1:2
New Scrum SME: Squad Ratio
<6
Months to develop and launch new customer card offering
100%
On-time execution of major Kafka upgrade
OWNING CHANGE IN BANKING
Our client is a market-leading licensed virtual bank in Hong Kong, providing a wide range of retail banking services, savings schemes, and investment offerings to customers.
The challenge:Plugging the Gaps in Project Delivery
Our client’s Hong Kong entity has 20+ cross-functional squads responsible for developing, maintaining, and upgrading different aspects of the web and mobile versions of their virtual banking application. To expedite their product development lifecycle and improve customer experience, they wanted to replicate the Spotify Model and drive Agile project management practices across all tribes and squads. project management practices across all tribes and squads.
Implementing an effective Agile practice across the entire organisation was no mean feat. To fully actualise the Spotify Model, the end-to-end project delivery had to be streamlined, and all stakeholders involved had to be aligned. Our client needed access to SMEs who could instil best practices in Agile project management and implement effective strategies to foster strong communication, facilitate cross-squad interactions, and synchronise delivery timelines for releasing new product offerings.
Our proposal:Agile Implementation with Pace and Precision
TEKsystems has been a key strategic partner to our client since their inception, supporting them along all stages of the startup lifecycle. We worked closely with their IT leadership and performed an in-depth gap analysis between their existing and desired future state. Deploying seasoned Scrum Masters was a key piece of the puzzle to drive process efficiencies, maximise squad performance, and enhance engineering capabilities. To deliver on our client’s requirements, TEKsystems implemented our staffing talent solution. Our delivery team focussed on identifying experienced Agile and Scrum SMEs, who had worked within the financial services domain.
On top of assessing their knowledge and previous experience, we specifically assessed their communication, change management, and stakeholder engagement skills as well as their ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment. This rigorous up-front screening was pivotal in minimising time-to-productivity and ensured that all consultants integrated seamlessly into our client’s internal teams post onboarding.
Real-world Results
To actualise our client’s vision of implementing the Spotify Model for project delivery, TEKsystems deployed a team of Agile and Scrum SMEs. They worked closely with key stakeholders and engaged different cross-functional squads to pragmatically drive Agile ceremonies including scoping requirements, planning sprints, facilitating daily standups, conducting iteration reviews and retrospectives.
Within six months of their onboarding, our team was able to successfully reduce the Scrum SME to Squad ratio from 1:3 (or in some cases 1:4) to 1:2. This meant that each Scrum Master could consolidate their efforts and spend more time overseeing their dedicated squads, optimising resources, and ensuring the timely fulfilment of key project milestones. With closer synergy among squads and an uplift of functional and technical capabilities across the board, our client successfully executed a major Kafka upgrade in record time. In addition, they developed and launched their new customer card offering – a significant step in their quest to attract and acquire more customers and expand their market share.
Off the back of successfully supporting their Agile transformation, TEKsystems has been entrusted to support several other business-critical programmes of work. We continue to deliver on their requirements, regardless of how niche they are, and support our client’s rise as an award-winning, pioneering force within the virtual banking space.