The Importance of Being Agile

by James Theimer, CRI Solutions

Agile development has gained a lot of momentum in the software development world in recent years for its ability to assist an organization in developing products more accurately and quickly when compared to classical waterfall software development methodology.  “Scrum” is an agile software development and project management methodology that targets accuracy and nimbleness in planning, developing and testing of software applications.  Credit unions can learn from this methodology in order to make their business more agile and better able to adapt to rapidly changing member trends and needs. 

Out With the Old

In a classic waterfall methodology, requirements are gathered up front by subject matter experts or business analysts whose job it is to discover the needs of the application from start to finish and develop detailed requirements, use cases, and testing procedures to be used by the development team.   The major problem with this methodology is that it is serial in nature, with no code actually being written until the full scope of the project has been vetted and documented.  Only then can the real work of creating the application begin.  Unfortunately, this process has large time spans between discovery and acceptance, which doesn’t allow for easy or timely changes to the business need of the application and, as a result, the final release usually does not meet the needs of the business because the market has dictated a change.  It is very difficult to adapt to a market or strategy change without a great deal of rework and lost time. 

In With the New

Enter Scrum; an agile process that is able to adapt with the changing needs of the business.  With Scrum, a business analyst (BA) identifies the needs of the application broadly and is accountable for ensuring that the team delivers on this need.  They then identify features and the various ways users will interact with the system for each feature, ranking the overall magnitude, or importance, of each.  Then, each feature is developed separately, as part of the overall end product, in sections of work called a Sprint.

A Sprint is a 2-3 week development session where features are developed from the product backlog in a way that makes it easier to estimate timelines for various features.  Every morning during the Sprint a session is held where each member of the team identifies what they completed on the previous day, what they will work on today and what impediments they have in front of them.  Because of this continuous feedback, the reliability of what gets completed in the Sprint is much higher.  In addition, the BA is able to interject timely changes to features as they arise.

At the end of the Sprint, the remaining features from the product backlog are evaluated and re-ranked and new features could be added.  This repeated re-evaluation of the features and the continual feedback from the Sprint drastically increases the reliability, accuracy and nimbleness of the product and allow it to hit its moving target. 

As the name states, agile methodologies are implemented to assist in creating quicker to market, more accurate and predictable applications that better respond to the changing needs of the marketplace.

What Can Credit Unions Learn from Scrum?

Even though credit unions aren’t in the business of developing new software applications, by borrowing the agile Scrum process from software developers and applying it to strategic planning, credit unions will be better able to meet member needs as they arise and adapt to a rapidly changing online environment.  The key is in following the elements of broadly defining the goals that the credit union has for the year and then focusing on the elements (features) that will help them to achieve those goals.

For example, many credit unions are reaching out to tech-savvy members or potential new members.  The identified need in this example is that the credit union must attract new members in order to survive.  Using the agile process, they can identify features and services that would help to meet that goal, based on how new and current members want to interact with their financial institution, such as mobile banking, online account origination, after hours call centers, and a Facebook presence.  The credit union can then use the agile process’ ranking system to determine which features will provide the largest impact and begin implementing them a piece at a time.  Then, if a new way to reach members comes to their attention, they have the ability to reassess the current rankings and insert that new functionality sooner than they would if each step was already set in stone as part of a fully-defined linear process.

In a rapidly changing digital world, credit unions must look to successful business models outside of the industry to identify the most cost-effective and efficient ways to provide the necessary tools and solutions to members.  The more agile and efficient credit unions are able to become in embracing new solutions, the more they will rise above the competition in the marketplace as potential new members choose a financial institution to meet their changing and growing needs.

James Theimer

James Theimer

CRI Solutions, a Transamerica company, provides financial and technology solutions for credit unions. Working exclusively with the credit union community, the company provides Debt Protection, Credit Insurance, GAP, Vehicle Service ... Web: www.CRISolutions.net Details