Agile work – toward the future with dynamism

In principle, grow platform follows two approaches of agile working. While the agile work approach, among other things, is aimed internally at the teams in the collaboration, the lean startup approach is used and implemented externally to the customer. As intended with the scientific lean startup approach, the focus is primarily on the development and improvement of processes and their rationalization.

grow platform is about being innovative and absolutely customer focused. The strategy of agile work enables our international product owner to succeed in markets that are changing faster than ever before. It allows them to focus their resources on learning from experience, reacting quickly to new requirements and challenges, and implementing solutions profitably.

The most important precondition for agile work is autonomously organized teamwork. grow platform portfolio teams define their goals and allocate tasks among themselves. Their work is always centered on the user problem. These needs serve as the compass toward the finished product.

Since change is an important factor in agile work, every grow platform team must regularly scrutinize itself, what it is doing, and how it is doing it. By constantly dialoguing with customers and with each other, the teams are able to react very flexibly, rapidly and with great efficiency to new challenges. This enables innovations to be implemented in a more targeted and expeditious manner.

At grow platform, the focus is on the interaction of team members. The agile work strategy creates a transparent corporate climate in which conflicts and problems are openly addressed. Everyone looks out for each other, no one on the team is overburdened, and challenges are solved together. “Strong agile teams are, therefore, also happy teams,” observes Karsten Rönner, general manager of grow platform.

In cultivating its portfolio teams, grow platform relies on this culture of acknowledging mistakes and learning from them: When failures occur, the ability to communicate them and learn from them is of the utmost importance. Only in this way products and processes can be improved in a targeted manner and new business ideas can be brought to market successfully.

The positive feedback from our teams has demonstrated that the agile work strategy is not only more efficient; it also boosts team members’ motivation and commitment. This enables grow platform to assist teams more creatively and enthusiastically in turning their business innovations into reality and delivering real added value for customers.

What do you consider to be the benefits of agile work?

In the past, lengthy planning phases had to be carried out before you even began to implement a new idea. This resulted in getting customer feedback quite late in the process, which meant that you only found out at the end of it whether what you had planned actually worked. The agile work strategy lets you focus much better on what customers want. When you’re aiming to create something new and innovative, you have to be able to act and react flexibly and dynamically.

What were your tasks in implementing the strategy?

The first thing was to introduce the SCRUM method into our teamwork model. To do so, we created the boards and set up a team. Here, it was important to get all the team members of our innovation hubs on board – while also taking into account their personal experiences, perspectives and needs. Because agile work only works if everyone’s pulling together

How did you introduce the agile work method?

We took a step-by-step approach. The main thing at the beginning was how to organize and hold our meetings. The global time differences alone put constraints on this. Instead of daily meetings, we agreed on holding weekly events at which we would present interim results and adapt our assignments and tasks flexibly to changing circumstances. This creates greater transparency – so, every team member knows exactly where things stand and what needs to be tackled next.

What’s the key to successful implementation?

It’s crucial for everyone to internalize the agile work mindset. For this to happen, you have to demonstrate to every member of the team that every development process is an experiment and that mistakes can sometimes occur. And when they do, it’s very important to say: ‘That’s okay. It’s the whole principle behind agile work: Keep trying and keep adapting. It’s the only way to learn from mistakes and continuously improve

Have you already reached all your objectives?

When I look back at where we started, I can say that we’ve already achieved a lot – especially in terms of teamwork. It’s now quite normal for a team member to take on a task on her or his own initiative and then involve all the other team members in it. The teams organize themselves independently and share ideas on how they can support each other.But, naturally, – and in keeping with the spirit of the agile work concept – there’s still room for us to improve.

At grow platform, agile work in small, self-organized teams forms the basis for rapid adjustments and the targeted improvement of entrepreneurial concepts. This is how we increase our likelihood of success and minimize potential risks in developing new business models. grow platform offers Bosch intrapreneurs an environment characterized by customized global support and organizational autonomy. This not only inspires confidence in collaborating with us — which, in turn, provides the basis for further establishing our global network for innovative business innovations —, it facilitates the creation of fast-growing, highly profitable companies.