Fully implementing agile best practices enables law firm to achieve quantifiable business value
Snapshot
A large legal operation unique in their field relied on a custom application that unified multiple workflows into a single system. This complex tool required frequent iteration, and developers received ongoing feedback from business analysts about key product features and essential artifacts.
In order to facilitate these interactions between teams, the client had implemented portions of agile. The implementation was not cohesive however, and gaps in practice prevented the business from realizing the full value of agile. Kalles Group was invited to lead scrums and train leaders in agile best practices in order to facilitate more effective communication and increase efficiency throughout the development lifecycle.
Challenge
Kalles Group built a relationship with each business lead. Our consultant reviewed past analyses to recognize recurring pain points, then identified the agile artifacts relevant to those specific issues. By stepping in as scrum master, our consultant practically demonstrated how to apply scrum within a short-iterative, high complexity application development project.
Approach
Kalles Group successfully guided one feature through a sprint cycle, educating the client’s staff in the process. Our consultant defined and implemented specific agile artifacts that would aid internal communication and enhance overall team performance:
- Product backlog
- Use cases
- Activity diagrams
- Wireframes to document user interaction and experience
- User stories
- Formalized business rules and functional requirements
- Burn-up and burn-down charts
Our consultant instructed business analysts on how to provide developers and quality assurance teams more specific instructions by incorporating data flow annotation with UI design, and worked alongside team members to remove roadblocks and demonstrate accurate estimation techniques for allocation of time
and resources.
By stepping in as scrum master, our consultant practically demonstrated how to apply scrum within a short-iterative, high complexity application development.
Results
Kalles Group successfully introduced the artifacts of scrum for a client underutilizing the method. With these additional artifacts fully incorporated, the client enjoyed the full value of an end-to-end agile process as a means of achieving quantifiable business value by delivering a well-developed product on time and according to all requirements. Employee communication has also improved, an ongoing benefit as the company continues to improve its processes, tools, and products.