Rally Customer Snapshots

Recondo Technology

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 20:21:51 +0000

Customer

Development Environment

• Java shop with six different development teams that each work on different projects
• Iterations and releases every two weeks

Challenges

• Start-up environment required flexible development practices to ensure customer feedback incorporated into software
• Excel-based tracking was cumbersome for the development team to maintain and made it difficult for the organization to understand development progress

Solution

• Implemented Rally’s Agile lifecycle management solutions, reinforcing Agile best practices and enabling customer feedback throughout the development process
• End-to-end software lifecycle management solution is easy to update and maintain and provides the organization with a full view of development efforts

Results

• Complete end-to-end product lifecycle visibility for the entire organization
• Productivity improvements of 25-50% as compared with traditional waterfall methodology

Learn more

Read the Recondo case study

Sermo

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:45:34 +0000

Customer Snapshot by Michelle Burrows

Customer

Development Environment

• Mac shop that develops primarily in Java and Ruby on Rails
• Six development teams dispersed globally between Minsk, Belarus and Cambridge, MA
• Run on two-week iterations with two to three iterations for each release; ship every release

Challenges

• Delayed releases with little predictability in software release dates
• Tracking through homegrown wikis made it difficult for the organization to understand development progress
• No reinforcement of Agile practices across the company

Solution

• Implemented Rally’s Agile lifecycle management solutions, providing end-to-end visibility on development progress and releases across the organization
• Rally solution provides reinforcement of Agile best principles across the company

Results

• Time-to-market is three times faster with Rally and Agile

Learn more

Read the Sermo case study

Spatial Technology

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:57:47 +0000

Customer Snapshot by Michelle Burrows

Customer

Development Environment

• A mix of two week and three week iterations
• Service pack releases every nine weeks and major releases every eight months

Challenges

• Waterfall methodology did not allow for customer interaction early in the development process
• Open source tools did not reinforce Agile practices
• No predictable software release cycles
• Organizational disconnect during the development prioritization process

Solution

• Implemented Rally’s Agile lifecycle management solutions, allowing for timely customer feedback
• Engaged Rally coaches to educate teams on the Rally solution and Agile best practices
• End-to-end product lifecycle management enables clear view of release forecast and company-wide understanding of development efforts

Results

• Improved time-to-market, with the last 4 software releases on-time or ahead of schedule
• Complete end-to-end product lifecycle visibility for the entire organization
• Dramatically improved prioritization process throughout the company

Learn more

Read the Spatial case study

CNET.com

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 20:05:08 +0000

Customer Snapshot by Michelle Burrows

Customer

Development Environment

• Two week iterations, with periodic releases
• JSP code base, HTML markup, CSS, and JavaScript

Challenges

• Twenty plus spreadsheets unwieldy to manage and required that each project have its own project manager
• No overview of the development efforts across the organization

Solution

• Implemented Rally’s Agile lifecycle management solutions, providing a single, enterprise-wide overview of all development projects across the organization

Results

• Almost two times faster time-to-market as compared to industry average
• Team productivity 10% higher than industry average

Learn more

Read "The Agile Impact Report: Proven Metrics from the Agile Enterprise"

Moody's KMV

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 20:08:58 +0000

Customer Snapshot by Michelle Burrows

Customer

Development Environment

• Two week iterations, with releases every three months
• Develop in Java, C++, and .net

Challenges

• Mix of spreadsheets, wikis, and traditional project tools was difficult to maintain for the development organization and had a detrimental effect on productivity
• No overview of the development efforts across the organization

Solution

• Implemented Rally’s Agile lifecycle management solutions, providing a single, enterprise-wide overview of all development projects across the organization that was easy to maintain and update

Results

• Four times faster time-to-market as compared to industry average
• Productivity for development team 47% better than industry average

Learn more

Read "The Agile Impact Report: Proven Metrics from the Agile Enterprise"

Microsoft Advertiser & Publisher Solutions

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 21:11:18 +0000

Customer Snapshot by Michelle Burrows

Customer

Development Environment

• Team develops applications for end-to-end online campaign management
• Mix of both onsite and offshore development teams

Challenges

• Team develops applications for end-to-end online campaign management
• Mix of both onsite and offshore development teams

Solution

• Rally’s Agile lifecycle management solution enables better management of offshore and globally dispersed teams
• Software-as-a-Service application provides immediate access across geographies and full visibility on development efforts

Results

• 26 releases in one year
• Lets managers see the burn down rate, specifically how long it will take to get to the end of user stories – from backlog through to the end of the iteration
• Dramatically improves communication between dispersed teams, increasing the entire team’s effectiveness and productivity
• Robust reporting provides a complete snapshot of all activities and projects and enables better planning and estimating

Learn more

Read the Microsoft Advertiser & Publisher Solutions case study

Wolf Medical

Fri, 30 May 2008 20:57:57 +0000

Customer Snapshot by Michelle Burrows

Customer

Development Environment

• Doctor-led company that developed an application to chart medical records

• Also writing a billing program and scheduling record

• Currently in six provinces

Challenges

• Missing key items in the backlog when executing the manual planning process

• Little to no process for tracking and managing customer requests

• Ever-increasing backlog because of unique governmental regulations in each province

Solution

• Implemented Rally’s Agile lifecycle management solutions

• Integration with Salesforce.com through Rally’s Agile Product Manager

• All dev planning happens in Rally – management of requirements, tests, defects and customer feedback

Results

• Eight releases in one year, including a next-generation product for tracking chronic diseases

• Entire company aligned to provide value to the customer

• Complete visibility from feature request to release to customer follow-up

Learn more

Read the Wolf Medical case study

Skinkers

Fri, 30 May 2008 20:56:08 +0000

Customer Snapshot by Michelle Burrows

Customer

Development Environment

• Headquartered in London with offices in Milan, New York and Sydney

• High-profile customers including many of the world’s largest corporations –American Airlines, London Stock Exchange, Virgin Atlantic and xbox 360

Challenges

• Lots of detailed documentation but no tangible product to show the customer for feedback

• Communication breakdown between the business and engineering
• Lack of visiblity, collaboration and accountability within the team

Solution

• Threw out documentation and started developing in four weekly sprints

• Adopted Rally’s Agile lifecycle management solution after a successful 30-day trial

• Identified and trained a ScrumMaster and gained additional Agile knowledge from Rally

Results

• 200% improvement in development process efficiency

• Customer alignment from direct input on product functionality

• Enthusiastic and engaged engineering team and employee base

Learn more

Read the Skinkers case study

Shopzilla

Fri, 30 May 2008 20:53:50 +0000

Customer Snapshot by Michelle Burrows

Customer

Development Environment

• Multiple development teams, business owners and locations

• Rapid, frequent delivery of new features and updates to a hosted Linux platform, C/C++/Java/Perl, Sybase/Oracle

Challenges

• Implicit processes and homegrown spreadsheets and wikis began to tax the system in the face of rapid growth

• New employee ramp-up was taking too long to keep pace with growth

• Management losing visibility into service delivery
• Company need to release faster to meet competitive demands of business

Solution

• Implemented a pilot program with Rally Program application

• Rapidly rolled out to additional teams within two months

• Engaged Rally Coaches to educate new teams on Agile practices

Results

• Productivity savings of 20%

• Release cycle time decreased 50%

• Business people able to work on customer issues and roadmap

• Engineers have clear alignment with company goals

• Improved project and program visibility

• New personnel productive by their second day of employment

Learn more

Read the Shopzilla case study

ScriptLogic

Fri, 30 May 2008 20:51:12 +0000

Customer Snapshot by Michelle Burrows

Customer

Development Environment

• Rapid, frequent internal releases of new features, architecture and maintenance updates

• Requirements and architecture driven

• Two-week iterations, with automated, daily builds to quality assurance

• As many as 20 simultaneous development projects active at any time

Challenges

• Vast range of operating environments for products increases testing complexity

• Globally dispersed teams spread throughout the world makes it difficult to synchronize development efforts and deliver on time

• Rapidly growing development organization affects productivity when employees can't ramp-up quickly
• Rapidly growing number of productws makes prioritization difficult

Solution

• Implemented Rally's Agile lifecycle management solutions

• Effective synchronization of development efforts enables on time delivery of software

• Improved productivity for new employees

• Clear prioritization and end-to-end product lifecycle management for all products

Results

• A record number of product releases in 2007, with 50% fewer maintenance releases required

• Time savings due to better management

• Dollar savings from the delivery of better quality software

Learn more

Read the ScriptLogic case study