Scaling a SaaS Development Organization - A Journey of Transformation

Introduction Scaling a SaaS development organization is more than just adding headcount, it’s about fostering a culture that supports agility, collaboration, and continuous improvement. Our journey of transformation began with challenges in team alignment, a rigid Agile implementation, and a need for stronger psychological safety. Over 18 months, we implemented a structured process to scale effectively, embedding Scaled Agile methodologies, leadership coaching, psychological safety initiatives, and mindset training into our daily operations.

It’s important to note that our starting point was a well-functioning development organization. The teams were delivering and operating effectively, but we recognized opportunities to enhance collaboration, decision-making, adaptability, and collective performance at scale. This article outlines our transformation, the measurable impact we achieved, and key lessons learned along the way.

Moving Beyond Linear Scrum and Waterfall mindset

Initially, our development teams followed Scrum in a linear, waterfall-like manner, leading to inefficiencies and bottlenecks. While Agile ceremonies were in place, they weren’t effectively driving collaboration, innovation, or adaptability. Key pain points included:

Siloed teams with limited cross-functional collaboration.
Variability in psychological safety due to cultural differences, differing expectations, time pressure, etc..
Leaders and team members alike adapting to new ways of communication and collaboration in distributed teams.
Slow decision-making due to rigid processes and unclear ownership.
A need to strengthen collective performance by fostering shared accountability and better team dynamics.

To scale effectively, we needed a paradigm shift in mindset, team culture, and leadership approach.

Building a Culture of Agility and Learning

To address these challenges, we built an transformation program, focusing on four key pillars: 1. Implementing Scaled Agile Methodologies

Shifted from rigid Scrum to a Scaled Agile framework that encouraged faster iteration, autonomy, and alignment.
Implemented structured communication and collaboration practices to enhance coordination between distributed teams.
Established clear decision-making structures to speed up execution.

2. Psychological Safety & Expression Climate Workshops

Conducted a series of five workshops with development teams focused on open communication, trust, and feedback.
Encouraged a speak-up culture, where team members felt safe discussing problems and proposing ideas.
Recognized that psychological safety is influenced by multiple factors, including cultural backgrounds, previous work environments, and time constraints, rather than solely leadership approaches.

3. Coaching Leaders to Become Enablers

Trained managers in coaching methodologies, enabling them to lead with questions rather than directives.
Introduced peer coaching circles to help leaders navigate change and transformation collaboratively.
Focused leadership efforts on creating an environment of ownership, empowerment, and continuous learning, while acknowledging the diverse factors that impact team dynamics.
Reinforced the role of leaders in enhancing collective performance, ensuring alignment across teams and encouraging shared responsibility.

4. Mindset Training for Teams

Conducted mindset workshops tailored to the team’s own domain, reinforcing growth mindset principles.
Linked mindset training to daily operations, ensuring that learning was applied in real-world development challenges.
Strengthened the connection between team autonomy, adaptability, and collective performance to maximize impact.

Driving Daily Awareness and Measuring Progress To embed these changes into the organization’s DNA, we:

Encouraged key advocates within teams to reinforce transformation learnings in daily stand-ups, daily interactions and retrospectives.
Used awareness clues (reminders, discussions, feedback with learning) to sustain new behaviors.
Measured progress over 12–18 months using surveys and performance tracking.

Measuring Psychological Safety, Collective Performance, and Team Effectiveness Comparing data from January 2023 to January 2024, we saw:

18% increase in team members feeling comfortable speaking up.
20% decrease in negative responses regarding mistakes being held against them.
15% improvement in information sharing and transparency across teams.
Significant improvements in managerial support, innovation, and team collaboration.
Stronger collective performance, with teams demonstrating increased shared accountability and more effective cross-team collaboration.

The Business Impact of Transformation Beyond cultural improvements, the transformation led to tangible business benefits:

20% increase in primary team productivity, resulting in an estimated financial impact of $300,000 annually.
5% productivity increase in dependent teams, attributed to improved communication and structured collaboration, leading to an estimated financial impact of $225,000 annually.
Financial impact was calculated per personnel cost across various regions, ensuring an accurate reflection of distributed team dynamics and localized salary structures.

Lessons Learned & Key Takeaways

Agile is more than a process — it’s a mindset. Scaling Agile successfully requires shifting from execution-based thinking to learning-based adaptability.
Psychological safety is influenced by multiple factors. Team trust and openness are shaped by leadership, culture, prior experiences, and time pressures, requiring a holistic approach to improvement.
Leaders as enablers, not just managers. Leadership transformation is about providing the tools and frameworks for teams to grow, not enforcing rigid structures.
Cross-functional collaboration and collective performance are essential. Scaling SaaS development requires breaking silos between engineering, product, business, and leadership, while fostering a shared responsibility for team success.
Measurement and feedback loops sustain progress. Ongoing surveys, retrospectives, and open dialogue help sustain the cultural shifts needed for long-term success.

Read the full article here: https://medium.com/@asbjorn_17696/scaling-a-saas-development-organization-a-journey-of-transformation-583d2db0b357