Agile replaces Waterfall in Finance, Identity Management and GIS

 

The Agile processes to replace waterfall practices were defined and implemented, while process improvement opportunities were identified for 7 teams and 70 people, located in the USA and India.

The Challenge

  • The existing waterfall method culture which had to be replaced by agile at all management levels.

The Intervention

  • Initial training and road-map planning with the management for about five days (on-site).
  • Coaching the Product Owners in the initial stages of preparing the Product Backlog (off-site).
  • Helping the teams with planning and retrospectives in the first two sprints (on-site/off-site).
  • Remote Involvement with the teams for 2-3 days in a month (off-site).

The Outcome

  • Predictability of the output has increased drastically from all the teams. The business teams are able to meet their external commitments to clients, which was not happening earlier.
  • Early (daily) detection of development risks is helping to handle the risks immediately.
  • The work is getting re-prioritized continuously in case there are development risks or client changes.
  • Teams are working in regular hours instead of 12-14 hours as was happening earlier. This has also improved the team morale.
  • Productivity has improved due to test automation and several other process improvements.
  • An optimum level of documentation is now being maintained which was absent earlier.
  • Testers and developers are pairing and this has reduced the number of defects.