Team and workflow management

The processes, practices and methods through which a project transforms ideas into products (whether analogue or digital) require close collaboration between people with different skills, knowledge, languages and cultures.

Our aim is to make interactions between people efficient, smooth and enjoyable.

With this aim in mind, we develop methods, tools and practices to build teams, facilitate teamwork, manage the complexity of processes, plan realistic release schedules in line with budgets and resources, link activities together and, above all, drive projects forward by improving their quality and performance.

We offer consultancy, training and coaching to build teams capable of working with shared methods, tools and practices.

The application of a design thinking approach guides and supports design processes from initial insight through to implementation and subsequent, continuous evolutionary improvements. Industry research, end-user involvement, ideation, preliminary design, detailed design, prototyping, testing, development and constant cost control follow one another as required, without adhering to a rigid sequence.

We have solved many problems, learning more from our mistakes than from our successes. We consider practice to be the best of all theories.

Our services are tailored to the client’s needs and objectives and can take various forms, ranging from coaching to facilitation, from training courses on Agile methodologies to the provision of Scrum Masters for team management, right through to team building, where we help teams achieve a defined objective by supporting individuals in identifying their strengths and working together through interaction and cooperation whilst carrying out a project.

Here are some examples of the services we offer our clients to support them in building efficient and autonomous teams, capable of mastering their products whilst making the most of and developing internal resources (insourcing) and external partnerships (outsourcing).

Story Mapping

This is a group activity led by a facilitator, involving everyone who will contribute to the project’s delivery. During story mapping, the specifications required for the finished product are analysed, discussed and described, and the ways in which users will interact with it are identified. The steps required to create the product are broken down, and timelines are planned in accordance with resources, tools and budget.

• During a one-day story mapping workshop, together with authors and managers from Società Dante Alighieri, and developers and designers from Chialab, we planned the development of the learning object platform.

User centered design

There are various tools (personas, prototypes, testing, etc.), but the aim is singular: to engage users and place them at the heart of the process in order to build accessible and functional products. It is a strategic and cross-cutting approach that identifies, describes and incorporates the end user into the design and development process.

• Together with the professionals and users of Erickson’s products and services, we have worked to establish the most direct pathways between the personas’ needs and the content, in order to create a website tailored to their requirements.

Agile / Scrum Methods

To deliver tested, high-quality products, an iterative approach with shared objectives is essential, encompassing the entire production chain, from conception through to implementation.

We teach agile principles that can be adapted to your specific working environment, to increase transparency and collaboration between teams, organisations and clients.

• We provide and train teams for clients such as Zanichelli, Sanoma, the City of Bologna and other organisations—both large and small—who, throughout the project, are supported and encouraged to deliver high-quality products in short cycles, striving to improve with every iteration.

Coaching

Working in a team means not only sharing objectives but also languages, skills and feelings. It is important to recognise early on when something is amiss, without placing blame on individuals, and to learn to grow as a collective.

We help to improve the team’s performance. We support them in their day-to-day work and help people to identify their strengths and to work by interacting and cooperating.

• DARE is an innovative process involving 12 operational partners (private companies, public administration, organisations and institutions) whose teams interact with one another within a single process aimed at regenerating Ravenna’s Darsena. Within this project, we act as a guide and point of reference for the adoption of Agile practices to support the working teams.

Consultancy

We support people in their day-to-day work, helping them to find simpler tools, more effective solutions and new ways of collaborating.

We offer technical and creative support, guiding teams through strategic decisions and helping to make every process clearer, smoother and more sustainable.

• The editorial design consultancy team for Zanichelli oversees various aspects of the educational book production process: it develops software tools to assist suppliers and editors in their work, offers support in the selection and design of typefaces, and collaborates on the drafting of technical appendices, supporting the publisher throughout every stage of the process.