The adoption of digitalization has profoundly impacted the different aspects of business operations, especially marketing. Thanks to digitally-focused marketing campaigns, companies can boost their marketing strategies in a faster and more simplified manner. In theory, this makes it more convenient for them to respond to changes in unpredictable markets effectively.
However, transforming internal dot-com marketing operations in a scaled agile way has been truly challenging. Most enterprises are blocked from effectively enabling digital campaign and efficient acquisitions and conversions through a timely cross functional collaboration for delivery planning and execution among creative designers, content creators, IT development/QA, analytics, and publishing. Please join us for a case study review, sharing how a Silicon Valley S/W market leader has transformed their dot-com digital marketing operations using scaled agile transformation.
2. Background
• American software company in Silicon
Valley; cloud computing platform to help
manage digital workflows for enterprise
• $3.4B annual revenue with 6,200
employees
• Digital Experience (DotCom) scaled agile
adoption via SAFe in Marketing
Operations.
• 60 persons, 6 teams across U.S. and
India
• Started in May, 2021; 1st PI in August
Scrum
XP
Kanban
Team Agile
Scaled Agile
SAFe
LeSS
Nexus
DAD
SoS
Lean-Agile
Agile Land Scape Case Context
4. Agile Transformation
Why now and why SAFe?
30 – 75% faster time-
to-market
10 – 50% happier,
more motivated
employees
20 – 50% increase in
productivity
25 – 75%
defect reduction
See ScaledAgileFramework.com/case-studies
• Siloed Digital workstreams with competing
goals, ad hoc roadmap assessment &
prioritization.
• Unclear approach to planning & execution,
with no visibility into resourcing.
• Overly dependent on outsourcing key Digital
functions and expertise.
• Inefficient utilization of our technology
platforms and tools, with limited localization
strategy and support to global regions.
• Achieve business results
5. Change Risk Assessment
We perceive agile transformation to be a high-risk
change for most organizations:
• There is frequently change resistance among
some leaders and team members.
• This is a very high impact change, requiring
teams to adopt new tools, processes, and
most importantly a new “mindset”
• Our experience indicates a high risk of
abandonment if the new mindset does not
take hold.
6. Agile Transformation
• Q2 & Q3 Epic Road Mapping
• Q2 – As-Is
• Organization Change
Management
• Agile Teams Set-up via Value
Stream Mapping
• SAFe Training for everyone
• Q3 Program Increment Epic
Planning Workshop
How are we going to get there together?
SAFe Implementation Roadmap:
10. New Proposed UX/Design & Development
Work Integration Flow
Ideal for “Big Design”. A potential
small, quick wins that require even a
small design effort may require a long
UX/design lead time
11. Scrum & PI Cadence Discipline
Name Cadence Duration Outcome
Daily Standup Daily 15 mins Provide team with visibility into progress and identify
blockers
Sprint Review 1/Sprint 1 hour Review all completed stories from a hosted environment
Sprint Retrospective* 1/Sprint 1 hour Review what went well and what can be improved from the
last sprint. “What would help improve our velocity the
most?”
Sprint Planning* 1/Sprint 1-2 hours Review and finalize commitments for the next sprint
Backlog Grooming 2/week 1 hour Review stories details and finalize estimates
Program Sync 1/week 1 hour Review at the 'PI level': status and issues
For scrum masters & product owners
PM/PO Sync 1/sprint 30 min Prep for upcoming PI
For PMs/Pos
Mid-PI Demo
End-PI Demo
1 each per PI
(quarter)
Time as needed
Team Level
Program Level
13. Challenges
• Right sizing scaled agile framework:
• No existing product roadmap & epic
backlog
• Design Exp. vs Product Mgmt.
• PM vs PO
• Sr. Dev Mgr vs RTE
• Shortage of SMs
• Program Increment vs Release on
demand
• Coaching best practices:
• Cadence based epic planning
workshop
• Time boxing sprints
• Avoiding overcommit sprint goals
• Integrating design experience
between epic definition and
development
14. Opportunities
• Integrating “Big D”
• Virtual design concept
refinement scrum with
partially allocated team
members
• Epic Hypothesis
• Leading indicator;
telemetry & AB testing
• Maintenance Work
• On-going publishing and
platform operational
requests
• Program Cadence
• 6 Sprint/Program
Increment
15. Success Factors
• Organizational
Value Stream
• Cross-Functional
Executive
Partnership &
Engagement
• Lean Agile
Center of
Excellence
• SAFe training for
everyone by
agile role