The document discusses the challenges faced by the CATS team at IHS Markit, highlighting a breakdown in trust due to delayed deliveries and miscommunication between the team and stakeholders. It outlines a step-by-step approach to rebuild trust and improve transparency through communication, showcasing team contributions, and focusing on small, consistent wins. The team's efforts initially led to improved communication and successful releases, although organizational restructuring later introduced new complexities.

1. Rebuilding
Trust
Through
Transparency
Meg Ward
Associate Director, Development
IHS Markit
meg.ward@ihsmarkit.com

2. Who Am I?
 18+ years developing software
 14 years in Scrum environments
 2 years officially managing teams
 2+ years previous experience as
team lead on various projects

3. Who is IHS Markit?

4. The CATS Team
(Content
Accumulation
Translation
System)
 14 person team
 2 countries, 3 time zones
 4 QA, 1 QA lead/Scrum Master and 9 developers
 2 contractors, 11 FTE
 75% of the team has > 10 years with the company,
and 50% > 20
 4 women, 10 men

5. A short time ago in an
office not so far
away…

6. What Went
Wrong:
Delayed
Deliveries and
Disgruntled
Customers
CATS released
Louisiana version
1.0 in November
2015
Simultaneously
the team was
spinning up the
Texas version
The original
requested
release date for
Texas was
October 2016
A lack of trust
developed
between the
team and our
stakeholders
• Each side felt that
their needs were not
being met or heard

7. Identifying
Low Trust
Combative,
confrontational, and
disrespectful interactions
Fixations on small items
•Individuals vs teams
•Velocity fluctuations
•Scrutinizing capacity
Only the loudest voices
being heard
Apathy
•“nothing ever changes”

8. What would
you do?

9. We know we
have a problem,
what now?

10. Step 1: Stabilizing the Team
Getting it all out on the table
Taking away the “hanging date”

11. Step 2: Communicate,
Communicate, Communicate
Who What Why When

12. Step 3: Use the Showcase to
Drive the Narrative
Product Owner is the showcase
ringleader
Highlight the business value in every
story

13. Step 4: No Developer Left Behind
Reduce the focus on
capacity planning
and developer
comparison
Everyone’s
contributions are
highlighted in the
showcase
Everyone demos at
least once in a six
week cycle

14. Step 5: Small, Fast, Consistent
Wins

15. Talking About Failure
Under promise, over
deliver
01
Work to reduce
uncertainty early in
the process
02
Be open and
transparent with the
stakeholders about
why there are delays
and/or technical
challenges
03
Where possible
reframe what a
delay means
04

16. Our Keys to
Success

17. Key 1: The Right People in the Right
Roles

18. Key 2: Tear Down
Your Silos
 Need to remove single points
of failure for a cohesive team
 Cross train, cross train, cross
train
 Be able to react to/work
around emergent situations
 Keep at it – silos are not
toppled in a day

19. Where are
we now?

20. Nothing Is
Rebuilt
Overnight
You’re only as good as your last release

21. Transparency
Goes Both
Directions
Stakeholders must also communicate

22. In the short term
 The increased communication
was helpful
 The team did start equally
participating in the showcases
 The first three releases were
successful

23. In the long term
 An organizational restructuring
introduced complications
 Three major technical issues
surfaced that have delayed
release

25. For a copy of my Agile 2017 Experience Report, email me at
meg.ward@ihsmarkit.com