​​

Gear Stream

  • The Big Pivot
  • Our Approach to
    Transformation
  • Our Book
    SURGE
  • SurgeMaker
    Platform
  • Executive Briefs On
    Agility & Digital Innovation
BLOG COMPANY CONTACT
MEMBER LOGIN
Home / Uncategorized / A Revolutionary Method of Fueling Digital Transformation

A Revolutionary Method of Fueling Digital Transformation

By Brad Murphy

Posted in Agile Management, Uncategorized Tagged as creation, culture, leadership, management, networks, structure, surge, Teaming, value, workflow

Human networks. They’re already at the center of a revolutionary shift in the way businesses are operating. In management principles, the shift from a top-down hierarchy is making room for a new workplace that values community, innovation and transparency. We now know that a company’s biggest financial asset is not necessarily numbers-based; it’s driven by human capital.

That same notion is taking hold in software development, as well. The value of how human networks drive digital transformation is front and center, crumbling hierarchical management structures in favor of team-based, self-managed, autonomous business agility that makes scaling possible.

A New Way Forward

Difficult to quantify but invaluable to an organization, a surge is the ability of a network of people to fluidly flex and self-organize using the experience and expertise of its members to sense and respond to opportunity by pulling together people and resources quickly and with minimal disruption.

Using their ability to surge, networks create financial value, which in turn encourages learning, stimulates collaboration, innovation, and promotes effective operations. Networks surge across the enterprise by engaging five levers that establish agility. These capabilities lay a crucial foundation for business agility:

Teaming and Workflow

  • Working Surface Teaming
  • Program Teaming
  • Portfolio Teaming

Leadership and Culture

  • Leadership Styles
  • Direction of Learning
  • Cultural Focus

Management and Structure

  • Management Focus
  • Organizational Structures

Value Creation

  • Business Model
  • Value Proposition

Human Networks

  • Network Reach
  • Network Connectivity

The Hub of Innovation

Like spokes on a wheel, the surge of networks forms the foundation for growth and innovation. Without the lever of human connectivity, the wheel succumbs to weakness and is susceptible to penetration. The strength of the organization is in doubt.

On the other hand, the new networked organization supports an agile enterprise in ways previously not possible, offering true potential:

  • Decisions are made closer to the working surface (those doing the core technical and design work), and decisions that are made become timely and clear.
  • Management enables collaboration, encouraging connections across functional and organizational boundaries instead of stifled communication.
  • Communication is relational (promoting team-to-team and person-to-person networks), jumping rapidly across large organizational distances to solve problems and spread ideas.
  • Problem solving taps the tacit knowledge of individuals and synthesizes the explicit knowledge of the collective.
  • Role flexing enables people to respond quickly to changes in the environment, promoting collaboration and innovation.

Rapid response – to challenge and to change – positions leadership inside of the network. This is a radical shift from management’s traditional position on the outside. It’s one of the keys to promoting the marriage of business agility, human networks and surging. Networks that surge have clear shared goals, trust, and both strong and weak ties to the rest of the organization. These cultural values unleash business agility: innovation and operational excellence.

Your biggest asset is probably your least-tapped one: the human networks within your organization. This is more important not only for business agility within the enterprise, but also for the knowledge-based economy. As businesses depend more and more on information and high-level skills to seek it out, human networks are an increasingly important resource predictive of revenue potential, growth and sustainability.

Search

Recent Blog Posts

  • Why OKRs – And Why Now?
  • Why Google is an Epic Digital Company (and why you want to be just like them)
  • When Agile becomes (Fr)Agile, or Why You Need to Think of Agile Like Pants
  • Stop Trying to Check the ‘Agile’ Box
  • How to become invaluable to your organization

Categories

  • Agile Industry Trends
  • Agile Management
  • Agile Product Management
  • Agile UX
  • Corporate Culture
  • Gear Stream News
  • Implementing Agile & Scrum
  • Uncategorized

Post Tags

Agile agility Build Management business executive business management capabilities cloud cloud factory cloudsourcing collaboration command and control communication culture customers DevOps disciplines ecosystem enterprise innovation IT Kanban Lean Lean IT management market requirements measurement micro management networks Nokia ona organization organizational outsource outsourcing product release planning Risk roadmap scope Scrum software stakeholders statistics surge Transformation
The Big Pivot - Surge - The Surge App Platform - Surge Services - Research Notes Agility & Innovation

© Copyright 2009-2023 Gear Stream, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Twitter/Facebook/Linkedin/Google+/RSS