The Agile Approach Taking Software Companies by Storm

When fulfillmenttools was founded in 2020, we – a very small team at the time – gave a lot of thought into the way we wanted to work. Agility is a concept we have all known from former jobs. And we were then, and still are, sure that an agile work environment brings many advantages. Our Managing Director Bj?rn Dr?schel has already written an article about agile leadership and why it is important to create modern working conditions for our employees. But agility is not only important for leadership but also for the development of our product. Because of this we create the best and most modern Order Management System and do not get lost along the way.?

What does agility mean?

Agility is the ability to adapt to the situation at hand, the working process and outward implications like changes in the market. This does not mean that a team works without a clear goal in mind. The goal is fixed and known by everyone involved. But on the way to achieve the goal, the team is open minded to adapt to different situations.

To make the concept of agility work within a team, it is especially important that everyone working in that team is on the same page. The employees have to be sure about the team’s goal and the principles of agility. If that is secured, the leader gives the autonomy of working towards that fixed goal to your team. You provide them with a framework, for example a certain business domain, and the team can then work towards the goal within the given domain. The team goes forward in steps and takes time along the way to rethink the plan, for example by doing reviews regularly. The employees ask themselves questions like “Are we going in the right direction with what they are doing?” and “Do the KPIs still make sense?” If they come to the conclusion that they no longer pay into their goal with what they are doing, they adapt. This way, your team will have a sense of shared accountability. This will foster a culture of adaptability and trust and increase responsiveness, innovation and efficiency.

However, I am not here to tell you that agility is the holy grail and that it will help you in every situation. While the main principles of agility are given, the concept can of course look different for every company and situation. Sometimes an agile approach might not make sense, for example in a work environment where unforeseen things are not common at all. Also, if the environment is too fluid and the employees are not even able to plan their day because they are only fixing unexpected bugs, an agile approach will not help and cannot even be implemented correctly.

Agility at fulfillmenttools

At fulfillmenttools we are dedicated to developing a software solution that our customers and the retail market need. And the retail sector is subject to regular change. Therefore, our software must develop, improve and always align with the requirements of the markets. That is why an agile approach makes sense for us. With agility we implemented a way of working that allows us to regularly rethink if we are still on the right track providing the best Order Management System on the market.?

Our Product and Technology department consists of four teams. In order to ensure that the agile approach works with several teams and does not end in chaos, we have defined separate business domains that we lay into the hands of the individual teams. We provide each team with a field of action and define where exactly it begins and ends. This way, our employees are able to work agile within their assigned fields. For example, we have a team that works on developing our Distributed Order Management System (DOMS). Their field of working begins with the fulfillment options that are shown to the customer during checkout, for example item availability or delivery times. It includes Order Routing and Order Management and ends where “Fulfillment Operations” starts, for example with picking and packing. This limitation helps the team to focus and to improve in their specific field, while still working agile. This means a high involvement from the team to constantly reevaluate and give feedback . This way we can assure to provide the best outcome for our DOMS.?

To ensure that we as a whole team pull in the same direction, we use a Domain-driven Design approach to find a common language that all the teams can agree on. We also have a roadmap as the basis for our work that includes our plans for our products. This roadmap is constantly discussed by the whole team and keeps evolving as we go.

For us as a software company, agile working makes it possible to react flexible to internal and external changes and gives autonomy to our employees. Most importantly, it ensures that we develop a high quality product.