Protel and Protein are two group companies working together, one designing computer software for hotels and restaurants, and the other providing services with the software including installation and support. The pair of companies had been a sector leader in Turkey for the last 10 years, with a revenue of $35 million per year and 380 employees between the two companies. However, during the last three years The company was losing market share due to unmet customer expectations caused by changing requirements, service delays, startups with lower cost, and the impact of the pandemic. The company also suffered from a lack of autonomy due to high dependency rates and slow decision making. It was determined the entire pair of companies needed to be transformed to become more agile.

Change from the top down – increased velocity, less bugs, and penetration into new markets!

Scrum@Scale Trainer Suha Selςuk was brought in to guide the transformation to develop a new more agile company with increasing autonomy at the team level and a better understanding and response to customer needs.

Prior to the transformation, the design company experienced silos, classical hierarchical management, delivery delays, and unmet customer expectations. At the service company, there were five enormous Scrum Teams, mechanical Scrum implementation, a lack of autonomy, and communication issues among teams.

Change started from the top down. The Executive Action Team (EAT) became Scrum Master for the entire company and established small cross functional teams and conductedtraining and rollout sessions. These product-based scrum teams were able to make decisions, organize themselves, produce solutions, react quickly, and demonstrate value of progress and products to the stakeholders.

The EAT and Scrum Master for the entire organization managed organizational impediments as well as the transformation plan and backlog. Product Owners,Scrum Masters, and Scrum Teams created an integrated feedback mechanism and product roadmap while Scrum Master teams worked on resolving common impediments. 

The transformation produced smaller cross functional, self-managed development teams of four to five members, leadership enhancement, reduced delays, and better understanding of customer expectations. This vision resulted in a drastically increased velocity, less bugs, penetration into new markets, and increased market share.

Outcomes from Implementing Scrum@Scale

The restructuring resulted in a strong company vision and a product roadmap.

Results for Protein: 

• Average velocity of the teams increased by 35%
• Test coverage rate increased by 30%
• Number of bugs decreased by 27%

Results for Protel:

• Benchmark analysis led to increased understanding of customer expectations
• Penetration to new resort hotel market resulted in 3 new deals
• Team happiness, autonomy, and courage increased
• Market share increased by 3%

Who Is Suha Selςuk

Suha is the first Scrum Trainer by Scrum Inc.™ in Turkey and is the founder of the Open Agile Turkey Community & T4A Consulting. He is the author of the book Failure Stories – Retrospective of Agile Transformation Journeys & Tips for Effective Transformations’. He is a regular speaker at events and has spoken at over 45 events to date.