Initially, the Agile methodology was invented to fasten development processes in the software field while maintaining product quality. Instead of using slower traditional methods, Agile helped speed up value delivery using short sprints and end-user feedback for improvements. The approach focused on interactions and individuals over tools and processes and collaboration with customers other than contract negotiation. Other target points were efficient software over exhaustive documentation and response to change rather than following plans.
Today, Agile has been adopted by many industries, other than the software development sector. Despite this, the healthcare sector has been slower in accepting the methodology. In other fields, Agile is used as an incremental and iterative methodology used in project management to assist teams in meeting the current workplace demands. It utilizes various frameworks like Kanban, SCRUM, etcetera. All these are, centered on continuous process improvement, transparency, flexibility, and quality. You can learn more about these Agile structures by reviewing the available online resources or other research materials.
How Agile Principles And The Healthcare Industry Relate
You can describe an agile organization as one that adapts faster and efficiently to rapid change, which is essential. Those that aren’t, however, find it hard to keep up with the ever-changing market conditions. The healthcare industry can benefit hugely by using continuous process improvement methodologies like Agile. For instance, they can give better patient care and cut costs. Additionally, Agile can boost innovations and enhance the technologies used in healthcare for both business and clinical processes.
It’s said that the healthcare sector mostly utilizes traditional methods that may negatively affect performance. It has also been mentioned that only a small percentage of healthcare leaders are aware of Agile. However, the small group that utilizes this methodology has reported that their teams achieve more with Agile than conventional methods. That being so, the industry continues to grow, and numerous regulatory and financial pressures surround it. Therefore, adopting Agile principles increases effective and efficient management of the existing services and resources.
Agile companies do things faster and efficiently. In agile development, lean startup models apply agile methods to build high-quality systems that meet any industry, regulatory and other relevant standards such as HIPAA and remain “audit ready.”
Agile companies focus on quick wins, external focus, ruthless prioritization, and continuous development. Agile development relies heavily on constant testing to ensure improvement.
Agile compliance management
Lean development refers to a set of principles that are designed to eliminate waste, build-in quality, create knowledge, deliver fast results, defer commitment, respect people and optimize the whole process. At their core, both agile and lean development focus on efficiency, sustainability, speed, quality and communication.
Companies can deliver software faster when they eliminate inefficient processes. Agile development follows the following 12 principles:
Customer satisfaction
Harnessing change to gain competitive advantage
Delivering working software frequently
Bringing together business and development departments
Supporting talent
Conveying information efficiently
Measuring progress by working software
Promoting sustainable development
Focusing on technical excellence
Maximizing the amount of undone work
Using self-organizing teams to build the best designs, architectures, and requirements
Reflecting and adjusting
How Agile development applies to cybersecurity
Agile development methods align well to cybersecurity because they focus on harnessing change, readjustment and reflection. You see, malicious actors (think black hat hackers) have excelled in agile development. They continuously re-adjust their attacks to maintain superiority and remain one step ahead of defensive mechanisms employed by organizations by improving the quality of their software. To combat these threats, you need to come up with a similar agile security-first approach to protect your information and systems.
What is Agile compliance?
Agile compliance also focuses on the 12 principles of agile development; however, it focuses on threat mitigation and not product development. Furthermore, agile compliance prioritizes customer data security as well as stakeholder satisfaction as the primary product as opposed to customer satisfaction, which is the main focus of agile development.
When it comes to cybersecurity governance, risk and compliance (GRC), data integrity and availability leads to customer satisfaction and confidence. With compliance’s security-first approach, you create an iterative process that includes mitigation, monitoring, and review, which is aligned with your controls and protects your data.
In cybersecurity, an agile compliance program is a security-first strategy that is put in place to protect data. This strategy focuses on your data controls’ quality and ensures that even when industry regulations and standards lag behind threat vectors, your company maintains a secure data environment. Here are the 12 principles:
