Large-scale transformation to Agile from conventional project management.
 
Our client, a very large software services and solutions provider for the worldwide telecom market, faced a major challenge to move to Agile, driven by their largest customer in Europe. The time frame was limited and there were several hundred people working on many large engagements spread across different locations involved in this transition. Given the cultural aspects involved, this was no walk in the park. PM Power was hired to help deal effectively with the challenges involved. Read on to know how we helped this client…
 
 
Our client, an established name in the Indian telecom software and services segment, had a significant challenge in moving a number of their software development and support teams into an Agile process, to enable customer business objectives of faster release cycles for their products. This had to be accomplished in a short time frame and done in sync with teams working on-site.
 
 
PM Power was the only primary vendor involved from India in this agile transformation initiative. The challenge of transforming multiple teams, which were in the middle of a major release, using conventional project management to Agile required very careful planning and execution.
 
Starting with one release on a pilot basis, PM Power worked closely with the management and project teams for nearly 18 months at the client’s organization to achieve Agile transformation for many teams.
 
PM Power’s approach involved the following elements:  
 
Defining the framework for Scrum as well as the practices around it
Holding workshops and coaching sessions to address implementation challenges including the social and cultural aspects.
Developing and deploying instruments for measuring effectiveness of Scrum implementation in various teams and in driving actions plans
Developing and coaching Agile champions within the organization to help in implementation of Agile in newer projects as well as to assist in sustenance and support for existing Agile projects
Assisting the organization’s Quality Management team in defining and implementing project metrics for Scrum based projects
 
PM Power helped and coached several programs, business units working for the telecom provider to transform them from using traditional project management to using Scrum.
 
 
The pilot team that PM Power coached for Scrum won an award from the client for Scrum implementation. The same team delivered 4 consecutive releases of the product / solution they were working on in a span of about 15 months with no priority 1 issues in end user testing. Other important intangibles that were noteworthy were good teamwork and overall high motivation levels of teams that moved to Agile.
 
Based on the initial success, PM Power was engaged by the same customer to design and run a custom-developed 3-day Agile Project Management workshop for upcoming project managers in two of their other sites. These programs received excellent feedback from the participants and further strengthened the rollout of the initiative.