Preparing for Future Growth with Agile Transformation 

Background

As companies establish their place in the market, they may want to explore new ways to approach how they handle their work on the projects, streamline processes, and address challenges or shortcomings. This is especially the case for teams that rely heavily on collaboration and need to be in the continuous delivery loop, efficiently put out new products or update and build up previous releases. That’s where Agile is the way to go. Designed with constant and frequent delivery in mind, the Agile approach to work and team collaboration may help achieve seamless team collaboration and establish a secure pipeline of continuous integration and delivery.

Client

Graphyte is a UK-based SaaS company, established in the iGaming industry as a prominent service provider with a lineup of innovative products developed in collaboration with Symphony Solutions. Its AI-powered recommendation engine Graphyte Recommend is a one-of-a-kind offering for betting and gambling operators. In 2022, Graphyte was acquired by Optimove, the first Customer-Led Marketing Platform.

Challenges

Graphyte team was working within the Kanban framework which had its setbacks and challenges. They were facing issues with efficient planning and task completion which stemmed from the subpar quality of user stories, no ticket estimation, and a general misalignment within the team. Because of that, the team couldn’t fully commit to the set timeframes and expectations. With the team growth expected to follow after the recent acquisition by a big market leader, Graphyte team was the perfect candidate to undergo Agile Transformation. 

Solution

Symphony Solutions decided to get LACE on board to look into Graphyte’s pain points, conduct a series of trainings for the team, and walk them through the first steps in their Agile Transformation journey. 

A two-week Agile training course was delivered to the team to get them started transitioning from Kanban to Scrum: 

• Final plan presented 
• SCRUM training for the team and stakeholders 
• Estimations workshop 
• Backlog pre-refinement with PO and TLs 
• Sprint 0 refinement with the team 
• Planning and Sprint 0 start 
• Monitoring, assistance, and supervision by LACE during the first two sprints 

We determined what was working for the team and where changes needed to be implemented. In the course of the training, it was discovered that Tech Leads can take on the roles of Scrum Masters in their teams. So, it was decided to precede with that arrangement and have LACE supervise and provide Agile coaching where needed. 

A lot of work went into preparation of Sprint 0. Product backlog was prepared and ready to be picked up in Sprint 0. We worked with the Product Owner on preparing epics and user stories for refinement. 

Symphony Solutions’ LACE office continues providing its support and assistance to the Graphyte team in their Agile journey. 

Result

Symphony Solutions provided expert Agile training to the client’s team, facilitated the transition from Kanban to Scrum, and continues to support Graphyte with our Agile Transformation Services.  What was achieved: 

• Sprint 0 set up and Scrum meetings facilitation 
• The two team Tech Leads took up the role of Scrum Masters 
• Introduced ticket estimation 
• LACE supervision in the first two sprints 
• Ongoing support and guidance provided by LACE