Agile Tips for Category Management: A Guide for Procurement Teams
- Lauri Vihonen
- Apr 16
- 3 min read
Traditional category management can sometimes feel rigid, over-planned, and too slow to respond to rapidly changing business needs. But as the world changes, procurement must evolve with it. The agile approach offers a new way of thinking, organizing, and executing category leadership.
In this blog, I present eight concrete tips to help procurement teams transform their category management into something more agile, adaptive, and impactful.
1. Short cycles and iterative category analysis
Description: Replace long, infrequent analyses with short, recurring review cycles. Make analysis continuous and supportive of practical development.
Why important? Enables faster response to changes and makes insights and strategy more actionable.
Action: Conduct reviews every 1–2 months, update and test strategy continuously.
Metric: Frequency of updates and number of strategic review rounds per year.
2. MVP thinking in category strategy
Description: Start with the simplest possible strategy version and improve it based on feedback.
Why important? Avoids delays in planning and brings strategy into use faster.
Action: Define an MVP version of the category strategy and pilot it.
Metric: Share of MVP-based strategies, number of feedback cycles.
3. Cross-functional and self-directed teams
Description: Build category teams from different functions (e.g., procurement, business, R&D) and give them ownership.
Why important? Enhances strategy quality, engagement, and diverse perspectives.
Action: Launch a pilot team for one selected category.
Metric: Number of cross-functional teams and participant satisfaction.
4. Sprints, backlogs, and retrospectives
Description: Break work into short sprints (1–4 weeks), guide actions with a backlog, and improve continuously with retrospectives.
Why important? Brings clarity, rhythm, and continuous improvement.
Action: Train the team in sprint working and start regular reviews.
Metric: Number of sprints per category, backlog updates.
5. Flexible supplier collaboration and experimentation culture
Description: Run rapid experiments and co-development with key suppliers.
Why important? Enables innovation and lower-risk development before full rollout.
Action: Implement 1–2 PoC projects with strategic suppliers.
Metric: Number of pilots, share of PoCs adopted.
6. Real-time data and situational awareness
Description: Use real-time data to guide strategy and actions.
Why important? Enables timely decisions and fact-based leadership.
Action: Define key metrics and track them continuously.
Metric: Frequency of reporting, response time to deviations.
7. Value creation driven by business needs
Description: Start with business needs and engage them in building the category strategy.
Why important? Creates genuine alignment with strategic goals and improves impact.
Action: Involve business leadership in category workshops.
Metric: Business feedback, % of mutually agreed goals.
8. Change leadership and cultural development
Description: Deploying an agile model requires a mindset shift, courage to experiment, and leadership support.
Why important? Change doesn’t happen without inclusive leadership.
Action: Train teams in agile thinking and facilitate discussions.
Metric: Participation rates, self-assessed development progress.
Summary (max 25 words)
Agile is a mindset that helps procurement adapt to change, create value, and engage the organization. Each tip takes you one step further
Interested? Book a session or get in touch!
Want to discuss how these agile tips could fit your category management? I'm happy to support you through training, facilitation, or joint planning workshops. Book a free session, send a message or call me directly!
📅 Book a free consultation – no strings attached, just new possibilities.
📧 Contact:Email: lauri.vihonen@leadersbeacon.fiPhone: +358 50 4381912Website: www.leadersbeacon.fi
Best regards,
Lauri Vihonen
Writer of “Agile Tips for Category Management” blog
I’ve written over 150 blogs about developing procurement, its role, and its potential – based on real-world insights, mistakes, and successes. If you’re considering developing procurement or recognize challenges in your organization, I invite you to explore my writings for practical ideas and inspiration.
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