What an honor it is for Jill and me to be standing here today. This is my first time in this city, and I had to come all the way to New York to find my people. What an inspiring two days! I hope the message we’re about to share is just as inspiring as the ones we’ve received.
Who We Are
We are CSG. Yes? No? Nothing exciting? Okay, let’s try that again. Hi, we help your kids keep connected devices safe. We help send cable to your house. We enable your internet connectivity, your 5G mobile connection, your wireline telephone, and your wireless phone service. Do any of you consume those services at home? Yes? Okay, good.
We are the backbone of the biggest communication providers in the world. With 35 years in this space, you probably haven’t heard of us—and that’s a good thing. Our best day is when your services work flawlessly. We have 3,300 employees across 24 countries. Take a look at these logos—how many of you write a check to one of them at least once or twice a month?
Now, let me ask—how many of you have traditional cable service? Do you love your cable bill? No? Well, we make your bill. Not feeling the love?
The Changing Market
How many of your kids or grandkids do you think will grow up, walk to a mailbox, and pay a $200 cable bill ten years from now?
Zero.
Right. They’re going to be living in a 5G world, streaming YouTube TV. So how does a company like CSG stay in business when the market is changing so fast? Our competitors are banging down the doors. Those $200 monthly bills that once provided a stable revenue stream are dropping to pennies on the dollar. Disruptors like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Roku, and YouTube are eroding the traditional cable model.
We make even more money if you still have a landline home telephone. Does anyone here have one? Will your kids get one when they move into their first apartment? No.
Why We’re Here
So why are we at the Agile conference? Because we need to future-proof our company. And you are helping us do that by giving us a toolkit to ensure we’re around for another 35 years. So, thank you!
I’m Lisa Phillips.
And I’m Jill Edmondson.
We are here to represent the Lean Portfolio Leadership Team at CSG. Today, we want to share our journey—one of dysfunction (yes, we own it), disruption, and redemption.
Our Journey
This isn’t just our story. It wouldn’t be possible without our product managers, product owners, scrum masters, leadership, business, and engineering teams. We’re just the ones lucky enough to stand here and share it.
We’ll take you on a tour of the last few years:
- First, we’ll share our problem. We both believe “your secrets keep you sick.” If your team is buried in work that will never see the light of day, and you as a leader don’t address it, nothing will ever change.
- Then, we’ll share our vision. Once you start asking people what’s wrong, the floodgates open. Then you have to say, “Okay, we’re an outcome-driven culture. How do we fix it?”
- Next, we’ll share actionable tools. This is a practitioner panel, so we won’t just talk about theory. We want to give you something you can apply when you go back to the office on Monday.
- Of course, there were bumps along the way. No journey is without challenges, and we’ve had our share.
- Finally, the value we delivered. But we won’t be the ones to tell you that story—you’ll hear it from our colleagues, because their experience is what truly matters.
The Problem
We had several problems—too much work, lack of alignment, and constant shifting priorities.
Who here has executives chasing shiny objects? This year, it’s cloud migration. Next year, it’s reducing tech debt. The year after, it’s compliance and security. Sound familiar?
Our Vision
We came up with a simple but powerful vision:
Change the way we do work.
And notice that first pronoun: we.
I (Jill) came up through the business side of CSG. First job out of college, I stayed because I found out I could wear jeans and drink beer on Fridays. Lisa came up as an Agile coach. About 18 months ago, the universe aligned, and we joined forces.
How We Changed the Way We Work
1. We Made Work Visible
We love JIRA, pivot tables, and data modeling. But we love physical visibility even more—so tangible that our enterprise priorities should be as clear as the mirror you look into every morning.
So, we invested in a laminator and colored paper. We took over a conference room (without asking—note to self: talk to the admins first). And we made our work visible.
2. We Connected People to Strategy
It’s not just about process—it’s about people. Everyone wants to know why they’re doing what they’re doing.
3. We Created Engagement and Excitement
We made Agile engaging. We wanted to make sure people felt valued and understood the impact of their work.
Actionable Tools
1. The Taproom
TAP = Technology and Product. We took over a room and put all our enterprise priorities on the walls.
- We embraced Lean Portfolio Budgeting.
- We categorized priorities: Security (blue), Client Commitments (red), and so on.
- We created Shark Tank meetings where executives debated trade-offs in real-time.
2. The Tank Strategy
- Shark Tank: Executive decision-making.
- Think Tank: Product managers planning.
- Do Tank: Scrum masters executing.
- Biz Tank: Engineering and business alignment.
3. PI Planning
Bringing 70 teams together to plan realistically.
4. The Showcase
Inspired by The Price Is Right, we turned our annual showcase into a celebration. We showcased products, ran panels, and even hosted an Epic Graduation Party.
Final Thoughts
We’ve done a lot of talking, but this story belongs to all the people in these pictures. We wanted you to hear their words, so we’ll roll this video now.
Collaboration. Cohesion. Limitless. Energized. One Team.
Thank you so much! We hope to stay in touch—our LinkedIn, Twitter, and email are here. We’re here to help!