The interim manager was commissioned by a media company as Chief Team Transformation Officer. He was to develop and implement a concept for the reorganization and restructuring of the company and review the software developed by the company, particularly in terms of architecture.
Departmental silos and a lack of agility have a negative impact on work and products
In numerous one-on-one meetings with managers and employees, the interim manager identified the weak points and frictional losses between the specialist departments such as product management, software architecture, software development and operation. It quickly became apparent that the processes between the specialist departments were very formalized - which is common for hierarchically organized companies - and that the employees were very risk-averse.
Even though the software development itself worked according to agile software development approaches, agility did not have an impact on the upstream and downstream areas, as product management and software operations were not included. This had a negative impact on the development time and quality of the software and the resulting products and services. The problems also included "personal" conflicts between managers and between individual employees.
Specialist silos dissolved - teams restructured into squads and chapters based on the Spotify model
After a detailed analysis of the organization and processes, the interim manager developed a concept proposal for reorganization. This included a new team structure, new working models, training concepts and team-building measures. At the client's request, the interim manager also prepared a risk analysis.
The analyses resulted in a concept. The conversion of specialist silos into squads and chapters (based on the Spotify model) was set out in a manifesto and signed after a detailed discussion with the managers. The concept was then launched in a pilot team. The interim manager reported on progress to all those involved. After 2 months, a second pilot team was started, then after another 2 months the remaining teams were reorganized.
Teams for agile methods such as Scrum and Kanban set up and developed
Before the reorganization, the interim manager analysed and reviewed the skills of the employees. Gaps in agile methods such as Scrum Master, Scrum Product Owner and Kanban were closed through in-house training (from external service providers).
The interim manager put together multi-disciplinary teams based on the media supply chain and the software function blocks, and also defined and distributed their roles and tasks. He validated the compositions with the help of personality tests. The interim manager accompanied the teams into the new structure with full-day kick-offs and developed a team vision/mission together with the teams. He proactively promoted team building, including through team building events.
The working method was defined according to Scrum or Kanban (or Scrumban) and the resulting meetings (sprint planning, review, retrospective) were organized and artefacts set up (including boards, definition of ready/done).
In addition, the interim manager defined key performance indicators (KPIs) (today he would define Objective and Key Results - OKRs). He also created dashboards that were displayed on screens in the team rooms for visualization. In addition, the interim manager set up product portfolio management with a "scaled agile" approach.
Managed retrospectives and mediated conflicts
The interim manager managed all retrospectives in the first 6 months and mediated conflicts. This enabled problems with team compositions, working methods, processes, skill deficits and roles to be resolved quickly and misunderstandings to be cleared up. After 6 months, he handed over the retrospectives to the scrum masters and continued to be available as a coach.
System and software architecture modernized
The interim manager also led a technology assessment. Among other things, he was instrumental in initiating the conversion of the software from a monolithic to a micro-services architecture. In addition, the processes of the external IT service providers were adapted to the processes of the reorganized company. To ensure future innovative strength, the interim manager initiated the development and establishment of an innovation process, which he played a key role in supporting.
Significantly increased satisfaction, effectiveness and efficiency of the teams
As a result, employee motivation and satisfaction increased, as did the effectiveness and efficiency of the teams. One challenge that remains is the heavily outsourced development (remote developers and teams) of individual software modules, which was increasingly brought in-house after the project.
