Business | Read the latest blogs, news and views from Infomentum. (4)

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'?

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.

The artist Pablo Picasso once said you should learn the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist. It’s clear he wasn’t in charge of a large corporation, though. Breaking the rules in business is costly, and it’s getting even more so. According to research by Thomson Reuters, 61% of compliance and risk practitioners expected to spend more on complying with rules and regulations in 2019 than they had in 2018.

Many business documents, from invoices to medical records, are boring, necessary and tedious to deal with. And until recently only humans had the ability to process them, locking smart people into low-value work. But now, technology has got to the point where it can not only read standard documents but also pick relevant information out from images and designs in complex layouts.

The Terminator has a lot to answer for. As the prospect of Artificial Intelligence (AI) becomes a reality in the workplace, barely a day goes by without a headline warning of some machine-led threat to jobs and livelihoods. It is indeed likely systems integration based on AI and Robotic Process Automation (RPA), an emerging form of business transformation based on the software robots, will change how we work and live. But not in the doomsday-scenario way often portrayed.

As the old saying goes 'calm waters never made a good sailor'. Applying this maritime proverb to a somewhat different, but none the less hazardous field like IT project management, certainly has its merit. The reality of IT project management in the modern age is a tale of delayed project go-lives and project completion beyond the original budget and time frame.

'There is nothing more powerful in any organisation than having all employees rowing fiercely in the same direction', wrote Brent Gleeson, the founder of Taking Point Leadership. The same can be also applied to teams within any organisation. Long meetings, endless back and forth emails, misunderstandings, and interruptions for impromptu catch ups are symptoms of an inefficient internal department.

The goal of the Head of Operations, was to create a working environment that nurtures collaboration and confidence, allowing efficient and effective delivery and continuous improvement.

In our study conducted by Censuswide, 1002 desk-based office workers were quizzed on their attitudes to websites, technology and the workplace. Over half of the respondents to the survey were defined as Generation C. But just how are we defining them?

Never as a society have we been as open as we are today, though it’s a movement that has seemingly bypassed the public sector. In the third and final blog post in our series around thinking smart in the public sector, we look at the main challenges and barriers when it comes to data sharing. We also suggest ways and methods of how the UK public sector can embrace a mindset of collaboration for a more positive future for all.

For years, marketers have looked to the latest generation to lead their branding efforts and define the latest trends. We’ve been through the baby boomers, then Generation X, Y and finally Z. So the question is: what next?