Markets are never static and change over time, forcing businesses to adapt in order to succeed. That can mean pivoting to a new product line or retooling an entire business plan. No company knows this better than Austrian software developer VisoTech, who responded to changing energy markets with new offerings, only to find itself operationally slow to adapt. VisoTech leveraged the Kanban Method to visualize and streamline its workflows. By using these tools from the Kanban Method, VisoTech experienced boosted productivity while continuously adapting to meet changing client demand.

Introduction and Background

VisoTech initially developed software products for multiple industries. That all changed once the impacts of the European Union’s move to liberalize energy markets began to be felt.

The EU enacted legislative changes that aimed to build a more competitive, customer-centered energy market with market-based supply prices. The move also pushed the development of new trans-European energy networks.

The increasing complexity of the EU energy market required more sophisticated software solutions, which led VisoTech to develop Periotheus — a multifaceted software product that fully automates power and gas spot trading on European exchanges — and rebrand itself as an energy industry innovator.

The Challenge

As VisoTech’s product scope expanded, it was soon faced with task prioritization and workflow management issues, resulting in multitasking and other outcomes that slowed team productivity and decreased product quality. VisoTech had expanded its development team to match its new direction and growing client base, but the sophistication of its new flagship product required longer development timelines and more reviewing and testing.

Around this time, the firm’s head of development had heard about the Kanban Method, understanding it as a way to visualize individual tasks and team workflows through the use of a Kanban board. Being able to step back and look at the big picture, and make necessary process changes might improve delivery, he thought. So, he and his team decided to give it a try.

The Solution

The development team’s first board had five columns, taking all of their tasks from the bug tracking system and creating tickets for them. They broke the big tickets into smaller ones, making the work easier to monitor as it progresses and ensuring no one gets bored. Little by little, delivery time improved and the team was able to reliably release every three months.

Despite improvements in development, challenges arose in integrating client-specific features and managing communication with clients. The integration department struggled with task visibility and coordination, leading to delays and inefficiencies. This prompted VisoTech’s head of development to hire a Kanban coach to bring the integration department up to speed on the new approach, deepening VisoTech’s use and understanding of Kanban.

The company’s project management and technical support teams also implemented Kanban systems to improve visibility, coordination, and efficiency in their respective areas. Being able to see a big-picture view and specific tasks at the same time made it much easier for the teams’ project managers to steer multiple workflows and meet deadlines.

Conclusion

By adopting Kanban principles and continuous improvement efforts, VisoTech transformed its operations and achieved better project management, client delight, and overall efficiency introduced changes. One successful change involved developers testing their own work during manual testing sessions. Another change involved an experiment with car dealers. The experiment focused on rapid validation of ideas and features with vehicle marketplace dealers. This, too, was a success for everyone involved as the product evolved at a much faster pace with greater alignment towards customer needs.

Now, in meeting with clients, company representatives no longer have to give vague ETAs or make decisions on a gut feeling. They have all the information they need.