Innovation Warrior as Agile as a Ninja
Speed is of the essence when it comes to innovation, especially when everything around us seems to change almost overnight. For innovators to score breakthroughs, it is critical for them to become agile warriors, fluidly managing every element of the innovation battle they are in.
We caught up with Guo Yu, the primus inter pares (first amongst equals) in the 2020 DBS Agile Warrior Programme, to find out more about his experience as a ‘leaderpreneur’ during this exciting six-month innovation journey.
Congrats on graduating from the Agile Warrior Programme! Tell us more about your innovation journey through the accelerator.
It was quite an enlightening experience! Fundamentally, each participant had to develop an idea that would be able to help others via a solution that is delivered in a structured and agile way. In the beginning, we were all placed into different cohorts, each serving a specific purpose. I found myself in the “Painkiller” team with a focus on solving the pain points our colleagues faced in their daily operations. From there, we were free to explore any project that we were interested in pursuing.
Besides the practical hands-on experience, there were also many learning opportunities along the way as our mentors and instructors taught us how to garner support for our project from peers and the best ways to get our senior management’s attention during our presentations. In fact, when any of us got stuck, we could always turn to our mentors for guidance and advice.
Those six months sound jam-packed. What was the biggest challenge you faced along the way?
The biggest challenge that I faced was uncertainty. I decided to build a completely new framework to help decrease false alerts and boost productivity, so most of the process was devoted to research and development. There was no way of knowing if I had adopted the right approach or made the right decisions until the project had been rolled out, and that was incredibly daunting.
Fortunately, when I was overwhelmed by doubt, I could turn to my cohort mates from “Painkiller”. It was their encouragement and suggestions that helped me regain confidence in my project and helped me push through my uncertainty.
And we’re glad that you did not give up, because your project eventually earned you the primus inter pares title! If you must pick, what is the most memorable moment for you in this journey?
There were many amazing memories across the six months. But I think the one that I will keep with me for a long time would be the moment I found out that my project successfully achieved what I had envisioned it to accomplish.
In the early stages of the programme, I was determined to use innovation as a tool to improve the way we, as an organisation, manage and use data. I was convinced that we would benefit from sharing a common framework as we move to become more data-driven but I did not know if I could live up to that vision.
Eventually, an application team in the bank adopted the framework that I had created and saw improvements in their operations. Knowing that my innovation had gone on to make a difference for others was incredibly rewarding — it made me feel like all the hard work that I had put into the project was worth it. That is truly an unforgettable feeling.
Indeed, nothing beats seeing your hard work bear fruits. Could we challenge you to summarise all that you have learnt in the programme into a piece of advice?
This experience has really taught me the value and importance of perseverance. Truly, once you have decided on something and wholeheartedly believe it to be good, commit to making it come true and never give up even when the going gets tough. At the end of the day, the results will outweigh the challenges.
After coming out of the programme at the top, what does being an Agile Warrior mean to you now?
I have always been full of ideas, constantly thinking about new ways to do things. However, most of them failed to come to fruition — some because I did not have the right expertise to get those projects started, and others because I was not confident that I would be able to pull them off.
However, now with the skills and experience of being an Agile Warrior, I am prepared to pursue and strive for the goals I have set both at work and in my personal life.
And on that note, how do you plan to incorporate learnings from the Agile Warrior Programme into your day-to-day work at DBS?
To make the most out of the experience and to keep the spirit of innovation alive, I have decided to commit a portion of my time at work to thinking of new and creative ideas that can make a difference for my colleagues, DBS Bank, our clients, and myself. From there, I aim to get started on new projects and turn my ideas into reality.
Guo Yu is a member of DBS Bank’s Technology & Operations Team. He was one of 23 participants, known as ‘leaderpreneurs’, in the 2020 DBS Agile Warrior Programme, during which he built a framework to enable better data publication and consumption in six months. The DBS Agile Warrior Programme is an accelerator that nurtures innovators by adopting the Leaderpreneur System, which helps organisations succeed in Industry 4.0 by teaching them how to lead agile innovation at scale.
