Read the latest blogs, news and views from Infomentum. (11)

Because I know I am more than just my anxiety,
and one day I hope to be free of it entirely.
But until then, I will keep telling myself, quietly,
I am stronger than this. I am stronger than my anxiety.
       by Tiffaney L. Ganci

"Your most unhappy customers are the greatest source of learning."
quote from a wise Customer Service Manager

Which type of customer are you?

Imagine you receive an email with the subject "Customer Satisfaction Survey". How does it make you feel? How do you respond?

Imagine a typical scrum scene - the team gathers around the board for the daily standup, one of the team members gives his/her overview of the matters at hand. Things seem to be going well until somebody mentions a dreaded 'blocker' word. Suddenly the team panics, the ears of the scrum master perk up, and madness ensues. 

Recently we attended and exhibited at the Government ICT, one of the most significant IT Public sector events in the UK. When listening to the keynotes and speaking to IT leaders from a variety of governmental bodies, the issue of citizen data sharing often came up. And no wonder, by leveraging its data organisations can provide betters service to the citizens, improve outcomes and drive efficiencies.

Not all user stories are equal. Some may be larger and more complicated than others. The challenge in agile delivery is to keep stories at the right size. That way, they are easily understood and delivered. Those that are too large pose a risk. Wherever possible, you should break them down into smaller, more manageable pieces. In this blog, I will explore factors that might lead to user stories being too 'large'?

Are post-it's enough?

Recently a few of our team members attended Celonis SuperFluid Tour in London, where we found that post-it notes and a whiteboard are still one of their biggest competitors. Celonis, for those unaware, offer a solution, powered by process mining technology that empowers companies to visualise their processes, thus providing insights to which of these can be improved. It can come as a surprise, that in the age of digital transformation, many organisations are satisfied with getting the room's opinion during a whiteboard and/or post-it note session as the best process discovery technique.

At Infomentum, we love to share. We do it daily with our clients through close collaboration with their development teams, training sessions, Agile sprints and support calls, etc. Our team members also share by regularly organising charitable events and donation initiatives. On this occasion, we had a chance to give something a little different – share our knowledge and experience of Agile methodology.

Do you know what your customers need? Not what they want, or would like, but what they need. It is not always obvious. Faced with a complex mix of competing priorities and challenges, some companies may think they need one thing. In reality, however, they need something entirely different.

Today I was greeted by a happy grin on Dan’s face, Dan Shepherd is our Head of Delivery. He and his team had a reason to smile - in one day they received fantastic feedback from several of our customers.

Few events in life have the impact of starting a new job. As any career person can attest, acclimating to a new workplace or role requires patience. It’s a social and intellectual challenge. This consideration led me to a simple concept, a modus operandi for adjusting to a new organization.