Our partnership with the client has driven significant transformations in their development process. This article highlights the key changes & improvements we implemented, focusing on structuring and streamlining the development teams.
Over the past two years, our partnership with the client has driven significant transformations in their software development process. This article highlights the key changes and improvements we implemented, focusing on structuring and streamlining the development teams and processes.
Upon joining the client in October 2022, we faced a challenging environment. The initial structure comprised three distinct teams:
The initial setup had several inefficiencies, including unplanned sprints, mid-sprint priority changes, and lack of capacity planning, leading to less than 50% of planned work being delivered. Our immediate goals were to regain client trust, normalize communication, and establish a sense of partnership.
To address these issues, we implemented a classic Scrum framework, introducing metrics to measure predictability, scope creep, team velocity, and quality. By the end of the first year, we achieved a significant increase in the average story points delivered per sprint by over 16%, surpassing our goal of 15%. These changes resulted in a more structured process, with clearer planning and delivery cycles, ultimately improving team performance and client satisfaction.
In the second year, we recognized the need to evolve beyond the traditional Scrum structure to a more agile, flexible approach. The fluid team structure proposal aimed to:
A new process for new features was established, where an engineer is elected as the Tech Leader to write a Feature/Project One-pager detailing high-level architecture changes and expected tickets. This made it easier to present and discuss features during refinement meetings.
Refinement was reframed between two technology-driven tribes: Frontend and Backend. All tickets are now estimated (or flagged if insufficient information is provided), reducing the overall time each engineer spends on refinement while increasing focus and delivery. Refinements, which happened every two weeks in Year 1, were changed to weekly in Year 2, leading to more frequent engagement and better feature discovery.
Daily meetings were also adjusted. Initially run every day within each of the three teams and a combined meeting on Wednesdays, they were changed to chat-based dailies on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, with meetings on Tuesdays and Thursdays. After five months, chat dailies were eliminated, and "daily scrum meetings" were held only on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This shift was achieved by encouraging continuous communication among team members.
A new weekly pre-planning meeting between product and tech leadership was established. This 35-minute meeting focuses on discussing the next refinement priorities and drafting the upcoming planning allocation.
By the end of the first four sprints of 2024, we achieved a predictability rate increase from 70% to 97%, with on-time feature deliveries and a reduction in Sev-1 and Sev-2 bugs by 75%. Additionally, scope creep (the quantity of story points added mid-sprint) was reduced by 45% from Year 1 to Year 2.
Our journey over the past two years has demonstrated the value of combining structured processes with agile flexibility. The changes led to more predictable deliveries, improved team morale, and higher client satisfaction. Moving forward, we aim to refine our practices further, enhancing both team spirit and individual excellence to continue delivering high-quality software solutions efficiently.
