What it means
Aeilus is a management methodology that represents the performance of an organization through measurable value streams.
Problems it solves
The rise of startups in the 2000s demonstrated the high efficiency of small teams. Small development teams can quickly and accurately solve tasks, use their full potential, and optimally spend resources through intelligent prioritization.
Startups grew and faced the challenges of big companies. While following agile principles and working in small groups, large companies had to look for methodologies that compose the work of many groups. The issues of interaction between these groups, ensuring the quality of the results obtained by joint work, and the efficiency of processes have come to the fore.
The Aeilus methodology will allow:
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Create the performance criteria.It is very difficult for management to evaluate the work of departments if they are not involved in the main business process. Most often, the significance of the results of the work of secondary departments is difficult to measure. Moreover, each department can deliver many different results. Measuring the effectiveness of teams, groups of teams and interaction between different groups becomes a very difficult task with the growth of the company. A single formalized criterion will help to understand the value of the work performed not only by team members but also by colleagues, as well as management. |
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Optimize business processes. With a performance criterion in place, the department or team will be able to optimize their business processes to maximize the given criterion. From a software development perspective, business processes are shaped by a set of applied practices. Aeilus includes a catalog of practices that is constantly expanding. |
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Increase the transparency of work. Transparency in each company allows you to get rid of process costs, unprofitable products, and unscrupulous managers or employees. Transparency allows departments to better understand each other, shows the importance of certain works, and allows them to do better work. |
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Create a channel for transferring priorities from top to bottom. Company owners or top management set values for large projects that can influence the loss of value in case of failure or degradation of products. Product owners or department heads determine the value for individual components or tasks, thus creating a cascade of value when decomposing projects. As the mission, values, and goals of an organization can change, the definition of value and meaning also change, showing teams and employees what is more important to the company at the moment. |
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Provide feedback on losses. Failures happen because any business is associated with risks, as well as in any area of work. Feedback on how much value the company has lost due to the fact that some tasks were not completed, any service was not working, or a contract was not completed is extremely important. Systematic work in this direction strengthens the channel for transferring priorities and allows the team, for its part, to find the right balance of Speed, Quality, and Cost. |
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Optimize resource consumption. In any part of the business process, there may be a shortage of resources. A clear system of priorities and feedback on losses allows the team to focus efforts on the most important tasks, using the company's resources in an efficient way. This is most critical for large companies in which one division can serve several different business areas. |
The main idea
The Aeilus methodology presents the customer interaction with companies as a cyclic value stream. The value from customers coming to the company can be expressed in the form of money (payment for goods or services), recommendations and reviews, feedback, showing interest in new services or information about the company, and more. From the company to customers, the value stream can be represented in the form of the supply of goods and services to customers, as well as the provision of discounts, the creation of additional services, and others. Essentially, it separates the flow of what customers give to the organization from what the organization gives to customers.
The organization must value any entities that are submitted in the stream in terms of defined units. Since different entities are transferred in each stream, it is necessary to bring the units of measure to a single standard within the organization. It is recommended to use abstract value points as such a unit of measurement, although money can also work. Each such stream is measured in order to be able to control its changes.
In addition, the value stream within the company is divided into many flows between different departments, which in turn create value flows towards other departments. All these flows must be measured, and feedback is given from the one who consumes the values in the flow.
In the representation of the organization, Aeilus is limited only to the flows associated with the organization, but you can replace the organization with a person or even a state, but the principles of working with the value stream will not change.
It includes
Aeilus consists of Definitions, Principles, Value Stream Management, Collection of Practices, Policies, and Reporting.
The use of measurable value streams, domains, and policies, adherence to the principles of working with flows, as well as the formation of a certain type of report, means applying the Aeilus methodology.