Digital pragmatism at Volvo means more control and less agile

“We’ve used standard systems in the past as well, but then we’ve adapted them to many of the requirements users have come up with,” he adds. “In some cases, the standard systems have been adapted to such an extent that we haven’t been able to take advantage of what they can provide. So even if you include users early on, it’s not so they write down their requirements, but more to understand how they should work with standard systems and not how you worked historically. They get to test how it’s supposed to work and it’s quite a big shift for the business and those in the digital organization. We need to take greater responsibility for the development of our digital products and not act as an internal supplier to our business.”

Paring down agile

Another change the digital organization has gone through recently is to start backing away from a pure agile approach.

Volvo Cars’ digital department started to work agilely according to the SAFe Framework in a product-oriented model in 2018. But even with great advantages came disadvantages.

The increased transparency and how the company worked with the backlog increased the pace of development, but in return, the lack of clear frameworks for the agile teams resulted in some of them not knowing exactly what is expected, and then the pace slowed while others pulled away in the wrong direction.

“We haven’t won by reducing governance and control, but by seeing that it’s important to set up frameworks, with clear principles and guidelines, so teams know what to do,” says Altehed. “We see our teams become autonomous and fast when they know what they can and can’t decide for themselves.”

The result, for example, is no more roles such as scrum master and release train engineer, while project managers and program managers have returned.

“So now we work a little more traditionally again, and a lot of that learning comes from new skills from new technology companies that have grown and scaled with agile development, but which have now helped us develop a better and more pragmatic model,” he says.

And Altehed believes the pendulum is about to swing back when it comes to agile working methods in several areas.

“We were early into agile and I think we’re early out with a more balanced approach, and I personally think that’s important — that we learn from our experience and adapt accordingly,” he says.

Make developers happy

In the last 10 years, Volvo Cars has moved toward becoming more of a software company, and today it works not only in the digital space but is also more closely linked to the products in the business. Plus, it’s chosen to outsource more, which means more developers are employed, and new demands are expected about how the internal culture measures against standards of being a good workplace that makes employees feel at home.

A smooth start is also one of the things that has been worked on – making sure that the time from being hired as a developer to getting a first code out is as short as possible. Then it’s about providing quick and orderly access to work tools.

“Our toolbox has expanded to meet the way they communicate and code,” he says. “In addition to the pure development tools, for example, Slack is strong in that community that fosters collaboration and communication, and they also use Teams with other parts of the business.”

It’s also about creating different types of career paths, whether becoming a manager or specializing as a software engineer. Altehed sees clear advantages to working in a company and industry undergoing major transformation.

“The business is changing, as is the need for digital solutions,” he says. “This means there’s no need to justify the transformation of the system landscape — it’s self-explanatory. And with us, it’s about changing internally by daring to change our agile framework, invest in competence development, and create an environment where developers thrive in a traditional company like ours.”