Like in many other organizations, "scrumming" has been going on at ANVA for a few years now. By this we mean that teams work according to the Agile Scrum methodology. Basically, Scrum is not difficult at all; it is based on empiricism - the premise being that knowledge arises from experience and decisions are made based on what is known. Or viewed the other way around: removing unknown factors and assumptions as much and as quickly as possible.
The market in which ANVA operates is characterized by a higher degree of uncertainty and unknown factors - what does the customer need and how do we arrive at a good solution for this? In short: a complex market and complex products where there is more uncertain and unknown than certain and known.
So our product development requires a method to control these uncertainties. The Agile Scrum framework provides that opportunity because it is an empirical model - a reality- and experience-based, trial-and-error model. It does not (therefore) plan and decide based on theoretical models and unknown factors, but on what we actually know because we see and experience it.
We build in short bi-weekly periods - called Sprints or iterations - where in each Sprint we deliver another new, working, partial solution to you and ask for feedback on it. This allows us to discover an unknown piece each time, which we can then adjust because we have gained new insights.
We gradually learn to discover more and more "reality" and are able to validate our assumptions with our customers every two weeks. "Is this how you want it to work?" is a standard question during a sprint review where we show our new partial solutions to our customers. You could even say that we are always on the lookout for flaws so that we can learn from them and eliminate another unknown factor.
Through these short iterations, we learn better and better what the customer needs are and how they may have changed. This prevents us from making wrong decisions in the long run and reduces the risk of spending time and money on, say, a functionality that is no longer a priority for you.
So short periods also allow us to adapt quickly to change. Hence the term Agile; it literally means agile or nimble. With this agility, we hope to serve you best.
