E-commerce Case Study

Overcoming Resistance

Background

A household e-Commerce organisation was at a very early stage in its agile transformation. They had recognised that Scrum was an ideal framework to deliver value to customers quickly and wanted to experiment but were unsure of how to begin. Several developers had already been selected to form the first Scrum team and a Project Manager had volunteered to cross-skill and act as the Scrum Master. Not everyone on the team was familiar with Scrum and a few were sceptical of the benefits. Agile Monster was asked to help.

How We Worked

It was clear from the outset initial challenge was – to get this team up and running and using the Scrum Framework effectively, we would need to get buy-in from everyone on the team. Our Agile Coach held a session with the whole team to understand where the resistance to Scrum was coming from. We created a safe space for the team to surface, share and discuss their opinions on the proposed new ways of working. Agile Monster enabled those supporting the transition and those against change to openly challenge one another in a positive way.
Our Agile Expert did not ‘push’ Scrum as the only way to deliver value, or even as best way. Instead, we used open, powerful questions that precipitated deeper thinking. We gently challenged any misconceptions of Scrum and Agile but at the same time accepting differing opinions. You only get resistance if you push!

Results

After 2 sessions with the team, everyone either fully supported, or at least were happy to try, a transition to the Scrum Framework. Everyone knew and accepted the difficulties that would arise as a result of this radical change in ways of working but they were now ready overcome them as a team. They knew what Scrum was supposed to do and the understood their role in doing it. As a result, Agile Monster was well-placed to deliver a full Incubate Sprint followed by Accelerate.