CIO Straight Talk - Issue 7 - 36

36

We have an ambition to
create an IT organization that

channel and mobile application. Being able to try out a
lot of things to see what worked best for our customers

can balance both an agile and

was important to us. The risk presented by this project

traditional IT framework

customers are comfortable with change. Customers may

was manageable, because this is an area where
get upset if there's a problem with billing, but they are
typically more tolerant with adjustments to a web site or
mobile application, as long as they are seeing periodic

MARKETING TWO-SPEED IT

improvements through, for example, the introduction of
innovative new features or offers.

The first and most important step was to communicate

In addition, although this was a mega project, it

with our team what we were trying to do. We explained

comprised a lot of smaller deliverables and milestones.

that it would be impossible for us to support our

Moving to an agile development model enabled us not

near-term business goals by continuing to operate the

only to make successive changes to the systems, but also

way we always had, no matter how successful we

to fine-tune our approach to two-speed IT. We gained

were in the past.

significant knowledge and experience on resource

We identified the competencies we would need and

requirements, internal communication, and stakeholder

individuals within the organization who possessed them.

engagement that we are now able to apply to other

It is very important to have internal buy-in and identify

similar projects.

existing team leaders who can be ambassadors
for change.
At the same time, it was equally important to inject

A traditional IT project is very straightforward. You
establish requirements and milestones and follow up
afterward to make sure they are achieved. With this

some new blood into the team. We sought talent from

project, we only need to identify our high level ambition,

outside the company who were a natural fit for the agile

with the understanding that even the goal might change

environment and would complement our existing team.

over the course of development. It wasn't clear what the

As for the organization, we didn't change a thing.

exact scope and milestones would be, and we planned

Reporting structures and titles remained the same. We

in terms of overall investment, not a detailed cost

simply began assigning our agile-minded team members

breakdown, making adjustments along the way. This

to dedicated project teams.

approach requires much more management attention

Even with this careful preparation and explanation,

and supervision to ensure the project progresses well

we had our fair share of challenges. The bimodal model

and to monitor the impact on the rest of the organization.

occasionally brought about differing perspectives among

Indeed, one of our learnings has been that, although

teams. However, I believe our decision to have the two

we did a good job preparing the project team, as I

teams work together, rather than splitting the function,

described above, we did less well preparing other parts

has made us more efficient. It can only work, though, if it

of the organization. For example, we understood that

is clear that both are equally valuable and have a part to

milestones might change along the way, based on

play as complements to one another.

customer needs. But this type of planning process was
relatively new to Finance and other stakeholders in

EMBRACING THE UNKNOWN

the company.
deliver some surprises to others in the organization. But it

out an agile approach: the makeover of our online

encourages us to foster deeper discussions with

Revenue from streaming music services like Spotify and
Pandora overtake CD sales for the first time.

2014

2014

There are days when the agile approach continues to
We started with a project that was well-suited to trying

The number of Internet users
worldwide reaches 3 billion.
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 7

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CIO Straight Talk - Issue 7
