Evaluating how a short survey can measure agile transformation: A field study on the survey and agile maturity model used by Volvo Cars during their transformation

Abstract

With more companies moving towards agile, there is a need for ways to measure the progress. There are several agile maturity models for this purpose, but they are accompanied by a large set of indicators to be measured. Volvo Cars created a model with only ten questions in their shift towards the agile ways of working, creating an alternative and time-efficient measuring method. The purpose of this study is to evaluate to what degree one can use the 10-question survey to measure a large automotive company’s agile transformation. To investigate how much of agile the model covers, a literature review was conducted to collect different agile definitions, values, and principles and then map them onto the questions. The model was validated with exploratory factor analysis and by plotting means with confidence intervals. Lastly, a thematic analysis uncovered the participants’ opinions on the model. What was found is that the survey does not cover all aspects of agile. Instead, it is composed of a mix of agile and important success factors for agile transformations. The statistical analysis did not support the proposed grouping of the questions in the model since there were too few measured variables. What could be seen is that the participants matured according to the staircase proposed. Lastly, we discovered that 8.4% responded with their opinion about the survey. Of those, 13.5% were positive, 38.2% were neutral, and 47.3% were negative. People generally had many opinions about what questions to include or exclude in the survey. In conclusion, the scope of what can be covered with ten questions is limited. All questions except two can be connected to important aspects of agile or agile transformation, but they did not map to all included aspects in this thesis. Since all aspects of agile and the transformation cannot be covered, adapting such a survey and model to the targeted organization becomes essential. We see that grouping the questions when they are so few might hide important information. Not all aspects the employees wished for could be included with only ten questions. There also seemed to have been a dissonance between the type of questions included in the survey and what the employee expected, even though its purpose was communicated when sent out.