Train the Trainer Approach for a Leading Digital Banking Company

About the Client

A leading digital banking solutions provider based in Singapore engaged us to provide agile coaching services for one of their hospitality clients. The client aimed to develop both web and mobile versions of their platform, requiring seamless coordination across multiple teams. The project focused on introducing team-level agile practices to improve efficiency, transparency, and delivery timelines.

Problem Statement

The digital banking solutions provider faced the following challenges

• Frequent Requirement Changes: Unclear and changing requirements due to incomplete information led to delays and rework.
• Improper JIRA Workflows: JIRA workflows were not structured, causing confusion in task tracking and dependency management.
• Lack of Structured Backlog Management: The absence of a hierarchy from portfolio to sprint backlogs created inefficiencies.
• Limited Stakeholder Visibility: Both leadership and the hospitality client lacked insight into the project’s progress and delivery pace.
• Team-Level Challenges: Teams lacked visibility into their progress and metrics, with issues such as burndown charts being straight lines instead of showing gradual progress.

Solution Offered: Agile Coaching and JIRA Implementation

We designed and executed a 7-month engagement to address these challenges, focusing on implementing team-level agile practices through a bottom-up approach, restructuring JIRA workflows, and introducing actionable dashboards for visibility.

Phase 1: Diagnostic and Foundation Setting

• Work Breakdown Structure (WBS):
  • Created a structured hierarchy:
    • Epics: High-level objectives (e.g., "Develop Web Platform").
    • Features: Functional components under epics (e.g., "User Registration Module").
    • User Stories: Actionable tasks (e.g., "As a user, I want to reset my password to regain access").
  • Aligned the WBS to the project’s goals to enable clear backlog refinement and prioritization.
• JIRA Workflow Restructuring:
  • Redesigned workflows in JIRA to align with agile principles, ensuring clarity in task statuses and ownership.
  • Developed simple, actionable dashboards for tracking sprint velocity, burndown charts, and task completion rates.

Phase 2: Agile Coaching and Training

• Workshops to Build Agile Mindset:
  • Conducted hands-on training sessions for the team to understand agile fundamentals, roles, and ceremonies.
  • Delivered workshops on backlog prioritization, dependency management, and sprint planning.
• Backlog Grooming and Sprint Planning:
  • Introduced regular backlog grooming sessions to refine user stories and ensure clarity.
  • Established sprint planning practices to prepare teams for upcoming sprints, ensuring dependencies were resolved in advance.
• Dashboards and Metrics Training:
  • Helped teams understand the importance of metrics like burndown charts and velocity.
  • Addressed issues such as flat burndown charts by emphasizing daily updates, progress tracking, and realistic estimates.
• Handholding During Agile Ceremonies:
  • Guided teams during ceremonies such as show-and-tell sessions, retrospectives, and planning meetings to build confidence and improve collaboration.

Phase 3: Visibility and Team Empowerment

• JIRA Implementation and Dashboards:
  • Implemented JIRA as the central tool for backlog management and tracking progress.
  • Created dashboards for:
    • Leadership: Tracking overall progress and delivery timelines.
    • Teams: Monitoring sprint goals, velocity, and burndown trends.
• Improved Communication Channels:
  • Established reporting mechanisms to ensure transparency for stakeholders and leadership.
  • Enabled teams to understand what’s coming next and proactively address potential blockers.

Key Focus Areas and Best Practices

• Team-Level Agile Practices:
  • Focused on introducing basic agile principles like backlog grooming, sprint planning, and retrospectives.
  • Created a culture of owner ship and accountability at the team level.
• Bottom-Up Approach:
  • Empowered teams to identify and resolve issues with in their scope, fostering collaboration and self-organization.
• Improved Visibility with Dashboards:
  • Simplified dashboards provided actionable insights into sprint performance and progress.
  • Helped leadership and stakeholders align with team goals and delivery timelines.

Benefits Achieved

• Improved Backlog Management: Backlog grooming and WBS alignment ensured user stories were well-defined and prioritized.
• Streamlined Workflows: Restructured JIRA workflows brought clarity to task ownership and progress tracking.
• Enhanced Team Performance: Teams became more confident in agile practices, resulting in improved velocity and sprint success rates.
• Increased Transparency: Dashboards provided visibility into progress for leadership and stakeholders, fostering trust and accountability.
• AddressedMetrics Issues: The team gained insights into resolving issues like flat burndown charts, resulting in better tracking of sprint progress.

Exciting Takeaway: Fixing Metrics and Building Visibility

The introduction of team-specific dashboards in JIRA, coupled with training on metrics like burndown charts, transformed the team’s ability to track and communicate progress. This improvement in visibility empowered both the teams and stakeholders, creating a shared understanding of goals and timelines.

Conclusion

This case study highlights how a bottom-up agile transformation approach enabled a leading digital banking solutions provider to implement team-level agile practices for their hospitality client. By restructuring JIRA workflows, training teams, and enhancing visibility, the organization achieved better collaboration, delivery speed, and stakeholder satisfaction.

Struggling to implement agile practices or improve team performance? Let us help you achieve your goals through tailored coaching and tool implementation. Contact us today to begin your transformation journey!