Standing Up a Data & Analytics COE for Agile Value Delivery
A data and analytics (D&A) team at a sportswear retailer in Portland, OR reorganized to merge multiple data teams into a center of excellence (COE) with disparate processes and role definitions.
The opportunity
Our aim was to facilitate adoption of the organizational change by bringing teams together to define a new organizational operating model to better serve the business.
How we helped
Aiming to help the team feel more like one team, we facilitated a series of sessions that enabled the group to define the future and solve operational challenges together:
Conducted leadership teaming sessions to define a big, bold vision
Defined the COE model with a centralized team in technology with embedded data product owners in each business unit across product, supply chain, marketing, and HR
Hosted a series of workshops to value stream map business services and define organizational capabilities such as data product management, data science, data engineering, and data visualization
Defined supporting competencies, role descriptions, and skill levels to grow each data capability
Developed role descriptions various role types, titles, and levels within the organization mapped to the corporate band levels
Developed an intake process for primary business requests and identified enabling tools in partnership with business counterparts
Adopted Agile ways of working and up skilled teams on PI and sprint planning, outcome-based stories, and squad-based delivery
Developed an executive, “all hands” presentation to roll out the updated operating model to teams
How we made a statement
This newly merged team walked away with clarity around the value they bring to the business with improved ways to partner effectively to intake and serve needs quickly with the right talent in place.
