Meet AEgile: Axiom’s approach to planning and execution
From Axiom’s founding in 2014 as a long-duration thermal energy storage provider to our more recent goal of becoming the leading provider of artificial intelligence for commercial refrigeration, Axiom has been able to solve a swath of engineering challenges and provide innovative, relevant, and practical solutions. In order to do this, we’ve successfully adapted a number of proven execution frameworks, including Agile methodology, to our unique needs. In this blog post, we’ll take a look under the hood.
Key Concepts
Safety, Focus, Scalability, and Team - these are the core principles of Axiom.
Customer and stakeholder needs come first. Deliver what THEY want, not what YOU want. Stay humble.
Tackle the hardest problems first. But don’t get bogged down: use the 80/20 rule to de-risk them and move on. Constantly deliver value.
Always have a plan! Then rapidly iterate and frequently replan.
Prioritize outcomes over process and/or implementation.
Meet all acute roadblocks with an immediate full-throttle “swarm”. Leave no stone unturned!
Challenge ideas, not people.
AEgile Methodology
1) Transform never-ending uncertainty into a (short) period of focus.
There’s a relentless barrage of shifting customer needs, market cues, economic conditions, geopolitical crises - you name it - that can paralyze even the best team. Every few months, we distill that massive uncertainty into a “Shot”, or a company-wide unified theme with specific outcomes. In order to define the overarching theme of each Shot even further, they usually have catchy names, like “CloudShot” or “ScaleShot.”
A Shot is designed to drive focus, context, stability, and clarity, which is critical to making real progress. A Shot is NOT a fire drill, a 100% shift in priorities, or a rationale to ignore all other ongoing business needs. Those Shot outcomes are, as best as we can tell, the right goals for the business over the next few months.
2) Define a detailed plan to achieve our target outcomes.
Shot outcomes define where we have to go. Initiatives define the myriad paths to getting there. Initiatives are highly flexible, lightweight, cross-functional, logical workstreams that range from whipping up a proof of concept to developing key product features or to establishing robust operations. Initiatives often spin up, spin down, and overlap during a Shot as needed. Each team member is typically only supporting one to three Initiatives, while the entire team is supporting eight to fifteen Initiatives at any given time.
Taking a page from Scrum methodology, we divide each Shot into 2-week chunks, or Sprints. Each Initiative defines several high-level Goals to accomplish in each Sprint. These Goals tell the team what needs to get done, but more importantly, they communicate why these things matter. This list of Goals, managed in Jira, is the one-stop-shop for everything happening at Axiom during that Sprint.
3) Execute, reevaluate, re-plan.
Sprints are Axiom’s drumbeat. With Sprint Goals in hand, we execute almost single-mindedly to meet those Goals however possible. When in doubt, we rely on the fact that we have to get these specific Goals done in a specific priority.
At the completion of each Sprint, we critically reevaluate this plan, adjusting Goals, team allocations, and priorities based on the immediate situation on the ground. We grade ourselves at the end of the Shot: did we achieve the necessary outcomes? What was the bottom-line impact to the business? What did we do well, and how can we improve moving forward?
4) Rinse and repeat.
Surprise, surprise: the world has turned upside down yet again. Armed with the success of the last Shot, we repeat the cycle. This framework has really paid off: we create the space to make significant, meaningful progress, but we also anticipate and change our strategy as the situation continues to evolve.
Nikhil is the CTO at and Co-founder of Axiom Cloud Inc.
Axiom Cloud Inc. uses Artificial Intelligence to transform the world’s thermal systems into intelligent, flexible, and resilient assets. If you’re interested in learning more about our team or the Virtual Battery and Virtual Technician services, contact us today.