Our Operations

Our operations’ motto is: Semper Gumby.

We apply a 3-layer approach combining 3 well-aligned operating frameworks. Through the layers, both uncertainty and ambiguity are reduced. We apply Design Thinking for What & Why, and Scrum & CCPM for How & When.

In the outer first layer, we apply Design Thinking across the business. The main purpose of our firm is to ensure that we are delivering a great experience across all client touch points. This requires a firm-wide focus on the client. It is the ideal framework for us to use, because it focuses on developing deep empathy for clients and creating solutions that will match their needs - as opposed to just dreaming up and delivering technology and designs for designs’ sake.

In the middle second layer we use Scrum. We choose to be approximately right rather than precisely wrong. We apply iterative project management and we disapprove waterfall project management.

    We have adopted the Agile Manifesto principles. We are uncovering better ways of developing transportation designs and we have come to value:
  1. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools.
  2. Constructible and performance-based designs over criteria-based designs and comprehensive documentation.
  3. Client collaboration over contract negotiation. Since designs are intangible, it is difficult to predefine an unchanging view of what should be designed. We want to "do the right thing" and not "being right".
  4. Responding to change over following a plan. To give to our clients a competitive advantage.

That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

In the inner third layer and inside each Scrum sprint we apply Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) and give emphasis to resource dependencies, to identification and insertion of buffers, and to search for “a good enough” solution -not for the optimum solution-, since the inherent uncertainty in estimates is greater that the difference between optimum and “good enough.”

Tags: Design Leadership