Large-scale agile transformation - A case study of Volvo Cars’ transformation process
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Typ
Examensarbete för masterexamen
Master Thesis
Master Thesis
Program
Quality and operations management (MPQOM), MSc
Publicerad
2018
Författare
Bergqvist, Jacob
Gordani Shahri, Navid
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
This master’s thesis has been conducted at Volvo Cars to investigate and evaluate their agile transformation process. Three research questions were formulated to investigate what success factors and metrics needs to be focused on during an agile transformation. In addition, an evaluation was made of the used framework at Volvo Cars, namely Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe). The data collection has been primarily based on semi-structured interviews and a self-completion questionnaire. A total of 24 interviews were conducted with employees with a managerial position. A self-completion questionnaire was sent out where 1405 answers were received, out of those, twelve percent of the respondents had a managerial position. Nine success factors were identified, which are all important for an organization’s agile transformation. The success factors ‘understand why to transform’, ‘training’, ‘management support’ and ‘support from an agile coach’ are the four most important success factors when taking general change management theories and previous agile transformations in consideration. The study identified 16 metrics, which can be used before, during and after an agile transformation. It is important to understand where the metrics should be measured, because an organization changes and thus, the metrics’ results can be misguiding if measured at the wrong occasions. The most important metric to be focused on during an agile transformation is employees’ well-being, while the most important metric to be measured before and after an agile transformation is quality. Volvo Cars has utilized the framework SAFe to scale the agile approach throughout the entire organization. In SAFe, there are four core values which have been evaluated to see if Volvo Cars has fulfilled them or not. These core values are alignment, built-in quality, transparency and program execution. Due to the fact that Volvo Cars was within the actual transformation process the evaluation was difficult, but there were some clear areas for improvement. These improvements are within the core values alignment and transparency, where there is a misalignment between managers and employees and between the four major departments within research and development at Volvo Cars. The work has resulted in six recommendations for Volvo Cars and their ongoing agile transformation, which are presented in the end of this report.
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Ämne/nyckelord
Transport , Övrig industriell teknik och ekonomi , Transport , Other industrial engineering and economics