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Italiano The Company and Initial Challenges
This case study focuses on a small start-up in the targeted advertising industry, around two years old and with approximately 45 employees. The company had recently been acquired by a larger organisation and was experiencing rapid growth, with its workforce more than doubling in a single year. However, the fast pace of expansion introduced new complexities, and the company soon found itself struggling with operational inefficiencies, poor employee engagement, and knowledge silos.
Although the company had achieved success in its niche, it was grappling with several internal issues. Team members frequently complained that projects were taking too long to complete, and there was a pervasive sense of frustration across the organisation. The siloed structure meant that teams were not collaborating effectively, and critical knowledge was often held by only a few individuals. As the company scaled, it became clear that these problems were hindering its ability to deliver consistent value to customers. Leadership recognised that, without a significant shift in how work was managed and executed, the company’s future growth would be in jeopardy.
Key Observations
Upon closer inspection, several additional challenges were revealed. The company’s technical environment was particularly complex, but it relied heavily on electronic tools like Jira to track work. In addition, Scrum had been tried for around 2 years, with no tangible benefits. This fuelled an anti-agile culture within the company, with the common sentiment being “agile doesn’t work here.” The response to introducing something new met with a firmly closed door.
There was also a notable lack of transparency and predictability in the company’s delivery. Projects often stalled, and the absence of clear priorities led to confusion and inefficiency. Stakeholders, including customers, felt disconnected from the company’s operations, and engagement levels were low. Moreover, the pressure to manage multiple unplanned tasks further derailed the team’s ability to focus on key initiatives.
Steps to Transformation: Embracing Kanban
Recognising the need for a transformative solution, the company turned to a “Kanban by stealth” approach, where Kanban practices were introduced without explicitly naming the method. This allowed the focus to remain on achieving business improvements rather than debating the details of agile frameworks. The visual-based approach focused on improving flow, creating focus and enhancing team collaboration. The approach was designed to help the company bring order to its operations without needing to overhaul everything at once – no large transformation, no new roles or responsibilities. Kanban’s “start with what you do now” philosophy allowed the company to implement changes incrementally, making it easier to adapt whilst at the same time reducing the resistance that big change initiatives provoke.
Initial Activities
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Interviews and Assessment: The first step involved conducting detailed interviews with team members, managers, and stakeholders to understand the key pain points. These interviews revealed a lack of communication between teams, unclear project priorities, and a tendency to work on too many tasks at once, leading to bottlenecks and delays.
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Tailored Training: Training workshops were organised for both managers and team members, helping them adopt simple yet effective practices like visualising work, creating focus (limiting WIP), and improving collaboration and transparency. This training also served to create a shared understanding of how the company could address its operational challenges.
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Visual Management Implementation: The company transitioned from relying solely on electronic tools like Jira to using visual task boards that mapped out the workflow in a more tangible and easily accessible format. This new system encouraged teams to “walk the board” during stand-ups, where they would begin talking about the work on the right side of the board and work progressively upstream, focusing on work items which were blocked and had changed since the last stand-up. By visualising the work on a board, it became easier for teams to see the status of different items, identify blockages, and work together to resolve issues. This approach also enabled better knowledge distribution, as team members who previously held critical information could now share their insights more effectively.
- Ticket Design and Creation: A key part of implementation was designing tickets that reflected different types of work and the specific steps needed to complete them. This ticketing system made it easier to track various projects, distinguish between planned and unplanned tasks, and ensure that nothing fell through the cracks. Teams could now classify work by type, which helped in setting priorities and better managing workloads.
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Engaging Stakeholders: Engaging customers and internal stakeholders was a vital part of the improvement. The Kanban approach made the work more visible to external parties, providing them with greater insight into progress and the ability to give more timely feedback. This transparency improved relationships with stakeholders, as they felt more included and could contribute to steering the direction of the work.
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Metrics and Continuous Feedback: The team also introduced new metrics to monitor performance and improvement over time. These metrics included tracking the balance between planned and unplanned work, monitoring task completion times, and measuring team velocity. Continuous feedback loops were established to ensure the system remained flexible, adapting to any new challenges that arose.
The Impact of the Changes
The adoption of Kanban led to several immediate and long-term improvements. First, the visual task board provided clarity across teams, enabling better collaboration and significantly reducing the time spent on unnecessary meetings and task updates. Teams were able to identify bottlenecks faster, allowing them to focus their efforts on high-priority tasks and finish existing work before taking on new projects.
As the company embraced Kanban, it experienced a marked improvement in stakeholder satisfaction. The transparency provided by the visual system meant that stakeholders were kept informed of progress in real-time, increasing their confidence in the company’s ability to deliver. The leadership team also noticed that the predictability of workflows improved dramatically – tasks were completed on time, and the need for estimations or sizing of tasks was reduced.
Moreover, collaboration between teams, which had previously been a major issue, improved as Kanban fostered an environment where knowledge sharing became more common. The teams were more motivated and engaged, with a shared sense of ownership over their work. The reduction in unplanned tasks and interruptions led to a noticeable increase in overall team happiness and productivity.
Final Outcomes and Lessons Learned
After several months of using Kanban, the company saw significant changes. Technical complexities were managed more effectively, and the number of technical bottlenecks dropped significantly. The leadership team reported a substantial reduction in unplanned work and outages, further contributing to a smoother operation. The company also noted an overall increase in velocity, particularly after refining its process and reducing the number of active tasks at any given time.
The Chief Technology Officer (CTO) reflected on the journey, emphasising that Kanban’s simple but powerful principle of “starting with what you do now” was key to the transformation. The power of visualisation proved to be invaluable, and the organisation realised the importance of patience and persistence in achieving lasting change. Over time, the use of Kanban spread to other parts of the organisation, creating a culture of continuous improvement.
In conclusion, the company’s journey from operational inefficiency to sustainable growth through Kanban serves as a clear example of how a structured, visual-based approach can revitalise a business. By focusing on collaboration, transparency, and continuous adaptation, the start-up was able to turn its challenges into opportunities, building a solid foundation for future growth and success.
