Managing Rapid Growth and Improving Delivery with Agile at Aeroqual

Aeroqual is an innovative Kiwi company at the cutting edge of air monitoring equipment. The demand, both internally and globally has meant rapid growth which has presented some challenges to various teams and parts of the business. Radically assisted Aeroqual transform to agile, from creating the clear link between the strategic direction of the organisation and the day-to-day work within the teams, through to resetting the Scrum teams and a focusing on the why of Agile. The added benefit of these changes was not only speed and alignment, but the culture of Aeroqual grew even more so to one of inclusion, collaboration and alignment.

Challenge

How might a rapidly growing organisation communicate better at a strategic level, then improve delivery practices to provide acceleration in a consistent and repeatable manner?

Results

Refreshed Ways of Working through redefined practices and the WHY of Agile
Shifting focus of teams and leadership to outcomes
Transform to Agile including strategy, mindset, planning and execution
Sustainable Growth with a growth rate of 30-40% year on year, Radically’s Agile approach has allowed the teams to manage what was previously an out-of-control workload

Approach

Aeroqual is an innovative Kiwi company at the cutting edge of air monitoring equipment. The demand, both locally and globally, has meant rapid growth which has presented some challenges to various teams and parts of the business.

Transform to Agile with refreshed Ways of Working

The first phase of Radically’s work centred on a refresh of the ways of working, revisiting the “why” and reinforcing the benefits that teams working in an Agile fashion will gain. Advanced coaching and support allowed the lessons learnt to accelerate and utilising Radically’s expertise to recruit a high-quality Scrum Master to support once Radically had completed their work.

Breaking down silos and reinforcing the collaborative approach was key to the ways of working refresh. Building cross-functional teams that were more product aligned allowed for faster delivery and more emphasis on the key areas needed to support their organisational growth.

Building a Product Company

The second phase saw the creation of product-based value streams, with clear alignment between people, teams and those streams. In addition, an overhaul of the existing initiatives prioritisation mechanic to a simpler, easier to communicate and quicker to deliver model using industry best practice saw an increased focus on those initiatives that were important and less effort on the lower value initiatives.

The alignment of the teams and value streams met some challenges in that people were used to working a certain way and with certain products. Changes to this were slow to begin with but progressed quickly once the benefits started to show. The organisation backlog benefited from a simplified, more accessible process that was repeatable and clearly understood by the product teams.

Partnership

Radically worked closely with Aeroqual to understand their business, their culture and the things that were holding them back. A clear roadmap of work designed to remove those impediments created the right working environment and mindset for Aeroqual to manage it’s growing pains for now and the future.