Standards strengthen the agile transformation

The consequences of the VUCA world are further increasing dynamics and complexity in companies. A framework condition that makes it possible to assess that future management systems will also have to enable organisations to survive in complex environments in this respect. This naturally means that new approaches and methods will have to be used. Agile ways of thinking and acting offer a form of meeting these challenges of the VUCA world and the megatrend of digitalization. It is therefore time to understand agility in the context of quality management and to deal with the question of its future and effects.

The model "AGIL" from the system theory, which was already developed in the 1950s by the sociologist Talcott Parsons, is composed of four following abilities of an organization and is equated today with attributes such as flexible, active, adaptable and with initiative for change.

• Adaption: adaptation to change
• Goal Attainment: Defining and pursuing goals
• Integration: creating and securing cohesion
• Latency: Maintenance of fundamental structures and values

Looking at the aspirations behind this model, it is easy to see that quality management principles and methods are built on a similar foundation. However, this is where the first inconsistencies begin, as far as the application in practice is concerned. Before these topics are examined in more detail in the chapter "Changed understanding of leadership/value orientation", it is important to understand what digitalization means, why it has an impact on management systems and what it is confused with.

Empirical processes and agility
In manufacturing, lean approaches to reducing lead times or tied-up capital in warehouses have long been known, understood and used as a means to increase agility. The agile software development movement of the 1990s has generated a new enthusiasm for the design of empirical processes. Empirical1 or just non-deterministic2 processes are characterized by open result output. Creative processes or development processes are typical representatives of empirical processes. In quality management, the continuous improvement process (CIP) is a good example of an empirical process. Result-open output means that for a certain intention the result - the solution is not predictable. An advertising agency can reliably develop a new brand identity. However, the concrete result that emerges - the concrete brand - is not predictable. Also, the same creative process produces a potentially different result every time it is carried out. In contrast, the results of a deterministic process such as a production process are identical or at least predictable. Quality management relies, among other things, on controlling the creation processes in order to ensure the quality of the results, the created products. If the creation is based on an empirical process, for example a creative process, the quality of the results cannot be ensured by controlling the process execution alone.

The description and conscious design of empirical processes goes back further than the 1990s. Design Thinking - an empirical process for product development - to the

"A hallmark of agile methods is cross-disciplinary work in self-organized teams."

example was developed and described over fifty years ago. A typical feature of empirical processes is the step-by-step or iterative procedure analogous to the constant running through of the CIP process. Compared to established, empirical processes, the nine agile processes are characterized by a high cadence of these iterations. From iterations every 15 minutes in Lean Startup to one or two weeks in Scrum in software development. Seriously practiced quality management must be able to absorb such a high cadence of iterations.

Another typical feature of agile methods is interdisciplinary work in self-organized teams. This is based on the conviction that the collective intelligence in the team is superior to any individual performance of experts. Self-organized teams need a different form of leadership. Thus, the introduction of agile methods goes hand in hand with a shift from management to leadership and is understood in the sense of the ISO model with leadership as the central hub. Finally, an agile transformation is the active, new and redesign of an organization to agile working methods. The transformation is accompanied by a change in the corresponding understanding of leadership.

Strategy and common ground
In order to align a management system, quality management requires a high degree of effectiveness. Effectiveness begins with the question of which future-oriented corporate goals will lead the company to sustainable success and the action required to achieve them. These are derived from the business processes and strategic projects and pursued in day-to-day business. Common, action-guiding planks represent the strategic foundations such as vision, mission and guiding principles.

For the development of a strategy, therefore, what counts is the probable, that which in all probability, and between all possible scenarios, is ambitious and yet feasible. However, the present does not continue in a straight line into the future. Even financial figures alone do not look ahead; only the intelligent combination of hard and soft factors - for example, the learning power of an organization, etc. - enables a strong forecasting power and the development of a robust corporate strategy.

Let's first stay with the strategy development process, through which corporate goals are created. Strategy work is primarily about making the right decisions. Decisions about where and how to operate and survive successfully in the long term in relation to the competition. This requires an understanding of changing market requirements such as digitalization (Chapter 4.1, Understanding the organization and its context). The work is done step by step with manual analysis and planning work and is then largely developed and implemented in the management system with rigid methods.

In agile approaches, the understanding of context/trends and insights from previous iterations are given much more attention. The difference lies in the fact that agile approaches make the application of the methodology more solution-neutral and enable progress in the first place. They are based on simple, light-weight methods that, in contrast to the heavyweight strategy development processes (with instruments such as the strategy map), also iteratively implement a clear long-term goal (vision) in small steps. This means that a quantified long-term goal allows individual teams to pursue parts of the strategy autonomously and in a self-organized manner. The scaling achieved in this way across the organization can activate the collective intelligence of all and make use of swarm intelligence.

For some company management, this already sounds as if the entire development work with the younger approach is chaotic. It can be seen as a way of thinking and proceeding.

"Courage alone is not enough."

which was previously understood as "delay due to deviations". But in the step-by-step approach with feedback - called iteration in the agile world - success is promised. Instead of driving on course with rigid processes, you simply work up to visibility and with the insights you've already gathered up to that point. It's about talking to the right people at the right time and taking small steps to get it right (effectiveness). The small steps with the feedback and learning loops and the associated (short) wrong paths may seem more time-consuming and therefore more costly compared to a linearly processed plan. But accepting early on when something does not work

"Agile approaches are based on the purpose to be fulfilled."

The way it works also means freeing up resources for the right and important projects. Iteration thus helps to continuously do the right things right - analogous to the CIP idea from quality management.

Scoping
Another advantage of agile procedures is scoping. Unlike ISO 9001:2015, which is not to be confused with the designation of industry classifications (EAC industry key, extent/range of a given audit) in certification, in agile project teams scoping is understood as the ability to understand the task as targeted learning in small steps. The goal is to get a common and precise understanding of the actual problem, in order to then formulate and aim for the objective (for products or services) as correctly as possible. And just as the third quality management principle demands the "involvement of stakeholders", the so-called co-creation promises better products and solutions. In this process, stakeholders, potential users, partners or other enablers/stakeholders are also involved in the development process from minute zero. In order to quickly get a feeling for the quality and resilience of an idea and to make results tangible in the shortest possible time, useful prototypes are created. In this process, a first version of the service provision is presented, then immediately scrutinized and further developed and improved on the basis of feedback until a desired result is achieved. What initially sounds harmless requires a particularly systematic and serious process due to the speed, complexity and openness of the results. They play out their strength, so to speak, compared to conventional approaches where, due to uncertainties or unknowns, a plan cannot be drawn up or is fraught with too many risks.

And as explained in the following chapter "Culture", drivers for agile approaches are soft factors that were less integrated in previous methods. It requires a certain amount of courage on the management level to critically question what has been achieved as well as the change again and again, to take a step back in order to move forward with the knowledge gained. And even courage alone is not enough if the necessary mindset and culture in the company are not created by the management. In the spirit of continuous improvement and the requirements of the standard, it is important to include these new strategy goals in the management review report and to review their effectiveness and degree of fulfillment in longer cycles than just once (or shortly before certification audits) or to initiate corrective measures.

Empirical processes and compatibility with the norm
If one evaluates these procedures with the compatibility of quality management, it can be seen that the procedure corresponds in principle to the classical understanding and meets numerous standard requirements. Generally applicable are the requirements for systematic procedures, which are fulfilled in the following chapters: Chapter 6.1 "Measures to deal with risks and opportunities"; in Chapter 8.2.2, Identification of requirements in relation to products/services and also the sixth principle "Fact-based approach to decision-making".

The compatibility of an iterative procedure and the requirement from Chapter 8.2.2 is likely to be challenging. This basically requires that the requirements for a product/service should be known before it is created. Agile procedures are based on the purpose to be fulfilled and not primarily on the need expressed by the customer and thus leave a more comprehensive solution open. The customer needs are certainly fulfilled, but possibly also exceeded (see chapter "Stronger differentiation of customer needs/requirements"). And with this form of development, the proof for this standard requirement should then also be much easier, as customer orientation and promises are taken into account. Through this approach, chapter 8.2.3, Assessment of requirements related to products and services, will also express the final evidence for the compatibility of agility and ISO 9001:2015. This chapter requires that the organization not only ensure that it has the capability to meet requirements for the products and services it offers. In addition, before being offered, products and services must meet various items, one of which is specified requirements stated by customers, and one of which is requirements not stated by customers, but which are necessary and beneficial for use as far as they are known.