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1. An Agile
Transformation Journey-
A case study of a FinTech
company
Agile transformations look different across organizations
but they share a common goal : a desire to deliver more value
Presentation for . Global One PM Day
By
Jim Hannon
July 2021
jhreds@gmail.
com
1

2. My Agile/PMP History
• MBA/EdD candidate 2022/Masters in IT Ops
• CSP/CSM/PMP, PMI-ACP, PM-RMP,AHF, PaRP
Trainer , eduScrum -Teacher, Scrum@Scale
practitioner, SA, ICC-ACC, ATP Instructor, ICC-
ATF
• Enterprise Coach –over 15 years of practical
on ground team and C-Level experience
• Managing director/founder-BU Agile
Innovation Labwww.buagileinnovationlab.com
• Adjunct faculty numerous school and Lasell
• Jim H | LinkedIn

3. Agenda
3
• Adoptionvs.Transformation
• WhatDoes it Mean to be “Agile”?
• ExpectationVs. Reality
• SuccessPractices
• Elementsof Development“Ecosystem”
• Whatwe change and what we don’t
• Keybarriers to agiletransformation
• Case- we experienced and we
suggested
• AdoptionPhases and BaselineStory

4. Adoption
vs.
Transformation
4
AgileAdoption is about, what wedo…
practices,
tools,
ceremonies etc.
AgileTransformation is about, who weare…
it reflects in the organization structure and
culture, and
impacts the people.
For long term success, BothTransformationand
Adoption are essential.

5. What Doesit
Mean to be
“Agile”?
Being Agile means taking a disciplined approach to
decision making in order to make the best possible
decisions with the information known at the time.
5
Being “Agile” simply means
Reacting quickly to every little issue that arises, right?

6. Expectation
vs
Reality
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7. Success
Practices
Leaders/
Scrum Masters
7
Business / Product
Management
Team
Practices
Technical
Practices
ProjectVision Customer
Representativein
theTeam
Standup meetings Pair Programming
Stakeholder Roles AgileRequirement
Analysis
Iteration /Sprint
Planning
Collectivecode
Ownership
Project &Release
Management
Requirement
Definition
Cross functional
Team
Test Driven
Development
Information
Radiator
Requirement
Prioritization
Collaborative
workshops
AutomatedTesting
Minimumsub-set
of Requirements
Team Deliveries Continuous
Integrationand
Build
Team Retrospective SimpleArchitecture
and Design
Team Rewards Refactoring

8. Elements
of
Development
“Ecosystem”
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9. Whatwe
change?
9
What we
don’t change?
Organization Structure
Roles and Responsibilities
Tools
Process
Values
Belief
Mindset
Customs
Traditions
Behavior

10. Keybarriers
to
agile
transformation
• Requires role changes
• Requires structural
changes
• Requires cultural shift
• Requires governance
changes
• Human resource
policies
• Complex product
organizations
• Uneven portfolio
investment
• Project based
organizations
• Local optimization
• Practices over
principles
• Need for certainty
• Value vs. Valuable
• Neglecting distributed
teams
• Forgetting to celebrate
successes
A0n
9 July
e
20x
16perienced Agile Practitioner can help an organization avoid missteps9

11. Our
case
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• Horizontal and
Vertical reporting
structure.
• Frequent change
• Priority
• Scope
• Resource
• Allocating Sprint and
non sprint work
leading to delay in
delivery
• No communication
on Plans (Release,
major milestones,
etc)
• Different practices
within project
• Release time =
Hardening timeline
• No Ownership
of
responsibilities
• Not Reviewing
the learning.
• No Grooming
• Overall No Transparency
• Half Yearly Release
• Progress Tracking on
AC’s not on Stories
• My work and Your work

12. 12
Solutions
• Try to work with
Co- located team
• Avoid movement of
• Resources
• Bring Transparency
in planes
• Trust team about work
• Communicate all stuff
• Mindset shift
• Reporting structure
shift
• From Component
level estimation to
velocity
• All document first to
• evolving requirement
• No Ac tracking,
story tracking
• Size Stories Properly
• Remove some fields from
JIRA(Todo-progress-
done)
• Estimate the work

13. We
Suggested
Scrum Master role introduced,
defined Release scope and
iteration plan for one team
and Leaders HAVE to trained
Introduced Scrum events
(daily standups), and artifacts
(Jira for sprint planning and
Burndown metrics)
Provided walkthrough to
stakeholders for Agile concepts
and Jira
Started using
Jira for Product
backlog, sprint
backlog,
grooming.
Introduced
Acceptance
Criteria
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Challenges:
1. Team structure – multiple applications,
smaller teams, no L3, Config managers.
Cross-functionality is not achieved.
2. UX and SIT are separate teams, so Pipeline
Iteration structure suggested. ((BA 
Dev+CIT  SIT)

14. ParadigmShift
Tries to be predictable
FixesTime,Price andScope
Measures Project Success by
conformance to the plan
Values methodology and
processes more than people
Resists requirements and
development process changes
Considers systemspecification
as the generated
documentation
Accepts that complete
predictability is impossible
to achieve
FixesTime, Price but notScope
Success is measured by
theValue tocustomer
Values people morethan
process, hence accepts
process rather than imposing
one
Adapts to requirements and
development process
changes
Considers system
specification as the
developedcode
The ‘Waterfall Mindset’ The ‘Ágile Mindset’
Agile
Transformation
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15. AdoptionPhases
Start Small And / Or
Simple
Agile
Enterprise
over Time
Non-Agile Enterprise
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Exploration Process Definition Strategic Alignment Transformation
Baseline story is

16. What have
you taken
away?
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