Is your team struggling to keep up with rapid growth?
A leading provider of custom software for after-school and summer programs faced challenges in aligning its product team dynamics and culture with expanding application requirements. Struggling with internal and vendor communications and adopting new development methodologies, they sought our expertise for an unbiased assessment and strategic improvement plan.
A recent cyber security maturity assessment uncovered significant challenges, including a disconnect between business and technology teams, over-reliance on external vendors, and ineffective communication. Our evaluation revealed further issues:
• Internal teams were highly frustrated with poor communication from external vendors.
• The technology team's late involvement in scoping led to unpreparedness for application feature support.
• Internal teams were not appropriately sized for the work that needed to be completed.
• Insufficient training on new Agile SDLC methodologies for both internal and external teams.
• Overwhelmed internal teams due to rapid application demand growth.
Our comprehensive analysis included attending meetings, interviewing team members, reviewing daily tasks, and creating an Agile Project Management plan. We aimed to redefine internal roles, improve project management and development methodologies, and enhance professional development training.
Key findings included insufficient technology team involvement in requirement building, late-stage scope changes by leadership, difficult communication with the development vendor, and the need for better project management methodologies and training on new Agile practices.
We advised:
1. Aligning business analysts with specific application development domains to foster specialized skill sets.
2. Creating new internal roles to reduce vendor dependency, suggesting six new hires to replace vendor resources.
3. Transitioning project management from vendors to internal teams to improve development control and financial efficiency.
4. Shifting from reactive to proactive internal team activities by involving technology teams early in requirement definitions.
5. Implementing comprehensive training on SDLC activities and documentation requirements to promote a cohesive team environment.
The client embraced our recommendations, with immediate leadership actions to recruit five new roles, enhancing team communication and preparation. This strategic internal realignment is projected to result in significant annual savings of 1 to 2 million dollars within 2 to 5 years, alongside increased team satisfaction and productivity.
Our client is better positioned to meet their application development roadmap and organizational goals through targeted analysis and strategic recommendations, highlighting the power of aligning team dynamics with business objectives for sustainable growth and success.