Background
Fadata is a leading provider of software solutions for insurance companies globally.
Fadata Group is headquartered in Munich and has offices throughout Europe, including a significant software development and operations center in Sofia. It has an extensive international distribution and implementation partner network, including Charles Taylor InsureTech, EY, Infosys and Beakwise.
Summary
Fadata was up for a significant change in October 2020 with its “Fadata2Agile” transformation across the Product Development organisation, aimed at becoming a lean-agile enterprise of the future. They used modern frameworks like Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), the Spotify model, DevOps, and ITIL 4 High-velocity IT to transform their product development and support. The new way of work enabled the company to resolve challenges connected to resource management, tasks prioritization, and team alignment.
This transformation even touched the People management unit (subcategory of Human Resources), as they shifted to agile practices to work as an agile team.
Fast forward to the spring of 2023, and the agile Product organization is still on the move, accelerating advanced agile methods and continuously improving. The results have been noteworthy, as the time to value, quality, and employee satisfaction have significantly improved.
Yavor Mramorenski, Director Software Development at Fadata
“Implementing SAFe was initially challenging for Fadata, however, it was unquestionably worth the effort, as the results are visible on a daily basis. The SAFe methodology brought us the flexibility commonly found in start-up cultures, but with a more mature approach using proven tools and techniques. ITCE played a crucial role in guiding Fadata through each step of the SAFe implementation process. I consider several steps to be particularly significant, such as defining value streams, selecting the appropriate toolset, and identifying missing roles within the organization. Based on my experience, I highly recommend ITCE as a pioneering facilitator of SAFe implementation in Bulgaria.”
The Beginning
Our team was initially approached by Fadata’s Chief People Officer, who had large-scale vision of the agile transformation and the support of the whole C-level. The management team wholeheartedly embraced the role of “change angels” to drive the transformation primarily motivated by two factors:
- Embracing the age of software and digital, not only as leaders in insurance software but also as a modern agile organization in which knowledge workers can thrive.
- Maintaining its position as a leader in the insurance software industry by enhancing the frequency of delivering new platform features.
The Solution
- Step 1: Form the transformation team “Fadata2Agile” and the transformation backlog
- Step 2: Train the managers for their new roles on SAFe and Enterprise Architecture
- Step 3: Identity/map the value stream and the teams topology for the Fadata insurance
- Step 4: Define the Ops stages of the value stream
- Step 5: Identify and coach the central ART roles
- Step 6: Form the agile teams on the ART
- Step 7: Design the agile digital workspace
- Step 8: Run the planning interval (PI) 1 event as the mass lounge of the transformation
- Step 9: Run big room problem solving event just before the second PI planning event
- Step 10: Coach the ART and Teams
The Result
Process Transparency
Transparency from Roadmap to value delivery & increased motivation and long-term engagement of the engineering staff
Deliverables Predictability
Seeing the big picture during the PI and having the interdependencies handled boosted the ability to be certain in the value delivery capabilities.
Employees Engagement
Lower staff turnover and better visibility of the value delivered by each team member
Defects Handling
Improved ability to triage, prioritize and deliver on defects.