This Agile success story is drawn from the experience report “Optimize your organizational structure for agility” written by Wolfgang Steffens.
In 2017, a 250-person department of a German insurance company faced a critical challenge: deliver vehicle insurance software for car dealerships faster, while responding to rising customer demands. Their initial foray into Agile—a one-team Scrum pilot—showed promise but led to a false sense of security.
Leadership attempted to scale this approach across the department, assuming it would replicate the same results. However, this “copy-paste Agile” approach quickly exposed deeper flaws in the organization’s structure and mindset.
Without a shift, the organization risked falling behind competitors, losing customer trust, and demotivating its workforce. What followed was a journey from superficial Agile practices to a true transformation built on collaboration, adaptability, and customer focus.
Challenges: Missteps and misunderstandings
Structural flaws
The organization’s technical focus left teams siloed into Front-End, Back-End, and database groups. Delivering a single feature required input from multiple teams, creating endless dependencies. Long feedback loops and coordination struggles turned even simple tasks into complex projects.
Relying on “copy-paste Agile,” leadership scaled the one-team Scrum model without addressing these structural issues. By the end of the first three sprints, no customer features had been completed. Progress ground to a halt, forcing a shift into emergency task-force mode to salvage the release.
Mindset challenges
Another critical problem was a lack of customer-centric thinking. When asked, “What is your product?” leaders described technical components instead of focusing on the customer experience. This disconnect made prioritization and alignment across teams nearly impossible.
Transformation: Rediscovering Agility
Self-designing teams
To address these challenges, the organization held a self-designing team workshop, where over 100 employees reorganized themselves into cross-functional, cross-component teams. Management stayed out of the process, empowering teams to take ownership. The results were transformational, creating motivated teams aligned with customer needs.
One unified backlog
The organization also introduced a single, customer-focused product backlog. Backlog refinement workshops brought stakeholders, architects, and developers together to prioritize customer outcomes over technical silos. This simple yet powerful change aligned everyone on shared goals and reduced redundant efforts.
Collaborative leadership
A daily Agile Guiding Coalition meeting provided a space for leaders to address issues, test solutions, and drive change collaboratively. This coalition became a cornerstone of the transformation, fostering transparency and accountability across the organization.
Resolution: Tangible results
What changed
- Improved collaboration: Cross-functional teams reduced dependencies and streamlined workflows.
- Faster delivery: Teams consistently completed customer features, shortening cycle times.
- Higher quality: Bug reports dropped significantly, reflecting better product outcomes.
- Boosted motivation: Teams took pride in their autonomy and the value they delivered.
One highlight was the early delivery of an integrated vehicle insurance platform that exceeded customer expectations. The transformation showed that true agility comes from empowering teams and focusing on outcomes, not rigid processes.
Conclusion: Agile as a mindset
This success story is a testament to the power of shifting from “doing Agile” to “being Agile.” By abandoning “copy-paste Agile” and embracing collaboration, adaptability, and customer focus, the organization turned obstacles into opportunities.
Agile is not a one-size-fits-all solution but a mindset that allows teams to navigate complexity and deliver meaningful results. For organizations willing to experiment and invest in their people, the rewards can be well worth the effort.
Read the original experience report “Optimize your organizational structure for agility” by Wolfgang Steffens.
