Telia and MTV had recently merged after a huge Nordic acquisition, and a new, winning combination of mobile connectivity and entertainment was underway. It was also meant to be as digital-friendly as possible, taking Telia as an operator into the modern digital age.
The transformation had already brought several challenges. The scope and timeline had been revised to deliver a high-quality service to customers as quickly as possible.
Staff changes and external pressures added further complexity. The team needed greater focus and a clear path towards launch.
What was needed was focus, team spirit, and a cleverly organized final spurt. To guide this team, Lasse Jaloluoma, Taskmill’s experienced agile expert, joined Telia’s project as the partner of company’s internal Product Owner’s.
Launching as the Objective
“Following Lasse’s lead, we got an effective spurt in the project. First we focused on simplifying work as well as the scope of work and prioritising it. The strict focus was on doing less, more systematically, and with better quality, while improving the team’s internal operating models, decision-making models and communication”, says Jani Heinola, Telia’s IT Business Partner working on agile development methods.
“The most important thing, however, was how we proceeded with customer use. Driven by Lasse, the goal and route were visualized from the very first moment to the first customer test and the final launch.”
“A clear plan helped to better communicate the common goal to both the team and other stakeholders. Transparency increased both the effectiveness and motivation of the team as they could see their own work as productive and significant. Lasse’s coordination and coaching expertise was then intended to be more widely used in Telia, to revise a multi-team SAFe development model that has undergone four iterations over the years.”
The key decisions about launch scope were made during the first few weeks. After that, the updated launch plan remained accurate all the way to release.
Praise in a Finnish Way
The team’s faith in their own work was greatly strengthened during the first few weeks and already two weeks later, during the weekly retrospective the team thought “Work has accelerated well” and “Backlog is ok and tasks clear”. There was also praise in a very Finnish way: “I don’t really have anything negative to say”.
In accordance with the important principles of agile development, a concrete validation plan was created. Initially, the service was used only by the development team and progress was made to end users through the experiences of two pilot groups. A lot was learned along the way and progress required constant reflection on what the most important is right now. This was supported by common routines.
Eventually, sales of the new service began smoothly. The team followed the start of the sale, and already that same afternoon, they had to come up with new things to be developed as no quick repairs were needed. Currently, this team is working as part of Telia’s ongoing transformation, and Lasse is helping Telia to develop cross-team agile methods.
Learn More
Telia
Jani Heinola, Information Technology Business Partner
jani.heinola@teliacompany.com
Taskmill
Lasse Jaloluoma, Agile Leadership Consultant
lasse.jaloluoma@taskmill.fi