Agile finance - Special feature
About Christian Dubé
Christian Dubé is First Director at PSP Investments and has
been working in software engineering since 1992. With a
degree in management computing, he spent the first ten
years of his career with several research and development
firms, designing and developing distributed applications.
In the early 2000s, he worked in business architecture for
Quebec’s health network.
Since his arrival at PSP Investments in 2005, his achieve-
ments include the creation of a new group responsible for
shared services (development, integration, business intelli-
gence, support and collaboration) that has been working in
an Agile mode (Scrum and Kanban) from the onset. Today, he
focuses on creating and operating self-managed teams that
flourish and deliver value.
months, the team stabilized the delivery process and significant-
ly increased its level of accountability.
AKH: What is the greatest benefit?
GB To this day, a lot of people associate Agility with anarchy.
Yet, Agility is first and foremost about discipline. In my ex-
perience, the most disciplined teams are Agile teams. Let’s
take the case of a newcomer. After two weeks, we have the im-
pression that this person has always been part of the team.
The team’s environment is very strong and inclusive.
CD The greatest benefit is to have mobilized employees. When
people come to work with a team they love, when they feel their
opinion is taken into consideration, that when they want to
change things they have the means to do it and to experiment
even if it does not always work, that there is space to make
mistakes without being punished, it makes a huge difference.
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It also means that people are much
more mobilized than what we
generally find in teams that are not
self-managed.
AKH: How do you measure success?
GB First, through a form of fulfillment. Finishing an iteration
with a delivery or doing tests are elements that contribute to
the team’s fulfillment. With experience, it is no longer necessary
to read iteration reports to feel it. The creation of value is the
measure of an Agile team. The increase in Agility can translate
into entrepreneurial dynamism. It is possible to measure the
value created, but in my mind it is first a state of mind.
‘‘We asked ourselves:
what should we do to
change the way we do
things? Our answer was to
introduce Agility.’’
- Christian D.
With our partners, transparency and regular interactions
create a positive perception. Success comes when you become
business partners and everyone embraces this entrepreneurial
vision. I have more reservations regarding the creation of a
score card type model. It helps the transformation by giving
tangible objectives, but does not really allow to measure suc-
cess. Each team has its own story, each product its own specifi-
cations. The relation to value of a stock trading application and
a risk management tool is different by nature. In the end,