A Systematic Plan Using the Right Tools
With a structured approach in mind, Xebia started by conducting two surveys, an Agile Maturity Assessment and a Cultural survey, to assess the bank's readiness in embracing agility. The survey results served as a starting point for next steps.
Upon evaluating the survey results, the team used the Essential Configurations of Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe 5.1) and the bank's needs to form the target operating model (TOM). The plan was to drive two pilot teams, focusing on automating customer onboarding and enhancing the customer's Asset Products Journey on their digital platforms. These teams were equipped with the TOM, clarity on roles, and expectations for the upcoming Planning Increments (PI), enabling them to commence their work. There was also a lot of focus on building knowledge through singular and routine training. The capsule training covered Agile, SAFe, Scrum, JIRA fundamentals, and Agile Estimations. Additionally, 1500 hours of non-certified knowledge-based training were delivered by experienced Xebia trainers covering Agile Basic, Scaled Agile frameworks, and DevOps training. To help build up the culture, the Agile Core Committee was formed to be the Agile Center of Excellence and reinforce the momentum of this new way of working. PI Assessment (a Xebia value add) helped the customer's leadership team to nominate members for the ACC, who worked with the Xebia team to finalize the ways of working for the ACC.
Once this was in place, the TOM implementation preparation started. During this process, the team collated information on several areas through product canvassing, customer journey mapping, and feature storming. This would help build up their confidence.
Finally, For the implementation, a half-day training on PI Planning was conducted, followed by an effective PI planning session covering program backlog preparation, PI objectives identification, team breakout sessions, ART risk identification, business value assignment, Program Board finalization, and a PI Planning Retrospective. Team-assigned scrum coaches also shadowed these sessions to maximize their knowledge. By the end of the first iteration, the teams were elated at the amount of work they could accomplish by applying simple practices as recommended by the Xebia team. Following the PI Planning session for the second planning interval, the Inspect & Adapt event allowed the teams to reflect on the past five iterations and improve their ways of working for the upcoming planning interval. Lastly, a transformation sustainability plan was also implemented. This included long and short-term goal setting, knowledge sharing, and more.
