From Chaos to Agile, and the demons along the way by Seemin Suleri

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Transforming Chaos Into an Agile World: A Case Study of the Two HH Group

Hello, I’m Su Su, and today I want to share our journey at Two HH Group - transitioning from chaos into an agile world. No matter where you are on your business journey, I hope you can take away a few ideas from our story that could help overcome your own challenges.

History of Two HH Group

First, let's understand how we started this journey. Two HH Group, a diversified holding company dealing with businesses like collectibles and babysitting services, is an old establishment of 75 years.

Thirty-five years back, the company decided to shift its operations from paper to code - Cobalt, to be precise. We moved our accounting, warehouse system, invoicing, marketing, and customer management all into this 'new' Cobalt system. It contributed a lot to the initial success of the company.

Decade-Ago Transformation

About a decade ago, recognizing the shifting customer base from offline to online, the company hired a small team to build a web presence. The aim was to create websites for different brands and integrate them with the Cobalt system. This move brought a sizable fraction of our customer base (almost 70%) to our online businesses.

Digital Transformation and Challenges

As progress ensued, the company planned an ambitious digital transformation three years ago to stay ahead of the competition. This transformation was not just about introducing new technologies, but revamping the system built around the Cobalt legacy, which was a massive challenge.

When I joined the team, my first task was to analyze the existing systems, have conversations with team members, observe the processes, and identify what wasn't working. As I dug deeper, it became evident that the startup culture that initially allowed us to build all these web systems had spiraled into vast chaos.

Embracing the Chaos

  1. Recognize it's Your Responsibility:
  2. When stepping into a world where things are out of control, the first step is to own the chaos. It doesn't matter if you are directly responsible for the situation or not, accepting that it's your responsibility is the first move towards initiating change.

  3. Energize Yourself in Uncertainty:
  4. Next, use stress to your advantage. Recognizing and accepting the uncertainty at hand and channeling that energy into excitement can help you to move forward.

Lessons from Two HH Group's Journey

People First

In our experience, one significant shortcoming was ignoring our most valuable assets – our people. I discovered that our teams were not motivated and lacked control over the work they did.

Establishing Autonomy and Encouraging Feedback

However, with the implementation of Agile, we witnessed a change. We prioritized our teams to be independent. This practice achieved a sense of ownership, making them more engaged. We also encouraged them to voice their opinions and give feedback. We listened and acted on it, creating a comfortable atmosphere for our team to share their ideas.

Servant Leadership

Leadership also played a crucial role in our success. Leaders at our organization acted as 'the oil' that keeps the machine going, solving problems for the team even ahead of time. We gave ourselves permission to make mistakes, leading and learning freely.

Moreover, we embraced our emotions to keep us human throughout this journey, all for the love of our team and the products we build.

The Result?

By tackling the chaos head-on, prioritizing our people, implementing Agile, and leading with empathy, the results were astounding. We achieved a tenfold increase in throughput and eightfold in velocity, hitting all of our milestones. Plus, our employee engagement and retention reached an all-time high.

So, this is our journey at Two HH Group, transitioning from chaos into an agile world. I hope my account offers you insights and inspiration for your journey. Thank you!


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