Coaching a forest giant's IT department through DevOps
Client
Finnish listed forest company
Fusion companies involved
Splended,
Mallow
The beef
DevOps Implementation, Coaching
Many companies struggle with initial resistance when implementing new practices like DevOps. Splended, a Fusion Ecosystem company, partnered with Mallow to tackle this challenge head-on. This blog dives into how they coached a team of key users at a Finnish forest giant's IT department, empowering them to embrace DevOps and revolutionize internal processes.
Approach
Splended, a Fusion Ecosystem company, is all about blending technical expertise with coaching to make change more manageable, especially when tackling complex challenges. Recently, they partnered with another Fusion company Mallow, and a team of four DevOps key users at a Finnish listed forest company’s IT department to coach them on the technicalities of DevOps and agile methodologies, aiming to establish new ways of cooperation and implement more widespread sprint planning. The goal? To enhance transparency on workload and improve operational efficiency.
Why this change?
Initially, teams were hesitant to embrace DevOps practices, resulting in resistance to change. To drive change effectively, the leaders selected four key users to undergo training and act as trusted advisors for technical inquiries. This project’s ownership was strategically placed among those most in need, employing a bottom-up approach to address the challenge.
Solution
Supporting the team of key users
Firstly, Splended meticulously analyzed the current status quo by interviewing the key users, while Jani Nevalainen, the technical expert and the co-founder at Mallow, conducted a technical discovery of their existing DevOps environment. Subsequently, they compiled a report and discussed it with the project leaders.
What was the approach?
Picture a series of engaging coaching sessions led, Splended’s CEO, Marjut Sadeharju, and Jani who was responsible for the technical aspects of DevOps, while Marjut coached the key users to become confident advocates for global DevOps implementation. These key users were to assist teams across various locations in initiating sprint planning using a unified and aligned approach. Jani also answered any questions that arose on a Teams channel so that future users can keep on learning after the project. This channel will also facilitate questions between the key users and the wider community.
After three months of training and coaching sessions, they conducted interviews with the participants to assess the outcomes.This is an ongoing process of development and improvement, but the feedback was promising. One of the key users commended Marjut for her exceptional change coaching abilities throughout the sessions. And as for Jani? Let’s just say his expertise served as a guiding light, and his wealth of knowledge proved indispensable in the project.
“A very pleasant and interesting course with accommodating coaches, willing to train employees in the subject. The training turned out to be very dynamic, as much was unclear from the company’s side initially”, commented one key user in their feedback.
What truly shone through was the trust and openness they were able to establish with the key users. They were there every step of the way, ready to address any obstacles. It was a partnership built on mutual respect and a shared commitment to learning and development, aimed at making tangible changes for all IT team members.
Whether you’re just dipping your toes into DevOps or you’re ready to take the plunge, Splended and Mallow are here to support you every step of the way.
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