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Case StudyAvanade uses agile toaccelerate its digital andbusiness transformationScrum and Nexus drive faster progress towardbecoming an agile enterprise
Challenge: Whentraditional methodsfor implementingchange aren’t enoughAvanade faced this challenge a couple of yearsago with a companywide initiative focused onthe vision and strategy for its business goingforward into 2020. As part of this initiative, therewas a significant push to shift to the “new”(new technologies, new approaches, digitaltransformation).It’s never easy to implementmajor changes in a largeorganization. It takes a clearstrategy and hard work onthe part of many committedpeople. It also requires anapproach that ensures thework gets done – not justtalked about.In the past, when embarking on a substantialchange program, the company would typicallytake a traditional approach using steeringcommittees who would meet monthly. Thesemeetings tended to be high level and were notgenerally focused on execution. Given the scopeand speed of the change that would be requiredfor the new initiative to succeed, Avanade neededa different approach – one that could help itsteams better collaborate in order to drive thisshift. It needed a way to organize the teamsworking on the initiative (consisting of over 200people from around the world, including businessleadership) that would be flexible, ensure crossfunctional participation and produce tangibleresults, adding value to the organization in ashort amount of time.2
Taking an agile approach was the logical choice.Not only did it meet the necessary criteria, butAvanade already had strong agile capabilities,which it was using with clients. So it made senseto apply that same approach internally. It alsoaligned with the company’s strategic objective ofdelivering greater value to its clients by becominga more agile enterprise overall.Solution: Scrum framework focuses ondelivering real workAgile is an umbrella term for delivery approachesthat are highly collaborative, team based anditerative – meaning that you add value regularly,over short periods of time. Because of theflexibility needed for a complex project withmany moving parts and people, Avanade decidedthat Scrum would be the best agile frameworkto use. Avanade is fortunate to have one of theworld’s largest contingents of Scrum.org licensedProfessional Scrum TrainersTM, so it was relativelystraightforward to tap into the power of its inhouse agile practice.Due to the size of the organization, Avanadeevolved to use the Nexus framework (seediagram). Nexus extends Scrum to guide multipleScrum Teams on how they work together todeliver integrated work in regular cycles, referredto as Sprints. The Nexus framework allows theteams to come together, share work betweenteams, and manage and minimize dependencies.The Nexus at Avanade evolved into what isknown as a Nexus because there were multipleautonomous Nexuses working together. Withinthe Nexus there were four Nexuses, eachcontaining three or more Scrum Teams.The Nexuses represented four key focus areas forAvanade: Markets and Clients People Ecosystem Platforms and Services Operating SystemNexus FrameworkTM3
Nexus by the numbersAvanade’s Nexus implementationincluded the following elements:1Nexus 4Nexuses13Scrum Teams130 Development Team members30 stakeholders5agile coaches6Scrum Masters1Nexus Product OwnerNexus uses the same events as Scrum, includingSprint Planning meetings, Sprint Reviews andSprint Retrospectives. The Avanade teams startedto use those events to move their work forward.There was also a Nexus Integration Team (NIT),which consisted of delegates from each ScrumTeam and Nexus as well as all the agile coachesinvolved in this initiative. Additionally, the ProductOwner, who was accountable for the initiative,and CEO met quarterly to review initiatives andmake refinements in order to ensure alignmentwith the company’s strategy.“The NIT was mostly active in relation to training,providing tooling guidance and helping teamsperform better,” said Mica Syjuco, ProfessionalScrum Trainer and interim Global DevOps andAgile Coaching Talent Community Lead forAvanade. “Prior to kicking off our Nexus for theinitiative, the NIT conducted Scaled ProfessionalScrum with Nexus and Professional ScrumFoundations training, as well as tooling trainings,for the different Nexuses and Scrum Teams.That included our CEO and other executives. Wefound the NIT very important to the success ofthis implementation.“The Nexuses also held Call and Learns with theentire Avanade Global Executive Leadership team[about 250 executives] to gather their input andfeedback to the proposed Scrum Team solutions,which was very helpful in terms of transparencyand promoting adoption.”The language of ScrumYou may know that Scrum is a frameworkto support teams in complex productdevelopment. But did you know thata Product Owner is the role in Scrumaccountable for maximizing the value ofa product? Or that the Product Backlog isan ordered list of the work to be done tocreate, maintain and sustain a product. Toget fluent in Scrum, check out theScrum.org Scrum Glossary.“The Nexus framework that Avanadeadopted enabled us to execute ourstrategy faster and more effectively thanif we had followed a more traditionalimplementation methodology.”– Bernie Neville,Global Business Management Lead, Avanade4
Results: More people, more work,more speedSince implementing the Nexus , the teams havedeveloped over 130 features, delivered nearly1,000 work items and completed 16 Sprints.“The Nexus framework that Avanade adoptedenabled us to execute our strategy faster andmore effectively than if we had followed a moretraditional implementation methodology,” saidBernie Neville, global business managementlead, Avanade.“Through the Nexus framework and approach,we were able to design and implement changesto our business model involving a broad rangeof people from across our organization. Withthese changes we are better equipped to helpour clients transform their businesses for thedigital world, creating great experiences for theircustomers and employees. We’ve reduced costs,increased productivity, enabled collaborationand enhanced agility – and ultimately improvedperformance.”The results of the Nexus approach spanned thebusiness, including creating enhanced guidancefor solutioning deals with clients and building amore client-centric culture by introducing moreresponsive tools for capturing client feedback.In addition, Avanade realized the followingresults, which are helping the company achievea “workplace experience transformation.” Implemented a modern, intelligent,employee-centric intranet site, creating amore personalized employee experience Released a new internal career portal,“Making Waves at Avanade,” to help empoweremployees to grow their careers at Avanade 2019 Avanade, Inc.—All Rights Reserved Created a new annual Innovation Summit,bringing together employees with clients andexternal thought leaders to showcase and growtheir talents, skills and creativity to solve realworld problems Created a simplified workplace experiencefor business leaders by providing access toimproved self-service tools and insights to driveoperating and financial performance for theirarea of accountabilityThe Nexus approach has also helped Avanadebecome a more agile enterprise, which is nowbetter positioned to help its clients deliverproducts to market more quickly, gaining greatervalue and improved customer satisfaction. Nowthat this initiative is complete, Avanade continuesto practice Scrum, using the Nexus frameworkand sustaining its agile initiatives, includingextending agile to other parts of its business suchas its Marketing organization.About AvanadeAvanade is the leading provider of innovative digital and cloud services,business solutions and design-led experiences on the Microsoftecosystem. Our professionals bring bold, fresh thinking combined withtechnology, business and industry expertise to help make a humanimpact on our clients, their customers and their employees. We arethe power behind the Accenture Microsoft Business Group, helpingcompanies to engage customers, empower employees, optimizeoperations and transform products, leveraging the Microsoft platform.Avanade has 36,000 professionals in 24 countries, bringing clientsour best thinking through a collaborative culture that honors diversityand reflects the communities in which we operate. Majority ownedby Accenture, Avanade was founded in 2000 by Accenture LLP andMicrosoft Corporation. Learn more at www.avanade.com.About Scrum.orgBased on the values and principles of Scrum and the Agile Manifesto,Scrum.org provides comprehensive training, assessments andcertifications. Throughout the world, our solutions and community ofProfessional Scrum Trainers empower people and organizations toachieve agility through Scrum. Ken Schwaber, the co-creator of Scrum,founded Scrum.org in 2009 as a global organization, dedicating himselfto improving the professionalism when solving complex problems byreducing the gaps so the work and work products are dependable.5
world’s largest contingents of Scrum.org licensed Professional Scrum TrainersTM, so it was relatively straightforward to tap into the power of its in-house agile practice. Due to the size of the organization, Avanade evolved to use the Nexus framework (see diagram). Nexus extends Scrum to guide multiple
