Case study 20-person dev team in financial services
- Philip Cutcliffe
- Sep 1
- 2 min read
Key outcomes
Executive Summary
Over a 100-day engagement, Add Agility delivered transformative results. Using Jira metrics, we measured a 50% increase in work throughput. Project durations were reduced from 10 months to just over 3, primarily by limiting concurrent projects and adopting iterative testing practices.
The most significant impact came from rescuing a critical admin system replacement program. Without intervention, the missed deadline would have incurred over £1 million in software renewal costs. Thanks to Add Agility’s involvement, the project was brought back on track and delivered on time.
Background
The client’s team had grown from 6 to over 20 members in 18 months, supporting a successful and expanding product. However, the rapid scaling introduced challenges:
1. No delivery leads, scrum masters, or project managers had been added.
2. The team was responsible for both new development and platform support.
3. Support tasks consumed excessive time.
4. Project timelines were slipping, risking a £1 million unbudgeted cost.
5. There was a general perception that delivery speed was below expectations.
Add Agility was engaged to diagnose the issues and provide targeted problem solving.
Engagement Overview
How did we spend our time? We did spend some time implementing agile practices and doing some training but that was never the goal. Here are the top 10:
Conducted a comprehensive discovery and Jira audit to validate challenges and secure stakeholder buy-in.
Reorganized the team into smaller, focused delivery units.
Established a dedicated support team and implemented a support portal to streamline requests.
Rolled out Scrum across all teams and the wider organization.
Centralized all work in Jira, including portfolio management via epics.
Reduced active projects from 17 to 6, enabling greater focus and faster delivery.
Replaced lengthy 10-week UAT cycles with continuous user testing.
Leveraged short feedback loops and increased transparency to resolve dozens of previously hidden issues.
Documented all processes for sustainability.
Transitioned delivery leadership to an internal employee to maintain momentum.
The Results (top 6)
Productivity: Jira data showed a 100% increase in ticket closures. Adjusted for improved tracking, we conservatively report a 50% increase. Equivalent to adding 10 team members to the 20-person team.
Work in Progress: Reduced from 352 items to 70, indicating less context switching and faster testing cycles.
Cost Avoidance: Successfully delivered a critical internal system replacement, avoiding £1 million in renewal costs.
Support Efficiency: Support team size reduced from 10 to 5. (this accounted for a lot of the productivity increase)
Headcount Savings: Two Business Analysts departed and were not replaced due to streamlined processes.
Customer Satisfaction: Improved through continuous collaboration during development.
Wrap up
This anonymized case study highlights how targeted interventions can dramatically improve delivery performance. If your organization faces similar challenges, Add Agility offers a complimentary 30-minute consultation via our website.