Traficom

Shared development model improves the quality of public services

The agile development model at the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom brings together different divisions within the organisation and helps build stronger digital public services. With the support of agile coaching, the transformation journey can be made more transparent, smoother and, above all, more collaborative.

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OBJECTIVE

Towards stronger public services through uniformity

How can we provide better public services to citizens when society is changing faster than ever and the pressure for savings in the state budget is increasing? At Traficom, agile coaching helps to harmonise ways of working and direct resources towards jointly defined goals.

“We wanted to build a shared development model that supports productivity across the organisation. Our aim has been to bring together development work that was previously scattered across a large organisation, and to make it manageable, systematic and impactful,” says Sari Örn, Head of the ICT Department at Traficom.

In an organisation with strong professional expertise and a culture of autonomy, finding a shared way of working is above all a transformation journey. The purpose of agile coaching is to improve the flow of work across the organisation and support teams in high-level expertise.

SOLUTION

A culture of development built through continuous dialogue

Gofore’s agile coaching is based on active listening, ongoing dialogue and agile participation. The initial goal is to provide visibility into what is underway at different levels of the organisation, what is being completed and how dependencies are managed. Only then can activities be changed and improved.

“Although our main focus has been on renewal and transformation, coaching is never about rolling out a ready-made model. Instead, common ways of working are discovered and built together. The aim is to help the organisation realise, learn and evolve collectively,” says Gofore Agile Coach Katja Luumi.

At the heart of the work are supersprints – extensive joint development periods held three times a year, where teams from different business areas examine dependencies, remove overlaps and direct efforts towards shared goals. Alongside these, facilitation, training sessions and sparring support the change.

“We have highly skilled and experienced Agile Coaches who can work flexibly at all levels of our organisation. Particularly successful has been their ability to prepare and pre-align matters with product owners and teams so that strategic entities can be advanced together,” Örn says.

Parallel to the coaching, a playbook has been created to define the roles, responsibilities and principles of development. The work is long-term and multi-layered, ranging from strengthening product ownership and team capabilities to supporting strategic leadership.

We have a clearer understanding of what is happening across the organisation and how we can support each other’s work.

Sari Örn, Head of ICT Department, Traficom

RESULT

Agile development enhances strategic capability

Agile coaching strengthens Traficom’s ability to steer development as a whole in the right direction. Thanks to the collaboration, work between different departments and divisions has become more cohesive, and decision-making is based on a shared and improved situational picture.

“We have gained transparency in our work and learned to recognise dependencies more effectively. At the same time, we have a clearer understanding of what is happening across the organisation and how we can support each other’s work. Our shared way of operating is becoming firmly rooted in everyday routines, step by step,” says Örn.

According to Örn, the insights provided by agile coaching have opened up important strategic development directions for Traficom, strengthening the agency’s ability to respond to change, allocate resources correctly and deliver better digital services for Finnish citizens.

“The overall picture of development has given us clarity on where to focus our efforts first and what, in turn, requires more extensive strategic work to support it. The journey towards agile development continues, and strategic planning – for example regarding team operating models – is already underway,” Örn adds.

Without this work, many significant changes would have been delayed. We have been able to initiate strategically important discussions at the right time.

Sari Örn, Head of ICT Department, Traficom

Project highlights

Objective

Traficom sought to use agile coaching to support productivity across the agency and strengthen the development of digital public services. The aim was to consolidate scattered development efforts and harmonise operating models into a manageable whole.

Solution

Together with Traficom, Gofore’s Agile Coaches built a shared development model based on continuous dialogue, transparency and data-driven management. Supersprints, training sessions and facilitation clarified the overall development picture, removed overlaps and helped direct resources towards common goals.

Result

The overall view of development has become clearer, collaboration has intensified and decision-making is based on a more accurate shared situational picture. The common development model strengthens Traficom’s strategic capability and supports systematic development towards more impactful digital services.