Bridge the Gap Between Marketing and IT

...IT organization has been transitioning from the traditional development approach of (1) define functional requirements, then (2) design, then (3) build (the "waterfall" approach) to making quick, small changes to systems ("Agile Scrum").

The waterfall approach kills companies that are not in the software business.  Since internal products are not sold, nor measured by sales, its easier for IT departments to hide behind process.  Process and requirements kill companies.  Companies in this current age need to be faster to market.  

Agile and Scrum have allowed ING to respond quickly to signals from customers. But moving to continuous delivery is a struggle. Some business people who are used to the traditional waterfall method can fall into an unfortunate cycle: taking months to develop requirements, then waiting for IT to respond, then telling IT that's not what they wanted. Now instead at ING they say, "Here's your team. You need to be in every daily or weekly Scrum cycle or sprint to decide if the work is meeting your needs." It demands more time from the business people, but they are engaged and own it.

The Agile method is so much more effective to engage the business.  The business moves at the speed of sound compared to IT and if the IT department gets buried into process, the business loses faith in IT and finds another way.  This doesn't make sense for the business, but it happens to get things done. 

While Scrum has been employed primarily in software development, ING shows that it has broader management applications. They have used Agile Scrum as a key tool for collaboration across functions in processes such as developing new products and in marketing campaigns. And the frequent (daily or weekly) meetings accelerate decision-making.

This is very interesting and I have never thought about all decision making changing to an Agile Scrum.  In my business, I deploy an "unofficial" Agile Scrum, just have never thought about it from that point of view.  I believe it works so much better, to be engaged daily in your business and with your team.