The Challenge: A Team Struggling with Complexity
In early 2023, I joined a mid-sized marketing company as an Agile Coach after being invited by the CEO to support their transformation journey. The organization operated in a traditional, process-heavy environment, with extensive documentation, rigid workflows, and challenges in adapting to changing client needs.
My goal was to help shift the team towards an Agile way of working—one that is flexible, collaborative, and focused on delivering customer value efficiently.
Accepting the Challenges
During my first week, I didn’t suggest immediate changes. Instead, I observed. I joined meetings, analyzed workflows, and identified obstacles. Here’s what stood out:
- Lack of cross-team collaboration – Work was often done in silos rather than as a team.
- Lack of shared goals – There was no unifying vision guiding the team’s efforts.
- Bottlenecks in decision-making – Whole progress depended on a single person.
- Ineffective task tracking – Work was managed in Excel sheets, making prioritization and visibility difficult.
- Reactive approach – The team responded to tasks as they emerge, rather than following a clear strategic plan.
At that moment, I knew this would be a challenging yet rewarding transformation.
The First Steps Toward Change
Two immediate priorities emerged:
- Reducing dependency on a single person; decision-maker.
- Aligning the team around shared goals.
We introduced incremental improvements, ensuring the team had space to adapt while avoiding drastic disruptions. The team showed great willingness to collaborate, and step by step, we laid the foundation for meaningful change.
Key Transformations
After a few months, we had achieved several significant milestones:
✔ Migrated to Jira – Enabling structured Product Backlog management and transparent ways of work.
✔ Established a Product Backlog – Making work visible, prioritized, and easier to manage.
✔ Defined a clear vision and goals – Providing the team with a sense of purpose and direction.
✔ Increased transparency – Encouraging open communication, which helped remove blockers and optimize processes.
With these improvements, the team started to self-organize, collaborate effectively, and deliver real value to customers. Agile was no longer an abstract concept, it became a practical approach that made daily work easier and more impactful.
The Results: A High-Performing Agile Team
By the eighth month, the transformation was evident.
🔹 The team became significantly more effective, delivering work in a structured and predictable way.
🔹 Client feedback improved, with a noticeable increase in satisfaction.
🔹 Agility became a core mindset, allowing the team to navigate complexity with confidence.
The biggest takeaway? The team saw the benefits firsthand. They no longer felt trapped in rigid processes—they thrived in a more dynamic and adaptable way of working.
Conclusion
The shift from a structured but inefficient model to an Agile, high-performing team wasn’t easy, but it was worth it. This transformation is proof that Agile is not just about processes—it’s about people, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
What’s your biggest challenge when it comes to Agile transformation? Let’s discuss in the comments!
