Agile transformation in a telco

2022–2024 · Leadership · Slovak Telekom · OKRs · Agile · Cross-functional teams

Context

A B2B product organisation inside a large incumbent telco operates under two pulls in opposite directions: the network/operations side optimised for stability and long planning cycles, and the product side that needs to ship customer-loved changes on a customer’s timeline. Without an explicit operating model, the product side defaults to the gravitational pull of the larger org — long roadmaps, annual planning, low transparency to stakeholders. That makes it hard to learn fast, and harder still to motivate the people doing the work.

Challenge

Move the B2B product team to an agile way of working — not the ceremony of agile, but the underlying practices: short iteration cycles, OKRs as the north star, transparent commitments, continuous delivery of value. Do it without breaking the relationships with the rest of the organisation that still operates on different rhythms.

What I did

I led the team’s transition to an OKR-driven, agile way of working. The shift had four threads: replacing annual roadmaps with quarterly objectives and quarterly reviews, with clear measurable key results; restructuring delivery into shorter cycles so that learning was continuous rather than annual; opening up transparency — making commitments, progress, and learnings visible to stakeholders week-by-week; and investing in people development so that the new way of working built leaders, not just process compliance.

Practical examples: weekly cross-functional reviews, quarterly OKR-setting workshops with stakeholders, and a deliberate focus on outcome metrics over output velocity.

More work