How We Introduced Agile Development with a Leading Pension Company
Three years ago, we proposed testing an agile development approach in collaboration with one of the country’s leading pension companies. We had experience with this way of working — the client did not. Yet they decided to give the pilot a chance. Today, we’re celebrating the 100th sprint.
At the Start of the Project, the Client Faced Several Concerns:
- Workload for the team: The client doubted whether they could ensure a steady stream of business requirements to keep our team fully utilized and productive. There was concern that the team might not be fully loaded.
- Transparency and costs: One of the client’s biggest concerns was cost transparency. They weren’t used to agile and found it strange that we couldn’t predict the exact cost of each individual issue in advance. The full transparency of agile, such as story point reporting, was also new to them.
- Implementation time and training: The client feared that adopting agile methods would take too long and require significant training effort for their internal teams.
Despite these concerns, we had a clear vision. Our goal was to achieve significantly greater flexibility in delivering and deploying solutions — allowing us to respond quickly to changing requirements and continuously refine business specifications that are often unclear in the early stages.
The Agile Implementation Process
What We Did:
- Education and knowledge transfer:
From the beginning, we focused on client education. We conducted two three-hour workshops explaining agile principles, team roles, and the sprint process in detail. - Client integration:
A crucial element was fully integrating representatives of the pension company into the agile team. This not only alleviated transparency concerns but ensured the client always had insight and influence over the project’s direction. - Process optimization:
Initially, sprint planning took several hours, mainly due to the learning curve. Over time, as experience grew, planning time dropped to just one hour. Meeting efficiency and overall development performance continuously improved. - Continuous progress tracking:
We monitored results weekly, allowing the client to see real progress and momentum. This transparency became a key trust factor. - Flexibility in requirements:
Over three years and 100 sprints, priorities and requirements changed many times. The agile approach proved ideal, allowing us to adapt smoothly without disrupting the overall flow.
Results After 100 Sprints
- Concerns turned into advantages — the team is fully utilized, the client sees continuous output, and change is no longer a problem but a natural part of the process.
- Flexibility became the new standard — the team can respond even to partially defined business needs and fine-tune details on the go.
- Stable 14-day deployments — once unthinkable, now routine.
- Meetings are efficient — shorter, more focused, and value-driven.
- Transparent budgeting — the client has real-time control over spending, not just after the fact.
Although the initiative started with us and the client initially feared issues like workload and transparency, reality exceeded expectations. Together, we built an effective collaboration model — a great example of successful agile transformation in the financial sector.
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