Shortly after completing their Agile transition, a large project with impacts to every business-critical application was initiated. This meant they had to scale adopting the SAFe framework but were struggling to implement such a large amount of change. Teams were change-saturated and struggling with mixed messages, leading to under-performance. Business executives were excited about the flexibility Agile development promised, but were not ready to give up certainty they felt they had with Waterfall metrics.
Solution
After an initial period of targeted coaching, an assessment of product delivery across the entire organization was performed. In addition to a few team-specific findings, patterns were clear, and recommendations were made at all levels.
Outcomes
- Within a year, teams had increased their productivity, achieved a predictable velocity, and were delivering more often.
- Both process-specific and role-specific training was developed
- Where appropriate, Scrum teams were converted to Kanban teams
- Revisions were made to Program Increment planning
- Backlogs and dashboards were built to provide transparency.
- Targeted individual and team coaching continued.
Key Results
- Feature-related releases increased by 50%, delivering value to the business more quickly and more often.
- Team velocity variability decreased significantly, making delivery more predictable.
- Cross-team feature-release planning incorporated into Program Increment planning, improving business readiness and communication
