Agile maturity assessment and feasibility study of agile product team launch in a large enterprise environment

The tasks were carried out in an agile approach, with 2-week iterations and management presentations, given that the content of the final deliverable reports evolved continuously according to the findings of the surveys and analyses.     

Exploring the possibilities of creating Agile product teams: 

As a first step to assess the possibilities for setting up and launching agile product teams, we held a management meeting to refine the objectives, stakeholders and areas to be explored. Based on this, the organisation exported data tables from its portfolio system, which contained all relevant data on the portfolio elements. In order to be able to interpret the data tables in the right context, interviews were conducted with portfolio managers in each area, which provided input for a first round of filtering and data cleaning and for a proper interpretation of each portfolio element.  

Then, in a mixed team building with the designated stakeholders (Product Owner, Project and Portfolio Manager/Scrum Master), a pre-workshop meeting was held for 2-3 hours, where we reviewed the portfolio elements we had already prepared according to the criteria we had provided. This included an analysis of the competences required to deliver the elements, the areas to be covered, the existing team size, the areas of competence required for delivery and the nature of the improvements (e.g. fixed framework, risk level, priorities). The resulting already filtered and prepared portfolio elements were prepared by our team for a workshop.  

Following the above exercises, based on the results of the preparation, a more extensive 1-1 day workshop was held, typically with teams of 8-10 people, where each element was covered in detail as follows:  

• Capacities and competences needed and available for development 

• Team size 

• Estimated lead time 

• Possible MVPs and their content 

• MVP delivery estimated lead time 

• Risks 

• Opportunities and quick wins 

• Support required for the application of the agile approach 

The results of the workshop were processed by our team, and in subsequent iterations, the final report was produced, which included the following themes: 

• Domain and organisational portfolio map 

• agile product team proposals, 

• • team sizes,  

• • main objectives, focuses,  

• • proposed frameworks (simple or scaled agility, Kanban-based solutions),  

• • proposed team structure,  

• • MVPs and required competences,  

• • proposed roles, 

• value stream based options, 

• the support needed to get started, 

• proposed roadmaps for the introduction of, 

• organisational barriers and proposals to overcome them with a development backlog and roadmap. 

Agile maturity assessment:  

We combined the first step of the survey with the portfolio analysis described in the previous section, so that we could list the teams already operating in agile without separate meetings and discussions, and collect information on their development and operation, on the basis of which the managers selected the teams to be included in the survey.   

The survey started with an interview, where the assigned project manager or Scrum Master, where the role was already in place, gave information about the team, the framework used and the ceremonies.  

After the interview, we scheduled a time with the teams (including developers, business stakeholders, project manager, Scrum Master and Product Owner) for a questionnaire completion of about 2 hours, which was personally supported by our colleagues to ensure the same and correct interpretation of the questions. The questionnaire was a customised version of a questionnaire we had used, which covered the following dimensions: 

• Agile approach and principles 

• Team dynamics 

• Processes 

• Organisational dynamics and cooperation 

• Product delivery capability 

• Business responsiveness 

• Organisational adaptability 

• Technical excellence and development 

After filling in the questionnaire, we observed the ceremonies of the teams, focusing on time frames, objectives, preparation of the ceremonies, content of the ceremonies, the way and level of collaboration, the use of an agile approach and the results of the ceremonies.  

The results were then processed and presented in a final report to the teams and the leaders of the organisation.  

The report covered areas such as: 

• The dimensions examined are team and organisational level values, with a separate analysis of role-specific results. 

• Highlighting higher and lower values, complemented by the experience of ceremony observations. 

• Methodological suggestions. 

• Team development proposals, which were compared with the results of the product team survey. 

• Proposed development roadmaps, with a focus on the TOP 3 areas for improvement.