professional goals achievable and tangible. Expertise and technical innovation go hand in hand, as we take the responsibility to deliver well-researched and informed content seriously, honoring the trust you place in us. Due to the unique combination of human expertise and innovation, we can publish works that meet your requirements in every aspect. And furthermore, we want to offer you the opportunity to make your journey towards personal growth and success even more unforgettable. We understand that true change occurs not just in the mind but primarily through personal experiences and application. Therefore, we've conceptualized special success journey experiences tailored to each book for you. Be inspired to elevate your life to an entirely new level. By purchasing the books, you can also do good: The publisher dedicates about 5 percent of book sales revenue to socially relevant or sustainable projects. We provide scholarships, support innovative ideas, and contribute to climate protection initiatives. Publisher Simone Janson is also a bestselling author and one of the top 10 influential German bloggers according to the Blogger Relevance Index. Additionally, she has been a columnist and author for renowned media outlets such as WELT, Wirtschaftswoche, or ZEIT - more about her can be found, among other places, on Wikipedia.

New Work and Digital Work: Wake Up German Managers!
// By Roswitha A. van der Markt

Accenture, Google and Microsoft have been showing for years how a "limitless workplace" can work. By contrast, managers in Germany already have problems with the virtual workplace, let alone with global networks. It is above all managers who stick to old ways of thinking and organizing, how work is determined and organized.

Optimistic workers in terms of digitization

57 percent of European workers expect digitalization to improve their working conditions. This is the result of a large-scale survey by the consulting firm Accenture 2015: "Being digital: Embrace the future of work and your people wants to embrace it with you". The study interviewed 2 500 workers and 500 executives in the European Union.

Digitalization is on everyone's lips, but many employees fear that the managers in their company, while much discussing technical changes, without realiter tackle. While employees benefit from digitization for the Ability to innovate: (71 percent), agility: (69 percent) and Productivity: (68 percent) expect their company, only every fourth manager wants fundamental changes. And only one in five describes his company as digital. All others are moving on a barely defined station on the "digital journey".

Timid managers jeopardize Germany as a business location

Almost every third company does not even consider adapting the business strategy of digitization. German companies are just ready to automate or adapt the existing processes. This may have been a fairly acceptable recipe in the past, but it is not enough today.

"Made in Germany": On the one hand by VW tremendously in ethical imbalance, on the other hand with head and mind under the blanket: 70 percent of the German managers questioned admitted that they do not want to take a pioneering role in the digital transformation, but rather want to adopt mature digital models. One can only say: Quo vadis - DAX, innovation and quality?

Fear of surveillance

The survey also takes into account the concerns and fears of employees. While only 8 per cent fear a worsening of their work environment, they are not yet sure whether there will be a loss of team spirit when the colleague is only working online and is no longer in the office.

According to the Accenture study, three out of four German workers are concerned or very worried that their employer will use technologies to monitor them at every step. Compared to other economies where the survey was also conducted, only the French are still more afraid of the boss's supervision.

Mistrust in German management floors

The virtual workspace as a sign of Weisure, The merging of work / work and leisure / leisure generates mistrust in German management floors. Because he shakes the foundations of German performance culture and "neat-structuring" work organization:

• How can I trust my co-worker to work really hard - in his home office or even on the beach?
• How can I manage my employees efficiently if I can not see them, ie can intervene and control them?

Also in the peer group, it is feared that other team members might rather sit in the sun. Most managers are unfortunately still convinced of the good, old presence culture.

Daniel Cable, Professor for organizational management at the London Business School, has found in studies that home office work can become a career killer for employees. Employees who are present in the office on a daily basis and are supervised by the superior are promoted significantly more frequently. Managers say the home workers are less diligent and reliable. Visibility thus suggests an alleged value of the results.

Our work organization dominates centuries-old patterns of thought

Thought patterns that have been firmly anchored in our heads for decades, even centuries: Only "hard" work deserves the necessary recognition and remuneration. The promise: more power, usually understood as measurable, more good and hard work, brings more success, more security and more growth.

One of the easiest metrics for performance in industrial society has been working hours so far. Those who were present and under the control of the supervisor also worked hard, often paid in hours. This presence culture becomes a "culture of justification" when one is not available to the supervisor, not available at the workplace. Not only from Nine2Five, but nowadays 24 / 7.

In the "brains" are firmly anchored sayings such as "Stings under", only "Morgenstund has gold in the mouth" or joked jokes like "Take a half a day holiday," if someone already leaves the office at 18 clock. All signs of a culture of mistrust, a lack of acceptance of diversity, ie different life and work models. But also signs of fear, because the previous performance structure gave us security, a clear timeline, clear measurement criteria for service delivery, a clear career path from below "up to management", - and a clear separation of work and leisure, the latter, above all, a freedom from the intervention of the superior in the private life.

Compromise prevents progress

In many companies, therefore, a "compromise solution" is sought: One to two days Home Office with normal core time, ie presence on the computer from 9 to 17 clock, five-day week. Work-life balance on the weekend. Everything stays the same, thinking as well as doing.

Surely this can be a relief. One saves on a few days the way to the company, the time in the suburban train or the stress in the car. But in reality one does not even use one third of the advantages of a virtual workplace.

Employees can organize themselves best

In a culture of trust, it is believed that the colleague, as a knowledge worker, knows best when, how, and where he works best, "for the benefit of both the team and the company."

A late riser divides his day differently from an early bird, a mother other than a single with specific hobbies. This creates a greater sense of satisfaction with life. As a responsible team member, everyone knows when and in what quality he has to contribute his / her results, when teammeetings take place online, for whom he should be available, especially at different time zones. Self-management coupled with project and team management lead to a qualitatively convincing result.

Flexibility brings greater work satisfaction

The advantage of a virtual workplace lies precisely in this flexibility. Everyone can interrupt their work, go shopping, go for a walk, go for a walk with the dog, play with the children in the park, and work at night, even at night. This flexibility reduces stress.

Breaks increase productivity. It is not a matter of temporal attendance at the workplace - be it in the company building or at home, which is to be monitored, but the result orientation, the faith and the confidence in the willingness to perform and the performance of the individual, even without visibility.

Monitoring culture kills motivation

Why is there such distrust in performance? Why do most German employees seem to work without passion? According to Gallup, the commitment index in Germany has been at a very modest level since 2001 until 2014. In all these years, the percentages of employees with a high level of commitment to the company are not 16 percent, fluctuating between 61 and 70 percent with a low bond, and even showing a frightening picture of employees without any binding in 16 to 24 percent. And this with an almost continuous presence culture.

Is the skepticism of the managers justified in giving their employees so little confidence or is it rather a wrong approach to motivating employees? In the Gallup study 2015, employees give their German managers bad grades, especially with regard to communication and exchange, precisely those skills that are so necessary in a networked project culture. 21 percent speak only once a month with their team, another 21 percent even less. Thus, almost 50 percent of employees are without regular team agreements.

Silo and competitive thinking instead of agile, cross-linked cooperation

As a rule, the old traditional viewpoints, methods and processes dominate the minds. In his current study, the HR service provider Hays shows that 72 percent of the decision-makers in IT, finance, research and development surveyed see the island and competition of the specialist departments as a barrier on the way to the digital organization. HR departments and even modern HR software often still cement the old norms and rules.

There are still workplace descriptions with defined competencies, responsibilities, skills, abilities, and goals that no longer meet current fluid and networked requirements. Since collusion, decisions can be made only within the departments according to the hierarchy levels, - and even collegial communication beyond "range limits" is eyed suspicious.

The range boundary marked the power and influence, the success of each manager, and thus his bonus system. An open use of virtual workplaces is usually not "regulated". The simple fact that employees can work free from place and time, in addition to networking as partners, does not occur in this way of thinking. So many supervisors fall back into the command and control thinking of the last millennium.

Stuck in old performance thinking

Success in our economy so far has been synonymous with a relevant management position. High achievers in the promotion system are still lured by the rise on the career ladder, the promise to gain more income, power and status. Although the "pure professional career" as an expert has been around for a long time, the managerial career is still the "crème de la crème", especially if you make it into the executive floors of the DAX companies.

Headhunters show that the career as a manager is still measured by means of leadership and leadership depth, ie the number of hierarchically subordinated employees and hierarchical levels. Even with ever-flattened structures, what was already no longer meaningful, is absolutely irrelevant for globally networked project and process structures. The "new" assessment structures of young generations, for which power, influence and leadership position are no longer motivated, were forgotten.

A manager was so far "more powerful", the greater his additional budget responsibility. Ultimately, his successes alone count in sales and, above all, in profits. Whether he achieves this with a partnership-motivating leadership is insignificant. Whether he took into account values ​​and ethics, just as little. This only becomes relevant when a scandal like VW reveals the weakness of such a performance system and even damages the shareholder value of the company.

Old success criteria are becoming less important

In a management event on Industry 4.0 this September, the attending managers reacted just as cautiously. The discussions revolved around technology and processes. A very small box took into account HR. As in previous decades, it is emphasized again and again that "employees" should receive sufficient training, this time in "digital skills", that the structural change should be accompanied by a change management program and that the change readiness should be determined beforehand.

The digitization of the HR administration, eLearning, recruiting and talent management is conside...

Índice

• Imprint
• Introduction: How this book supports you
• Synnovation - innovation in the network and flexible working: allow coincidence instead of stubborn planning // By Simone Janson
• Manage projects instead of manage: Project management - more than certified methodology // By Olaf Hinz
• Growth agile from StartUp to Mittelstand: How does transformation in companies work? // By Simone Janson
• Leadership Agility: Which type of leadership has grown for the future? // By Jörg Wacha
• New Work and Digital Work: Wake Up German Managers! // By Roswitha A. van der Markt
• How Companies Successfully Win Through Agile Leadership: 5 Tips On What You Can Learn From The Bob World Champion // By Theo Bergauer
• Project management and work organization of the future: 3 steps to the industry 4.0 // By Claudia Simon
• Face-to-Face Agility at Work - Communication: The End of the Home Office? // By Stefan Häseli
• Agile Leadership - 5 Tips: This is how companies learn from Olympic champions // By Theo Bergauer
• Project management, information and knowledge exchange: communication in a team // By Oliver Krone
• Project Managemen - Fundamentals, Methods, Tasks: Analyzing Risks // By Andrea Ramscheidt
• Project Management - Basics Methods Tasks: Risk management in 5 steps // By Andrea Ramscheidt
• Agile leadership coaching with the 8A implementation method // By Elmar Lesch, Ralf Koschinski
• Employee Leadership Agile Management: 4 Tips for Disruptive Transformation // By Stefan Häseli
• Promote agile IT project management: 5 tips for more innovation // By Stefan Schwarzgruber
• Closing Remarks
• Authors Overview
• About the publisher Best of HR - Berufebilder.de®
• Notes on translation