Ivey Case: Pearson’s SuccessMaker

Group – 1
Abhishek
Vaishnav
Vishnu Sankar

1. What challenges does Adams-Woodford face as he develops his five-year

product roadmap?
The following challenges can be listed down that Adams-Woodford has faced
as he developed his five-year product roadmap:
 Slow economic growth, hence it means smaller education budgets, results in
fewer dollars for people to spend on Pearson products. When money was
tight at all levels of education, it was necessary to figure out how to remain
competitive.
 Instead of product management, the development team makes decisions. As
in the development of the project the full responsibility is taken by the
product management team, but instead of the development team has handled
the project, hence it has brought more consequences for the smooth outflow
of the project.
 The Customers were not communicated by the development team, so a new
version was created. During the commitment of the project the
communication between the customers and development team is highly
important; it might bring issues that may result in lack of desired changes.
 Freeze product requirements at the start of the development cycle which is
another issue that has been observed in the development plan.
Miscommunication was common on the development team in India; hence it
can be regarded as another vital issue.
 The Contractual constraints are another significant issue that has affected the
development of the project. It meant that requirements could not be changed
in the middle of the cycle, as to cope up with the changes it might get more
costly or difficult.
 As nothing more than a product, new requirements could be developed to
better suit the customer requirements, but this was hard to change. Therefore,
the project must undertake to create a multi-annual roadmap, no important
changes in scope. Budgeted and committed in the strategic plan of the
business unit.
 The changes to the map have been seen negative. Due to technology, when a
person stays the same, they cannot give customers the right thing they really
want and lose it, it can be difficult to plan years in advance.
 Lastly, easier internal planning, as because the scope has been frozen for
years. There is little effort to ensure that committed features satisfy customer
needs or look at unexpected or alternative features after the maps have been
established.

2. How do product and software development methodologies influence a

firm's ability to respond to market demands?
 The types of products and software processes that a company uses determine
its overall outcome. Finally, if a company's net result is acceptable, it can
respond favourably to market demand.
 The right kind of product is created to meet market demand, which is then
manufactured using the right product and software techniques.
 The software development methodologies direct a company's choice of
software technologies in order to achieve a competitive advantage over its
competitors and generate products that meet market demand with acceptable
software.
 Both product and software development approaches help a company to
produce items that are competent when compared to those provided by
competitors.
 As a result, a company can deal with any market demand and even face
fierce competition if it uses the right product and software development
techniques.

3. What benefits did Pearson realize in making shift from a waterfall

process to an agile one? What downside might be associated with this
shift? What firm or market circumstances are more likely to benefit
from a waterfall or agile methodology?
The benefits are as follows:
 Product owners and managers made the best adjustments to the process. The
code base cut in half while number of features increased 75 percent. Hence
as a result the client’s are getting what they want more likely to stay with
Pearson instead of a competitor.
 Development team focused on damage control and created better
relationships with customers and sales team, which is ultimately important to
sell the product.
 While development teams have shrunk by a third, offshore teams have been
removed. It has aided in cost savings, reduced miscommunication, and
improved team coordination and cooperation.
When it comes to software methods, it’s interesting how different things may
have the same effect and have an impact on efficiency. In a fast-paced, rapidly
changing technology environment, Agile is extremely effective. Agile helps to
offer frequent and better work in response to ever-changing consumer needs and
the need for quick delivery. It can incorporate feedback from earlier versions,
and constant prioritizations can aid in meeting business objectives.
The Downsides are follows:
 QA teams started to return to Waterfall aspects, as they have been working
with this technique for so long that they felt uneasy without the documents
on which they relied. As a result, it has harmed relationships with
development teams, who believe QA teams are not entirely committed to
Agile.
 Problems with the QA team necessitate collaborative responsibilities with
the developers. It refers to blurred lines, which may be defined as a longer
period of time spent waiting for code to check against test cases. Another
aspect is ambiguity, which may have prompted QA to believe that there was
minimal responsibility or track ability for developing features.
 When developers began to revert to Waterfall approaches, their velocity
began to deteriorate. Waterfall also has an influence on businesses that have
a very steady and foreseeable future.
 As maps are predictable, they can be created and used with little
modification. They've already figured out "what works," so everyone can
make a list and figure out what to do next.
 Firms that need to adapt and invent in order to stay competitive benefit from
Agile. The highest goal, which also involves customer pleasure, is met by
being open to change.
 Working software is one of the most useful indicators of progress since it
ensures that each phase meets the needs of the client.
Impact on Market/ Firms -
Firms must use software development approaches (Waterfall and Agile) to
satisfy market expectations.
 It is not necessary in tiny companies, but as teams get larger, it is critical to
embrace one technique based on the firm's goals in order to achieve better
 results. Both techniques ensure that everyone involved in the product
development life cycle is on the same page.
 Given the large number of developers/teams/managers working on a single
product, it is critical to establish sub-goals for each team, manager,
developer, and QA to achieve better outcomes and meet customer demand in
a timely manner.
 Spotify is an excellent example of a large corporation embracing Agile
technique and keeping its status among other large corporations with their
own organisational structure.
 Big firms like Google, Amazon, and others might have easily demolished
Spotify. However, they have managed to stay ahead of the competition in the
music industry due to their fast-changing environment.
 They've organised their company into Squads, which allows them to
collaborate and grow quickly.

4. What are some of the things Greg should consider as he evaluates

whether to continue to focus on the SuccessMaker product versus
becoming involved in a company-wide agile initiative? Which approach
should Greg pursue? How might he optimize this approach?

 Since these difficulties in Success Maker still persist, it refuses to move on to

a new project while the present one is failing.
 Greg should think about how well the staff will adopt the agile methodology
throughout the organisation. It doesn't want to have a problem with people
falling back into Waterfall approach.
 He must comprehend the various dynamics of all departments. He won't be
able to successfully apply the company-wide Agile methodology if he
doesn't grasp how each department currently operates.
Greg should pursue Agile throughout the board, as Pearson is a firm believer in
this method. It has observed the good effects it has had in the field of
development. As a result, having everyone in the firm "on the same page" will
promote departmental flexibility. They will all interact at some point, which
will improve communication, cooperation, and creativity throughout the
Pearson organisation. They can also keep Pearson as a market leader in its field.

He can optimize the approach by adhering to the Scrum technique inside the
agile framework. It can make Scrum more successful if he have a lot more
expertise with it. He has greater resources at his disposal. It concentrates on
complete activities rather than individual tasks. It's also critical to address the
issue of regressing into Waterfall. As a result, periodic meetings are required to
ensure that they are on track and that any necessary modifications are made.

5. Within the SuccessMaker team, should Greg agree to follow the

recommendations from his developers to move from Scrum to Kanban?
Should he also push to move all the remaining teams (the
content/curriculum team) to Scrum or Kanban? What metrics should he
use to evaluate his decisions?
This should be discussed with the entire development team as well as any
relevant stakeholders. All inputs should be taken into account, and then a trial-
and-error approach should be used. This would include rotating between various
agile frameworks to find the best fit. It is always a failure ahead and fails early
strategy that aids in identifying strengths and shortcomings. The team’s lack
both an effective Scrum master and a capable Product Owner. A Product Owner
is responsible for preventing feature switching between sprints, and a Scrum
master is responsible for providing agile guidance. The conclusion is that if
features can be prioritised for a two-week timeframe, the team should use
Scrum to better anticipate their velocity using previous sprints as inputs.
However, if features or stories emerge on an ad hoc basis and technical support
chores take precedence, Kanban may be the ideal option.