Workwear service cross-functional team on agile journey
Our workwear service cross-functional team is dedicated to enhancing our service offering to stay globally competitive. The team was formed in September 2023 as part of the company’s Strategy 2025 and the head office reorganisation. It aims to create a more agile and efficient organisational structure.
Steered by Service Owner Heidi Tulensalo, the cross-functional team collaborates closely with regional offices to innovate, pilot, and refine service-related developments. The team gathers experts from various fields: Ken Cheng (Business Analyst), Ilari Laitinen (Service Designer), Milla Nygård (Process Specialist), Dora David (Service Development Manager) and Steven Schoenmaker (Business Analyst).
Since its inception, the team has been embracing the agile way of working to drive innovation and improve collaboration.
How does the agile way of working guide the team, then? The agile approach provides a clear framework and guidelines for how the team collaborates and delivers results. The team follows the Scrum methodology, which is based on two-week work cycles called sprints. By breaking tasks into smaller chunks, Scrum enables the team to deliver functional products or features more quickly and efficiently.
Scrum method in practice
The service backlog is at the core of the cross-functional team’s operations. It is a comprehensive list of all tasks and features to be addressed. The team selects tasks from this backlog for each sprint and compiles them into the sprint backlog – a list of tasks to complete during the sprint. The work in each sprint begins with sprint planning, and daily activities are organised around the Daily Scrum.
The Daily Scrum is a brief meeting where the team updates each other on completed work what has, on-going tasks, and any obstacles they are facing. This keeps everyone aligned, ensures visibility into progress, and enables quick adjustments when necessary. The Daily Scrum helps maintain alignment with customer needs and facilitates the re-prioritisation of tasks if required.
At the end of each sprint, the team holds a Sprint Review to demonstrate the completed work and receive feedback. The team also holds a Sprint Retrospective to reflect on the sprint, discuss what went well, and identify areas for improvement.
Key benefits and experiences from the agile journey
The goal of Scrum is to foster better collaboration, flexibility, and speed in delivering products that meet user needs. By breaking work into smaller, manageable increments, the team can continuously test, identify issues early, and improve overall service quality.
After a year and a half of working with Scrum, the cross-functional team reflects on their experiences with the method.
“Scrum has brought structure to our work and allowed us to collaborate effectively, regardless of our familiarity with the company. Our daily stand-ups, sprint planning sessions, and retrospectives are crucial in aligning our tasks and integrating our diverse experiences towards a common goal”, says Laitinen, service designer.
Scrum also emphasises frequently obtaining feedback from customers and stakeholders. This helps ensure that the product or service evolves in a way that truly aligns with user needs.
“Agile does not simply mean making everything faster. It’s about delivering the minimal valuable product, gathering the customer feedback, adapting the plan as quickly as possible, and repeating the cycle”, summarises Cheng, Business Analyst.
One key benefit of the agile method is the increased clarity it provides about what is complete, what is in progress, and what is next in the pipeline.
“Scrum gives an opportunity to concentrate work on smaller pieces instead of trying to solve one big issue at a time. We have learned to gain feedback from each other and are committed to developing our sprint working methods”, says Nygård, Process Specialist.
“Working in a Cross-functional Team with an agile way of working has not only taught us new skills and ways of working. It has also demonstrated the power of collaboration with diverse experts and the value it brings.”
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