Agile in Name Only
SITUATION
Joined a demoralized product team managing Allstate's roadside assistance app used by field technicians. The Product Manager was burned out from unrealistic stakeholder demands, developers had disengaged into "ticket factory" mode, and designers felt marginalized. The team had lost faith in Agile practices and was simultaneously failing at three different products instead of succeeding at one. Driver complaints were escalating due to poor app usability during emergency situations.
TASK
Transform team culture and product quality by rebuilding trust in Agile practices, realigning focus on user outcomes, and consolidating scattered efforts. Success required measurable app improvements, increased team engagement, and sustainable collaborative processes - all while maintaining service for thousands of active drivers.
ACTION
Empowered the PM by partnering with my design peer to support them in stakeholder conversations. We reframed discussions from "failing at three products" to "succeeding dramatically at one," using data to show how resource fragmentation was killing productivity.
Leveraged external validation when Agile thought leader Jeff Patton visited Allstate and independently reinforced our messaging. This gave our PM the credibility and confidence to push back on unrealistic demands and lead change.
Integrated team into user research by pulling developers and the PM directly into discovery work, including user interviews and ride-alongs with roadside drivers during actual service calls. This firsthand exposure to user pain points transformed how technical decisions were made.
Redesigned the application based on research insights to improve accessibility (high contrast for outdoor visibility, larger touch targets for work gloves), eliminate risky features (fingerprint login while driving), and streamline job acceptance from 7 steps to 3 actions.
RESULT
Product Impact: Job acceptance time dropped from 45 to 18 seconds, driver satisfaction improved from 2.1 to 4.3 stars, and support tickets decreased 40%.
Cultural Transformation: Developers began proactively raising UX concerns, the PM re-engaged in strategic planning rather than reactive task management, and sprint commitment confidence increased from 60% to 90%.
Organizational Impact: The approach was replicated across three other Allstate product teams, and leadership began measuring success through user satisfaction alongside delivery velocity.
Bottom Line: We didn't just redesign a product - we redesigned the team. The transformation created sustainable collaboration patterns and user-centered decision making that continued long after the initial intervention.
