Agile Sprints for Strategic Growth
Part-fundedThe Agile Sprints for Strategic Growth programme is designed to be run alongside your normal business operations.
It is aligned to your risk appetite with a heavy emphasis on the risk / reward balance of outcomes and is designed to deliver tangible results that are strategically enhancing and capital accretive. If you are ambitious for your business, then these programmes could be the right fit for you.
- These growth sprints will help your internal and external customer propositions.
- They will create competitive advantage.
- They will provide you a new perspective on the organisational environment, and new ways to explore areas of focus and the ability to execute on same.
- You will achieve real outcomes quickly. The expectation is that you will be willing to engage and be open to achieve these ends. It will complement business-as-usual and it will require effort, but not too much.
Each sprint session is a masterclass that develops and tests the projects from inception to the target outcome (ranging from prototype, pilot, operational system etc). A significant component is the integrated mentoring, which supports and challenges each team as they progress on the journey. Throughout the course of the sprint sessions, the participants will accumulate tools and processes that are repeatable and will accumulate in a personalised toolkit.
Sprint 1 Summary
This sprint addresses 3 main questions.
> Is your organisation set up to address change effectively?
> Do you want to benchmark and evidence your innovation / change readiness?
> Do you want a transformation roadmap to help your organisation deliver better results?
This proposal will help your customers by setting up your organisation to more effectively meet new and emerging customer needs. It creates competitive advantage by delivering a clear picture of an organisation’s strengths and weaknesses, in line with ISO standards.
What happens if we do nothing?
The “do nothing” fallacy risks not being fully aware of organisational shortcomings, platform gaps, stakeholder engagement weaknesses which may hamper or result in fewer new initiatives.
Takeaway & Outcomes
Sprint 1 provides structure, clarity and high-quality debate on strategy and organisational capability for innovation and change. It aligns with ISO 56002, and delivers a detailed time bound roadmap with tangible priorities.
Timeline
Day 1 – One-to-one structured interviews and research Customer Discovery.
Day 2 – Workshops to develop strategy and capability roadmap.
Day 3 – Comprehensive Report / Roadmap Completion and Presentation to the Leadership team for approval and actioning of strategic outcomes.
Sprint 2 Summary
This sprint addresses 3 main questions.
> Do you want to get better at selecting, prioritizing, and testing new ideas?
> Do you have a consistent methodology for managing disruption?
> Are you using tools to scope and shape new initiatives?
This proposal will help your customers by assisting to choose and define the right areas of focus and right engagement model with customers. It will create competitive advantage by enabling the organization to create a portfolio of the best fit customer opportunities. The sprint will provide you a new perspective on the organisational environment and new ways to explore new areas of focus and the ability to execute on same.
Takeaway & Outcomes
Identifies and prioritises opportunities and challenges.
Validates and tests feasibility.
Delivers the methodology to evaluate business model and digital disruption.
Defines the v1 project scope for each initiative.
Timeline
Sprint 2 – Typical Format of Days – (Varies depending on the company’s own starting point – may involve 1-to-1 and/or group activities)
Day 1 – Review thematic areas and apply screening methodologies to identify candidate opportunity and challenges. Evaluate the change and stakeholder environment.
Day 2 – Workshops to evaluate the DFC, VP, BMC.
Day 3 – Finalising the v1 project scope for the top initiatives.
N.B: you can have a small or large group in Sprint 2.
Sprint 3 Summary
This sprint addresses 3 main questions.
> Do you want to execute change and innovation projects effectively?
> Do you want to develop people, processes, and tools to deliver better outcomes?
> Do you want a robust pipeline of new products and services?
This proposal will help your customers by delivering proven concepts and /or new products and services to external and internal customers. It creates competitive advantage by generating revenue from new products and services and differentiates talent through their ability to use the latest tools and processes. What happens if we do nothing? Fewer new successful products and services – this sprint focuses on delivery / execution of prioritized opportunities.
Takeaway & Outcomes
Provides workshop discipline to execute innovation and change projects.
Aligns talent, develops skills, uses latest innovation processes and tools.
Delivers proven concepts that can be scaled and measured.
Timeline
Day 1 – Focus on the challenge.
Day 2 – Explore the options/data.
Day 3 – Prototyping possibilities.
Day 4 – Build framework / possibilities.
Day 5 – Pilot with the target audience.
Day 6 – Scale considerations.
Applicants must be employed by, or operating as, an eligible business engaged in economic activity in the Republic of Ireland. This includes private companies, sole traders, commercial social enterprises and eligible commercial semi-state organisations. Additional eligibility verification may be required for certain organisation types to avail of grant-aided fees.
Frequently Asked Questions
The questions our team are asked most often about this programme. If your question is not answered here, make an enquiry and we will come back to you.
The programme is designed for organisations that want to turn strategic priorities, innovation opportunities or business challenges into clear, actionable outcomes. It is particularly relevant for leadership teams and business functions looking to improve how they respond to change, prioritise opportunities, develop new products or services, and execute innovation projects.
Agile Sprints for Strategic Growth is a practical, company-focused programme that combines structured workshops, masterclass learning and integrated mentoring. Rather than working through generic case studies, participating teams apply the tools and processes to their own strategic challenges and opportunities, progressing towards tangible business outcomes.
This is not primarily a course in agile project-management methodology. The programme uses focused sprint activity to help organisations address real strategic priorities, test opportunities and execute change. Each sprint combines learning with practical application, while mentoring supports and challenges the participating team as the work develops.
The programme can support organisations that need to improve innovation or change readiness, prioritise new business opportunities, respond to disruption, develop new customer propositions, or move promising ideas towards implementation.
Depending on the sprint, the work can range from organisational assessment and strategic roadmapping through to opportunity validation, prototyping, piloting and scale planning.
Sprint 1 focuses on organisational readiness for innovation and change and produces a time-bound strategic roadmap.
Sprint 2 helps identify, prioritise and test opportunities and define an initial project scope.
Sprint 3 focuses on executing selected innovation or change projects, developing concepts through prototyping, piloting and consideration of scale.
Not necessarily. The appropriate starting point depends on what your organisation is trying to achieve. Sprint 1 can help establish organisational priorities and readiness, while Sprint 2 is specifically designed to identify and prioritise opportunities. Sprint 3 is more appropriate when an organisation has a prioritised opportunity that it wants to develop and execute.
The programme is delivered on a bespoke basis, typically over three to six days, depending on the sprint and the organisation’s requirements. Delivery can combine in-person and hybrid activity, including interviews, workshops, mentoring, research, practical exercises and presentations.
The outputs depend on the sprint and the challenge being addressed. They can include an innovation and change roadmap, prioritised opportunities, validated concepts, defined project scopes, prototypes, pilots or frameworks for scaling. Participants also build a personalised set of repeatable tools and processes that can be applied to future innovation and strategic-growth initiatives.
The programme is bespoke, so fees depend on the organisation’s requirements and the sprint being delivered. Technology Ireland ICT Skillnet can provide part-funded fees for eligible organisations. Businesses must be engaged in economic activity in the Republic of Ireland, with eligible organisations including private companies, sole traders, commercial social enterprises and eligible commercial semi-state organisations.
