Companies need to become more flexible and renew their structures. The processes in organizations also need to be reviewed, according to Frank Ahlrichs, author of the article "Effects of SAFe® on the management of business processes". Only by making adjustments can the effort be kept to a minimum and the processes in the company be designed efficiently. In the interview Frank Ahlrichshow processes, teams and responsibilities can be designed in a future-oriented way.

Stable processes enable flexible content

Katja Heumader: Do we need to look at processes in organizations differently in future?

Frank Ahlrichs: Definitely! The world around us is becoming ever more dynamic and requires constant adjustments to the rules of our joint work, i.e. the processes. This requires a lot of overhead, which at some point is no longer feasible. So we have to question or change the way we define and manage processes.

KH: Efficiency can be increased through standardization. At the same time, rapidly changing framework conditions require flexibility. How can these two aspects be reconciled?

FA: At first glance, this seems to be a contradiction in terms. But on closer inspection, it is not. There are several levels of flexibility and agility. This leads to a mixture of stability and agility. For example, developing products using Scrum as an agile method creates the flexibility to react quickly to new market requirements. However, the process in the application of Scrum is a very stable and clear process: daily stand-up meetings, sprint planning, retrospectives, et cetera. A stable process describes an agile method. On the other hand, the process can also be flexible in its content, in that it no longer describes the procedure in detail, but only in key points that must be the same for all executors. This offers the freedom to react to the situation and apply the appropriate methods for the target group.

The future belongs to team decisions

KH: The hierarchical organizational structure in many companies can no longer meet the new market requirements. Instead, fluid and networked structures are needed. How can this transformation be achieved in practice?

FA: Yes, that is true. Networked and fluid structures are becoming necessary for two reasons. Firstly, the traditional official channels are becoming too slow for the decisions that need to be made quickly and secondly, more and more information needs to be transported to the decision-maker because the contextual conditions are becoming more complex. It is better to bring the decisions to where the information is, i.e. decentralize it.

Decisions should then be made by teams, i.e. no longer necessarily by individuals. These teams must first learn to organize themselves. Decentralization should therefore take place gradually. Strategic and very long-term decisions should continue to be made by the management.

KH: Doesn't such a decentralized structure create problems in terms of accountability for results and tasks?

FA: Operational responsibility for results and tasks is transferred to the decentralized teams, which are then often self-organized. There are various forms of organization for this, such as holacracy. The teams buy this decentralized responsibility through reliability. This is the currency in which you prove to top management that you have the tasks under control. Reliability in terms of scope and deadlines for short cycles, i.e. the so-called sprints or iterations. In this way, the roles of accountability and responsibility are separated in the processes. The role designation according to the RACI principle has always separated this, but today "R" and "A" are often assigned to the same person.

KH: Mr. Ahlrichs, thank you very much for the interview.

The interview with Frank Ahlrichs was conducted by Dr. Katja Heumader for the TCI editorial team.

"Agility in companies": theoretically sound and practical

The focus of "Agility in Companies" is on the practical application of the concepts. In addition to an introduction to the theoretical foundations, the contributors to the anthology cover various areas: Corporate and personnel management, organizational management, evaluation and controlling, decision-making behavior, roles in projects and the management of business processes.

"Agility in Companies" is aimed at internal and external practitioners for whom transformation management is at the center of their tasks. Coaches, business managers, managing directors and other decision-makers will benefit from the comprehensive perspectives in this anthology, as will academics and lecturers specializing in organization, agile management, project management, business management, change management, product management, development, process management and strategic management.

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