Agile Portfoliomanagment - Scrum Eliminates Waste

Challange: Scaling project development effectively

SilverTours GmbH needed to revitalise their project management ap- proach. A highly creative company, SilverTours started many different projects, but now had over 150 projects in some phase of develop- ment, with poor visibility and a stressed product development organi- sation. Coupled with a rapid release cycle, many projects lay dormant and unfinished, causing frustration and destabilising the core product.

“Our core beliefs include high quality and respect in our interactions with people; putting the customer first and respecting our employees. With our current organisation we were unable to scale, and at risk of betraying our values” says Christian Mahnke, Founder and CEO.

Solution: Using a value based development approach

A high-quality, customer-centric product is a mantra at SilverTours. With unrivalled market position, and a deserved reputation for quality and customer transparency, SilverTours needed a way to scale de- velopment while maintaining confidence in the quality and functional- ity delivered.

SilverTours needed an approach in which product development was handled as a continually evolving process, from conception to de- ployment. Clearly a case for an agile approach, and one in which Scrum was ideally suited. agile42 supported SilverTours with transi- tioning to Scrum by coaching the product management team, assem- bling the Scrum Master team and by guiding and coaching the people on the floor, rolling out Scrum across the company in an end-to-end approach. “The transparency and emerging self-organisation brought a lot of confidence to the transition, so we decided to move ahead quickly with a full roll-out”, says Christian with conviction.

Results: A transparent process and self-organized teams

Since changing to Scrum, the SilverToursʼ product development proc- ess is now visible to all and aligned with the company and product visions. The development teams have adopted agile engineering practices, visibly improving knowledge sharing and already able to address requirements irrespective of the systems they involve. Scrum has lifted the product teams to a higher level, allowing Silver- Tours to focus on delivering projects with the highest value quickly.

“Dave Sharrock, our agile42 consultant, was a remarkable coach who helped us to quickly understand the new roles and ways of working. He was indispensable for our successful company transformation.” Christian Mahnke, Founder and CEO, SilverTours GmbH