01 / STRATEGY AAU OPERATING MODEL
Start with the outcome. Every meaningful piece of work begins with a business reason. Define the change we want to create, then organise delivery around it.
THE DELIVERY JOURNEY
From intent to impact
A business reason becomes an accepted result.
01 PURPOSE
Business intent
Define the change worth making.
02 FOCUS
Quest
Connect the objective, squad and work.
03 COMMITMENT
Release
Deliver with readiness and confidence.
04 VALUE
Accepted outcome
Confirm the result against agreed evidence.
01 Make the business intent explicit.
02 Agree how success will be evidenced.
03 Connect priorities to a Quest and a responsible squad.
Put it into practice
01 / STRATEGY
Business intent
Customer value, revenue growth, efficiency, service improvement, risk reduction, compliance, experience or platform stability.
02 / STRATEGY
A meaningful Quest
A delivery objective that connects why the work exists to execution, release and an accepted outcome.
03 / STRATEGY
Evidence of success
Agree acceptance criteria and the signals that will show whether the intended outcome was achieved.
What a Quest must answer +
One model, different work +
02 / SQUADS AAU OPERATING MODEL
Own the outcome together. Delivery squads bring together the capabilities needed to move from understanding a need to releasing and supporting the outcome.
01 Own quality, risk and dependencies collectively.
02 Make responsibility visible across disciplines.
03 Follow through after the release.
Put it into practice
01 / SQUADS
Product Manager
Connects customer needs, product direction, priorities and value. Helps the squad understand what to achieve and why it matters.
02 / SQUADS
Warden / Project Manager
Coordinates execution, release planning, scope, dependencies, risks, assignment validation and stakeholder communication.
03 / SQUADS
Delivery Squad
Collectively owns delivery, quality, acceptance, readiness, release preparation and follow-through.
Compose the squad around the work +
Shared accountability in practice +
03 / AGILE AAU OPERATING MODEL
Agile gives us the mindset. We adapt practices to the work rather than prescribing one framework for every squad.
01 Deliver value incrementally.
02 Make progress, risks and dependencies transparent.
03 Respond to feedback and empower the team.
Put it into practice
01 / AGILE
Small increments
Deliver usable progress that can be inspected, accepted and improved.
02 / AGILE
Continuous collaboration
Bring business, product and delivery perspectives together throughout execution.
03 / AGILE
Evidence and adaptation
Use feedback to adjust priorities and practices, then carry the learning into the next cycle.
Practices that serve the outcome +
A common foundation +
04 / CHAPTERS AAU OPERATING MODEL
Chapters strengthen our craft. A squad is where a contributor delivers an outcome. A chapter is where they grow their professional skills, standards and career.
01 Share standards across squads.
02 Mentor people and develop capability.
03 Turn local learning into reusable knowledge.
Put it into practice
01 / CHAPTERS
Squad membership
Where a contributor helps deliver a shared business outcome.
02 / CHAPTERS
Chapter membership
Where a contributor develops professional skills, standards and career progression.
03 / CHAPTERS
Organizational capability
Engineering, Quality, Product, Project Management, UX/UI, Architecture and DevOps can each support a professional chapter.
What chapters contribute +
05 / CRAFT AAU OPERATING MODEL
Evidence travels with the work. Completion becomes useful evidence when the required validation is attached.
01 Define acceptance evidence early.
02 Review and validate as work progresses.
03 Prepare for support and operation.
Put it into practice
01 / CRAFT
Understand and design
Connect analysis and UX to the intended user need and the business outcome.
02 / CRAFT
Build and validate
Combine engineering review, testing and specialist input to create reliable, supportable software.
03 / CRAFT
Prepare and sustain
Bring deployment stability, operational support and stakeholder readiness into delivery decisions.
Professional standards at AAU +
06 / RELEASE AAU OPERATING MODEL
Commit with confidence. Bring business, product, technical, quality, operational and communication readiness together.
01 Agree the outcome, scope and acceptance evidence.
02 Manage dependencies, risk, quality and readiness throughout delivery.
03 Treat readiness as a shared responsibility.
Six dimensions of readiness
01 / RELEASE
Business
Has the intended business outcome been accepted?
02 / RELEASE
Product
Does the capability address the intended need?
03 / RELEASE
Technical
Is the solution stable and deployable?
04 / RELEASE
Quality
Has the required validation been completed?
05 / RELEASE
Operational
Can the organisation support the release?
06 / RELEASE
Communication
Are affected stakeholders prepared?
At the beginning of a release +
Through execution and beyond +
07 / QUESTIFY AAU OPERATING MODEL
Questify connects execution to purpose. Keep business intent connected to every Quest, and give every perspective a view of the same delivery system.
01 Keep business intent connected to every Quest.
02 Give each perspective a view of the same delivery system.
03 Retain decisions, evidence and contribution history.
Put it into practice
01 / QUESTIFY
Quest
The meaningful objective: why the work exists, the outcome sought, the responsible squad and the evidence of acceptance.
02 / QUESTIFY
Steps
The work required to progress a Quest: development, design, analysis, testing, bugs, improvements, operations, dependencies, approvals and release activities.
03 / QUESTIFY
Connected views
Business, product, project, squad, release, contributor and leadership perspectives share the same delivery context.
The questions Questify helps answer +
Organizational delivery memory +
08 / RECOGNITION AAU OPERATING MODEL
Recognition follows evidence. Gamification makes meaningful contribution visible. Progression reinforces accepted outcomes, quality, collaboration and learning.
01 Recognise validated contribution.
02 Reward collaboration and prevention as well as delivery.
03 Keep activity counts and logged hours in context.
Put it into practice
01 / RECOGNITION
Dependency Breaker
Resolved a critical dependency affecting delivery.
02 / RECOGNITION
Quality Guardian
Protected a release from a significant quality issue.
03 / RECOGNITION
Knowledge Builder
Created reusable organisational knowledge.
04 / RECOGNITION
Release Champion
Made an important contribution to a successful release.
05 / RECOGNITION
Squad Supporter
Helped another contributor or squad achieve an outcome.
06 / RECOGNITION
Continuous Improver
Improved a practice or process to make delivery more effective.
Behaviours worth recognising +
Progression with integrity +
09 / LEARN AAU OPERATING MODEL
Improve the next cycle. Use feedback to strengthen future Quests, practices and standards.
01 Review the intended and achieved outcome.
02 Surface what helped and what slowed delivery.
03 Turn lessons into changes for the next cycle.
Put it into practice
01 / LEARN
Reflect
Did we achieve the outcome? What worked? What slowed us down? Which dependencies emerged?
02 / LEARN
Improve
Were risks visible early? Did our quality approach work? What should change next time?
03 / LEARN
Carry it forward
Apply learning to future Quests, release planning, squad practices, chapter standards and Questify configuration.
Our operating philosophy +
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