Making Space for Agile Development

I recently facilitated a discussion on microservices, DevOps, and Agile during Novarica’s 12th annual Insurance Technology Research Council Meeting. Insurers are at varying stages on the road to full maturity of new development methodologies and architectural approaches, but some key takeaways and best practices include:

Change Management

Agile and DevOps require IT and business users to adapt to new operating and development practices, and many organizations struggle with these changes. Lack of buy-in from business units, passive resistance from IT managers and employees, and pushback from finance and audit were frequently encountered as part of Agile rollouts. Executive sponsorship and business leadership support were highlighted as critical to avoid painful, and sometimes abandoned, Agile initiatives. Many insurers have also used Agile coaches and training resources to help define responsibilities and ease the transition to Agile.

Agile development requires rethinking traditional budgetary practices, as approaches to finance change when projects don’t have well-defined requirements and scope. Some insurers have moved away from the annual budgeting cycle of projects altogether.

The other challenge carriers encountered was ITSM change management. Agile, particularly DevOps, places high demand on the IT processes designed to manage the risk associated with making changes to IT systems—especially production systems. These need to evolve to deal effectively with practices like automation and continuous deployment.

Product Ownership and Product Management

Insurers have the most success when product owners are placed within business units or in a business-aligned product organization that can act as a “center of excellence” for product owners. Housing the product ownership function within IT was noted as more challenging.

Insurers shifting toward organizing teams around products rather than projects emphasized the importance of formal product management and the product roadmaps. As one insurer noted, roadmaps help define the “why” of projects.

Team Alignment and Resourcing

Some insurers have pivoted toward aligning IT resources with individual business groups, yet many are pushing up against staff shortages that require IT and business resources to participate in multiple projects simultaneously to ensure continuity.

Some insurers have found relief by focusing on shared resources and trying to build up a bench. Scale presents an additional obstacle: Some insurers have found that Agile works well in pockets, but adoption through the entire enterprise is more challenging.

New methodologies like Agile and DevOps will continue to evolve alongside IT architecture. Our recent briefs on AgileDevOps, and Microservices discuss these changes in depth. Feel free to contact me at [email protected] if you are interested in further discussion.

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