Industrial Agile

This is a very exciting time for Big Orange Square! We’ve now got two training centers: one in Longmont, CO, and another in Fort Lauderdale, FL (technically it’s in Dania Beach, but it’s easier to just say Fort Lauderdale). The Longmont shop has been open for business for all of 2017, but while we’ve had our Fort Lauderdale location secured since March of 2017, our first class at that location did not take place until December 2017. While we have been through the build out process before we’re always curious about why these things take so long. At Big Orange Square, we say we can help you deliver “Twice the Product in Half the Time™,” which means the normal cycles we see in product development is generally four times longer than what it could be. Opening our shop in Florida has taught us a few things about why it has taken us four times longer to open than we’d originally hoped for. After an extensive and expensive plan submission/rejection/resubmission processes, we built the walls and roughed electrical and plumbing for the bathrooms. Here were the steps required for us to put up drywall:

1. Schedule the plumbing inspector.
2. If plumbing passes we can schedule the electrical inspector…
3. If electrical passes we can schedule the framing inspector…
4. If framing passes we can schedule the insulation inspector…
5. If insulation passes we can dry wall and then request additional inspections, etc….
6. Process Improvements Aren’t Just For Software Development Does this sequential waterfall process sound familiar?

I believe civil engineering can become more agile. We can bring the team-based approach of Scrum to the Permitting and Inspections Department, too. My hope is that, in addition to commercial endeavors, public services can realize and utilize the benefits we’re promoting. Although our shop was built with a waterfall in Dania Beach, it will operate with agility! When you need the extra edge during product development, it can be difficult to know where to turn. While there are many consulting groups out there, very few of them have the deep knowledge and experience making agile/Scrum work for many different kinds of business. There is no reason to be intimidated by agile when you have Big Orange Square on your side. When your team visits our training facilities, you’ll quickly be immersed in the unique agile/Scrum program that we have developed to make small firms competitive, viable, and efficient. If you’re curious about how our training works, learn more about it here. Contact us today to learn how Big Orange Square can teach your team to work and think more efficiently and effectively!