The Galdi Case

I met Galdi at a conference. It was Antonella who invited me: she had heard that Agile was being applied in Breton and wanted to meet me. They visited to observe my teams at work and evaluate the operational application of this approach. They were very impressed and convinced that what they lacked was precisely organized team management, especially in the early part of the process: what they now call “Product Inception.”

Antonella and Federico told me how the organization of the company had evolved in recent years.

In 2014, in total self-organization, the team-at the time of “managers”-met regularly to compare the needs of service technicians, customer feedback and nonconformities, defining development goals for new machines: with this methodology, the new RG270 platform-which is still the best-selling platform today-was born, this time modular and scalable. The goal of speeding up the setup time of 15 different machine versions had finally been achieved. But the competitive advantages created with the new technology were not enough to execute the quantum leap that would have been necessary to deal with the transformation of the technical department, which until then had been very tied to the figure of founder Galdino.

It was at that time-and in conjunction with the reorganization of the management team-that it became clear that the lean approach would not work in that area.

I still remember the huge poster board full of post-it notes to map the AS IS of the product development process… and the TO BE version was twice as long! smilingly recalls Federico Bardini, Galdi’s current director of operations. It soon became apparent that a paradigm shift would be necessary to lay the foundation for more advanced Product Development. But to adopt which one?

To find inspiration we traveled far and wide, attending all the conferences on the subject, says Frederick, but it was after a year of research that we heard from a former Harley-Davidson manager-Dantar Oosterwal. He was presenting his book on the development of motorcycles in the company’s revival period. His story enlightened us! Bardini continues. I discovered that the complexity of motorcycle configurations had several things in common with Galdi machines.

It was at that time that Galdi learned about a new way of product development: agile.

Since they wanted to start right away, I introduced them to Daniela Rinaldi, with whom we discussed some operational aspects. They quickly got things started, starting with “Defining the Business Opportunity” of a new product they planned to launch and employing Canvas.

Scrum was introduced with 2-week iterations, and all the events that this framework requires. The first Sprint Reviews were too long, so it was necessary to learn how to perform them within a predetermined time window (Time-Boxed). That improvement, as well as so many others, occurred as a result of the learning that Retrospectives foster, because they cause people to stop and reflect on mistakes in a more detached way, without blaming team members but rather valuing the things that were learned, so as to motivate the team to collaborate and share experiences to grow together.

And Galdi was in dire need of it, as Federico Bardini’s new leadership made it a priority to build and grow the Product Development team, as well as to attract talent, with the goal of acquiring major customers and then competing in a much more complex arena: that of large multinational companies.

In the early stages of the agile journey there was extensive involvement even with people not directly interested in product development. In the next stage it was then clarified more which people were to be retained in the “Core Team” and which in the “Shell Team.” They quickly learned that involvement should be limited to the bare minimum.

One of the most important issues addressed in Scrum was precisely that of team size and people involvement. It was understood that salespeople are more interested in the conception and focus of product requirements, while very practical and operational figures are better involved in the later stages: the implementation stages.

The first Sprints took a long time, more than two hours. Inexperience but also the excitement of discovery in the face of a “Product Loop” method that can enable the team to present multiple concepts are always challenging. What is appreciated early on is the value of the growth and knowledge sharing created by the new approach.

Another skill developed is the ability to communicate the concept by presenting it clearly and concisely, without going too long in explaining non-essential details.

In a few minutes you have to make the listener aware of what you have developed, Daniela Rinaldi’s word. It is an opportunity – for the presenter – to receive positive and negative feedback right away, which in turn allows for timely corrections in the common interest of achieving the goal.

Technical insights are challenging, which is why Galdi decided to carry them out only with the Core Team, limiting the people involved.

Instead, an alignment is scheduled once a month that convenes and brings together all relevant agencies. In that context, the challenge is to keep the focus high in order to avoid passive participation of those entities less directly involved with the product under development. But you know: the company is made up of people, with their own character and personality, and as in all contexts there are elements who work well as a team, intervening casually in meetings, while others do not like to expose themselves. The goal here is for everyone to feel involved and participate, each in his or her own way. This is why the figure of the Scrum Master is so important, who is responsible for keeping people’s motivation high by creating an atmosphere of trust and respect, without losing sight of the goal to be achieved.

There has been growth, in terms of leadership, that needs to be developed further, to increase the level of awareness of the power that people have because of Agile. Making important decisions that affect the whole company is still difficult for some to accept, but we are on the right track! says Giacomo Dori, first Scrum Master in Galdi.

In parallel, a need emerged for greater effectiveness in the Business Value essence of new developments, and thus to enter Product Portfolio management.