Xebia Articles

The term “arms race” describes an escalating competition between nations for superiority in the development and accumulation of weapons. The concept has been further applied to a number of disciplines and situations (evolutionary biology, mathematical decision making, logic and computer science, amongst others) in which escalating competition arises from two or more opposing groups striving to outdo one another. This concept can also be applied to the field of innovation, whereby competition between companies occurs for superiority in the development and accumulation of innovative products. This is termed an “innovation race.”

Today’s digital age is buzzing with “transformations” and “accelerations” that are driving organizations to new levels of competition and increasing their reliance on IT. Information technology is no longer a secondary, supporting resource; IT has become a primary business USP. In turn, the increasing demand for capable, seasoned engineers has sparked a virtual “war for talent.” The only way to attract and retain the best of the best is to cultivate a culture specifically designed for engineers. Agile can help you do that.

This article is published in . Agile NXT is a new magazine full of inspiration for professionals on the emerging Agile journey. It challenges you to think differently and improve yourself, your team, and company a little more each day. 


Digital Drivers 
There are four critical ramifications of today’s digital age fueling the war for talent and the increasing demand for engineers: 

Organizations that transform into Agile ones need their cultures to reflect their new values. Agile cultures promote flexibility and autonomy. They’re purpose-driven, idealistic, tolerant, open, inventive, explorative, warm, engaged and sincere. But how does an organization transition towards such a culture? Is it possible to create or engineer one? And, if so, what potential side effects should you consider?

The age of assistance is here! Voice based conversational technology has become readily available and the tools offered by Google’s Dialogflow allow for easy modelling and creation of such interfaces. This lowers the bar for entry and allows you to provide a personalized experience on a digital assistant platform.

This blog answers the most common questions about (voice) assistants based on our investigations with Google’s DialogFlow technology.

Big projects take forever, never get done, and lose relevancy for before anyone uses them. Building things nobody uses is a waste of time, and money, but we spend fortunes doing it, over and over again. There is a better way.

“We know just what they want” is a common statement to come across while working on a project. It is expressed by people who fancy that their experience gives them the knowledge necessary to use substitute thinking. To decide for others what they want. The hope is that this will speed things up. However, it can lead to discovering later in the process that you are going about things the wrong way. Surely this is not a desired scenario. It would be much better to sympathize with your target group as much as possible.

The amount of voice searches is growing at a phenomenal rate. The reason is simple: people speak quicker than they type. A US research company (Alpine.AI) estimates that currently, each month sees about 1 trillion spoken search queries taking place on the web. With the more and more Voice Assistant devices such as Amazon’s Alexa, Google Home entering the market, and more and more websites supporting voice searches, this type of query will soon become part of our everyday lives.

This means that being found on a website or an app no longer suffices. You will need to investigate the possibilities offered by voice search if you don’t want to miss the boat and be caught by big players. It sounds complicated, but it’s not. These 3 steps will make your business Voice Search ready!

State of Product Management Conference – November 16, 2018

This event is in the past. Please visit the event page for latest updates.

Set better priorities, manage your personal growth, and increase your personal effectiveness across all levels of your career. At State of Product Management, you can expect three tracks with fast-paced, interactive sessions about the latest, progressive, topics in product management.