SAFe in Action: Successful Product Development Case for Large International Healthcare Teams

Case

In three months (March-May, 2021), Sergey Prokhorenko, co-founder of Agile.Live, a recognized expert in large-scale product development, proved strong results at the initial stage of consulting an international company in the field of Healthcare & Life Sciences.

Thanks to introducing the SAFe approach, the company managed to achieve desired outcomes within a short period.

Background

The client had previous experience running individual projects with a fixed scope, but not programs that allow you to integrate multiple products.

Such programs have previously led to several challenges:

1. Requirements analysis period too long before development;
2. Conflict of priorities;
3. Excessive detail of specifications;
4. Constant changes in requirements;
5. An extended period of uncertainty before the first milestone.

The company wanted to solve the traditional design approach problems and introduce new strategies for future projects. To accelerate and optimize processes, they decided to turn to Sergey Prokhorenko.

Services

To establish solid agile product management foundation at the scale of several teams, we delivered:

1. Agile portfolio management training
2. Agile Release Train (ART)
3. ART-level meetings, such as PI Planning and System Demos.

To accelerate the initial planning phase, we used the following product management techniques:

• product discovery;
• product vision statement;
• impact mapping;
• user story mapping.

Results

Thanks to collaboration with us the company managed to:

1. Build an efficient scaled product delivery process.
2. Create a product roadmap.
3. Prioritize the backlog of the product portfolio.
4. Deliberate use of the SAFe approach helped the company to start development just six weeks after the official launch.
5. Splitting product requirements for multiple planning horizons provided business stakeholders with a high level of understanding of backlog without detailed specifications. We started demonstrations of the working software for business after the second two-week Sprint.

Next steps

The team is currently finalizing PI Objectives and preparing for the next PI Planning – on its own, involving Serhiy Prokhorenko on specific aspects of SAFe implementation.

Customer feedback

Olga, the company’s project manager, reflects on the experience of collaboration with Serhiy Prokhorenko:

“I must say that this is the first time I have worked with a professional scrum master and product manager.
Undoubtedly, this role is required for every project, especially in large programs.

For several months of partnership, we have implemented processes that already demonstrate a high level of efficiency. Advice on the use of tools was also helpful.

Some tools still need to be customized for a specific project, but my vision of alternatives has expanded significantly.
We were pleased with the training initiative, special lectures on agile frameworks, SAFe in particular.

I also want to emphasize the PI planning, conducted in an organized and efficient manner. The organization was at a high level, especially given the large size of the team.

Thank you very much for the service!“

JOIN AGILE.LIVE

• Check the nearest certification trainings at Agile.Live: Professional Scrum Master (PSM), Professional Agile Leadership Essentials (PAL-E), Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO).
• Connect with Agile.Live on LinkedIn
• Subscribe to Agile.Live Telegram channel
• Subscribe to Agile.Live YouTube channel