Lloyds Banking Group, one of the largest financial institutions in the United Kingdom, recognized the growing need to embrace modern challenges. With a history spanning over 325 years and a vast customer base, Lloyds took a bold step towards agility. The decision to move to an agile model was significantly accelerated following the appointment of Ron van Kemenade as the Chief Operating Officer. This transition to 100% agile, spearheaded by Agile Transformation Director Victoria Leslie-Kent, rolled out across 42 platform organizations within a 10-week period.
Accelerating Agile Adoption at Lloyds
Leadership and Vision
The shift towards an agile model gathered momentum with the leadership of Ron van Kemenade, former CTO of ING. Kemenade’s vision was to identify and address obstacles preventing a company-wide shift to agile practices. The leadership team, led by Agile Transformation Director Victoria Leslie-Kent, reframed the problem statement to focus on moving 100% all-in on agile methodologies.
The 10-Week Transformation Challenge
Leslie-Kent elaborates on the 10-week reorganization process, which involved a major shift from project-based to product-based thinking. This transformation impacted over 31,000 employees, demanding a major mindset change and adoption of new practices. Leslie-Kent acknowledged that the teams initially focused more on their portfolios rather than the holistic value of their products.
Major Role Changes and New Responsibilities
Role Modification and Elimination
Significant changes were made to business roles, with the elimination of project manager, program manager, business analyst, and scrum master roles. The aim was to reduce the number of administrative roles and expand the engineering workforce to allow for more immediate connections between engineers and product owners.
Introduction of New Roles
New roles were introduced to focus on delivering customer value. Customer journey manager roles were created, transitioning many former business analysts. These new roles aimed to think more holistically about products, enhancing customer and colleague value. The platform teams were reorganized to ensure better team sizes and avoid hierarchical layers.
Standardizing Tools and Processes
Consolidation of Tools
One of the crucial elements of the transformation was the standardization of tools. Lloyds reduced its toolset from 27 different tools to three core Atlassian tools: Jira for work management, Confluence for document sharing, and Jira Align for goal management. This standardization addressed the inconsistency in tool usage across teams.
Importance of Taxonomy and Definitions
Rebecca Marron, Head of Method & Tooling, emphasized the importance of having a clear taxonomy and defined definitions. This standardization extended to workflows and the criteria for completing work items. By resetting Jira projects and establishing consistent metrics, teams could measure and visualize their contributions more effectively.
Ensuring Success and Looking Ahead
Intensive Training and Embedding
Every participant underwent a minimum of 11 hours of training on the new tools and processes. The training was followed by an embedding period to ensure that the changes were sustained and outcomes optimized. This phase helped the teams to adopt the new agile methodologies successfully.
Future Directions: Platform 3.0
The next phase, internally referred to as ‘Platform 3.0’, focuses on strengthening the engineering resources while restructuring some job roles. Lloyds is expanding its technology center in Hyderabad, India, to offset job cuts in the United Kingdom. Leslie-Kent and her team continue to refine their processes and share insights at industry conferences.
Conclusion
Lloyds Banking Group, one of the largest financial institutions in the United Kingdom, understood the growing importance of modernizing. With a rich history of over 325 years and an extensive customer base, Lloyds took a bold step toward becoming more agile. This transformative journey was significantly sped up after Ron van Kemenade was appointed as the Chief Operating Officer. Under his leadership, the shift to a fully agile model was initiated. Agile Transformation Director Victoria Leslie-Kent led this significant change, overseeing the transition across 42 platform organizations. Remarkably, the entire rollout was accomplished within a tight 10-week period. Lloyds Banking Group’s move to an agile operational model highlights its dedication to adapting to contemporary demands and securing its position in a fast-evolving financial landscape. This transformation aims to enhance customer experiences, streamline operations, and improve the overall efficiency of the organization, ensuring it can remain competitive in a dynamic market environment.
