Agile Transformation: Connecting the Dots of a 2 year Transition to Agile Best Practices

Finding a way to increase the visibility of projects while ensuring a high level of team motivation and client satisfaction is one of our main objectives at Pentalog.

Through the Guépard program, launched two years ago, we have managed to re-think our approach to project management and introduce the Agile mindset to our teams. Already preparing for our third year of transition, the results of our efforts are illustrated by every successfully delivered software solution –  cementing the benefits an Agile transformation can bring to any IT project.

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Increased Visibility

Improving visibility, which remains an ongoing process, is the most important factor for both clients and Pentalog.

The following aspects apply: 

• Common Vision
• Alignment with business objectives
• Tracking progress towards the iteration, release and product goals
• Visibility regarding compliance with constraints
• Explicit collaboration Framework and Methodology
• Visibility of technical aspects (technical debt, security, performance)
• Clarification of and compliance with labor standards
• Transparent management of opportunities, risks & impediments
• Continuous attention to team and client moods
• Transparent Decision-Making

Given that improving visibility remains of monumental importance, keeping the aforementioned aspects clear creates a solid foundation for trustworthy relationships among everyone involved in a project. Our aim is to develop both our products/services and our business.

We strive for visibility along the entire value chain and place great importance on system optimization.

This is how we and our clients improve together.

Adaption to Change

Measuring progress in the classic terms of Scope, Deadline & Budget is no longer enough. In our quest to offer increased added value to our clients, we try to stay one step ahead.

We assist our clients’ projects from day one by:

• Defining the vision
• Defining the backlog
• Designing the project strategy

When necessary,we also intervene in product definition and management (Product Ownership), which allows us to increase the value of the product we are about to develop. This also reduces risks on both sides.

Lately, we’ve begun to work alongside our clients far in advance of the product development phase, assisting them with expert IT consulting, strategic design, HR management and financing solutions provided by the Pentalog platform to ensure fast ramp-up and a smooth project launch.

Improvement of Team Morale

Our team leaders are always concerned with the satisfaction of each individual team member. We care about their evolution both as individuals and as a team being managed at a group level.

Receiving appreciation and recognition as well as a sense of belonging to a successful team that strives for continuous improvement is what increases a team member’s trust and morale. There are many other important aspects that strengthen the team morale, such as:

• Team empowerment regarding the technical choices and working methods
• Shared vision
• Visibility of their progress

This makes our company even more attractive on the labor market, highly-skilled specialists looking to work with us and share the same values.

Productivity Growth

We all know that more code does not necessarily mean increased productivity.

When talking about productivity, we mainly refer to the value obtained out of the money invested in a project, for both clients and Pentalog.

In our company at least, several factors have encouraged us to strengthen our business efforts and improve productivity:

• Increased visibility that allows us to anticipate risks and transform them into opportunities
• Better alignment of internal processes via the organization of workshops between different departments and the subsequent implementation of actions
• Improvement of the pre-sales process by integrating feedback from production, knowledge capitalization, trainings and support, as well as by transferring the pre-sales know-how into the production processes
• Better knowledge transfer from the sales team to the production team at different levels: business, technical, organizational
• Higher skill levels for both Pentalog and our clients via trainings as well as individual and team coaching
• Empowerment of people, depending on their roles, with a focus on but not limited to the development team for revising and refining the initially proposed technical solution and project strategy; the Product Owner’s role is to handle the product management and ROI optimization in an environment where the Scrum Master has the authority to adopt the most appropriate working methods
• Support offered by an agile coach to all projects at kick-off
• Optimization of the DevOps effort through the intervention of a technical expert and the integration of preconfigured tools available to the development teams

The aforementioned aspects have increased our teams’ performance levels, triggering a favorable impact on our clients’ and Pentalog’s financial outcomes.

Two years into our Agile transformation process, it is safe to say that the Agile practices are here to stay, along with our long-term commitment to outline their benefits and increase our clients’ exposure to the Agile state of mind.

It is the outstanding result of this process in terms of visibility, productivity, team motivation and client satisfaction that has set the tone for our future partnerships and collaborations.

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