If one thing was learned from our #MilkBar event last week, it’s that STEM, should really be STEAM. With the 'A' representing the arts! 
We are living in the 'Age of Information', a period of time that is characterised by the shift from industrial production to one based on information and computerisation (Wikipedia). Nearly all business's are digital, or at least partly digital. So as time progresses how is this computerisation impacting Business and the roles/skills of the workers? 
Bringing together some of the top minds in Scottish Digital Transformation, This is Milk held the first #MilkBar of 2018 at Tontine Glasgow on the 16th of March. An event created to educate & discuss the topic 'Jobs of the Future'. ​

Way back at the start of This is Milk our founders sat down with the task of choosing the colours that would represent our brand in a traditionally corporate landscape of blues, greys, blacks...dull... boring... yawn .. .. .. .. .. .. sorry, we nodded off for a second there! Now come on, why does corporate have to mean boring?

​Well it doesn't and we relished at the opportunity to buck the trend, stand out, and more importantly create a brand that represents who we were as people as well as professionals.

If you would like to dive deeper into the world of colour, here is a fantastic blog taking you through the psychological meaning of the colour Pink. 

It's a colour of compassion,  understanding and insight. It's empathetic and hopeful. It is a positive colour inspiring warm and comforting feelings and a sense that everything will be okay.

Sounds exactly like This is Milk!

This is Milk are proud to lead the way in gender parity, with a business that treats everyone as equals, as humans and will continue to strive for change in the workplace. 

For more on This is Milk and the above topic we recommend you check out these two blogs:
​
​Raising a baby and a business 
​How to kick-start your dream business
​How to build a string brand strategy 


Thanks for reading and be sure to comment or even share.

Al Morris
This is Milk's Content & Marketing Executive sharing news on 'This is Milk'.

Last week our Managing Director Angela spoke at a Girl Geek Scotland event in Edinburgh. For those of you who have not came across them yet, Girl Geek Scotland is a network and community for people working and studying in creativity, computing, enterprise and related sectors in Scotland. It provides a fantastic platform for the team at 'This is Milk' to not only learn from our peers but to also inspire them when and where we can.

Like all GGS events, this one had a fantastic turnout and it was great to be involved . We want to say a huge thank you to the team at GGS for inviting us,  as well giving massive props to all the other speakers/panelists who where there on the night, including:

Vicky Brock - Entrepreneur and chair of the event
​Mark Logan - Transformational C-level internet economy executive (former COO, Skyscanner)
Rachel Lane - Digital Strategist & Service Designer
Leah Lockhart - Digital Engagement, The Democratic Society

Events like these are made by the fantastic professionals that give their time to add value to the community. 

So go check them out and say hey!

If Girl Geek Scotland sound of interest to you, you can check out their website.  Also for a look at some of the previous GGS events, be sure to check out their Eventbrite page here and we hope to see you at one in the near future.

We always have time to chat, so please tweet, DM or message us on any of the social channels below.

Sometimes it’s healthy to take time out to reflect on your own achievements, for to quote Ferris Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

​​​​
​Once upon a time, two women came together with a shared idea. Looking around, Angela Prentner-Smith didn’t see anyone else in Scotland offering a business transformation service, so she decided to step up and give it a go.
 
That once upon a time took place just a few years ago and in the subsequent months, a lot has happened. The  idea has taken seed and that seed has grown into a business development agency called This Is Milk. Two and a half years and 20 clients later, we’ve surpassed milestones that we could previously only have dreamed of – and this is just the beginning.
 
As This is Milk celebrates its two-and-a-half birthday, it seems an appropriate time to reflect on the journey so far and to look ahead at what’s still to come.

 The story so far
 
​So what’s happened since Angela first floated the idea of This is Milk? Let’s see. We’ve. had...

• Attracted over 20 clients in 16 industries
• Created a board of 3 businesswomen
• Supported 5 internships
• Taken on team members
• Hosted 5 Milk Bars​

Milk Bars? That’s the name given to our quarterly free events which are designed for anyone who shares a passion for making business better. Five Milk Bars have been held to date, with hundreds of delegates attending to exchange ideas and learn ways to improve their business.

Milking it
 
Catching up to the present day and it’s all systems go here at This is Milk as we plot a course for the next two years. We’ve got bold goals and exciting plans to foment, but before we can level up, there are a few tasks to tick off:

• Moving premises. We’re leaving our office in a former prison and claiming our freedom by fleeing to a new enterprise centre this month
• Participating at prestigious industry events. We’re privileged to have been nominated for no less than three awards this year, there are not more important things to be doing, like looking out our heels and cocktail dresses for awards season
• New everything. It’s not just the TiM offices that are getting an upgrade: we’re also adding to our team as well as expanding our services and taking on new clients and partnerships

​We’re excited to discover what the next years will hold and we’d love you to join us on the journey. Get in touch and let’s see what we can do to grow your business together.

Nothing lasts forever and there`s always the next big thing. Has Agile won or is it dead already?
Angela Prentner Smith

Something I’ve been pondering for a while is what’s the next big thing in project delivery? Agile has been around for a while now, and businesses are still struggling with its adoption. I asked the IIBA (International Institute of Business Analysis) LinkedIn group what they thought, and I got about 40 differing opinions. I did some research and again I got a typical mix of views.
 
‘Agile is dead already.’
‘Agile was never meant to be used for what it is now.’
‘Agile is the only way.’
‘Businesses need to be agile, but that doesn’t mean they need to adopt a specific ‘agile methodology.’
 
The conclusion I’ve come to is that actually all of those opinions are right. Most importantly - there isn’t an ‘Agile’ silver bullet that you can implement into your business and make everything better. There isn’t a methodology that you can stringently adopt that will mean all your projects get delivered effortlessly. Indeed the very premise of agile, as a word, a concept and a manifesto, is about being adaptable and responding to change. A strict project or development methodology breaks that very premise. 
 
The Agile Manifesto
 
The Manifesto for Agile Software Development was just that. A manifesto for software development. The problem with that? It was never written to extend beyond software development. As those of us with war wounds from projects know - a large business project never starts and ends with just software development. Agile was developed to improve software development methodology. The original 17 founders of the agile manifesto, are still trying to do that. Some have moved on from the original manifesto and are looking at new and better ways of developing software. 
 
Death by Popularity
 
Yesterday I attended a conference on family friendly working. The word agile was used frequently to refer to flexible working in terms of hours and locations. I also heard agile used in reference to hotdesking. Whilst these applications of the word aren’t actually wrong - agile just means nimble and flexible - they do muddy the water when we have projects of work using Agile methodology. The popularity of the word agile and its potential overuse just adds to the confusion. 
 
There’s also the Agile Marketing movement, and more generally discussions on agile cultures.  Again both meritted uses of the word and potentially successful ethoses. However they may further add to the confusion when business leaders, technologists and marketeers come together to deliver a project - whose agile is this anyway?
 
Design vs Development
 
I’ve personally been stuck in the middle of this argument. What a design sprint entails in an agile world vs a front end development sprint don't deliver the same things, don’t have the same rates of execution, the same stakeholders and beyond. Sprint - that simple concept within the agile nomenclature can cause masses of confusion, and honestly they don’t really align. Design sprints need to test features with users quickly, and so does development, but front end to back end development don’t follow the same creative cycle of design and they have different gestation times.  Sprints are just time periods during which specific work has to be completed and made ready for review, but you can’t get the same amount of development done as design in the same timeframe.
 
Design methodologies
 
Service design, user and customer experience design, user interface design and all the rest could be described as methodologies themselves. But once the design has been done, and technology is required, the agile software development lifecycles begin. These should still iterate, test and learn with users, and business counterparts. They needn’t be at odds, but what is needed is clarity between the design methods and the project approach or development lifecycle. De-risking design and de-risking development can both be achieved through iteration - a key premise of agile, but not necessarily within the same sprint cycles.
 
Beyond Agile
 
I’ve read a bit on DevOps and think this might be where to hedge your bets on the future of software development at scale. Scaling is certainly one of the key criticisms of agile project methodology. What works to build a small app doesn’t necessarily scale to an enterprise wide programme. That said traditional waterfall methodology is flawed, as Mike Gill discussed in Seeing the Light and Go Agile or Go Home. 
 
Where that leaves us
 
So businesses need to be agile - that is flexible around the needs of their teams, their customers and logistically in line with the digital age. But that needn’t be confused with agile software methodology or design methodologies. The most important point in developing a project approach is:

1. That there is an approach that is communicated and understood by all participants
2. That it is not delivered in silos
3. That it is designed around the needs of the customer and that co-creation is looked for
4. There are common goals
5. It is open to change when things don’t work.

 
Meaning it matters less whether we call it agile or anything else and more that everyone knows what’s happening, is working together and willing to be progressive rather than dogmatic about the methodology.
 
I do believe agile is better than waterfall, but I don’t think that’s the last word on the subject.  There will be the next wave of software development methodology and beyond that businesses will be more agile as they are enable by technology and respond to the demands of the workforce and their customers.

We have launched an innovative, industry led solution to embedding people centred project disciplines into businesses to aid 'agile adoption' and 'digital transformation'.  We'd  love to share that with you.

If you want to get to know our team, and meet with  like-minded individuals and businesses who cares about business improvement and sharing ideas, come and join our MeetUp Group - The Milk Bar.   Our next event is coming soon!

Want to learn more about us? Click on the button!