November 2020retailtechinsights.com9management's role is to define team missions and size against company priorities and budget constraints. It is then up to teams to refine their mission and on a quarterly basis set a numerical goal that enables them to focus on having impact rather than following a roadmap.Building Constraints for our Autonomous TeamsIt sounds like such a simple idea, but initially it was very difficult for teams to find and set an effective numeric goal which wasn't impacted by external factors. Most teams took over three months to research, track, trial and iterate until they had a solid goal.Simultaneously we began to loosely couple our OKR process to team goals. Teams' goals became their OKRs and all individuals on a team now share the same goal. Alignment with company objectives came through coaching and support during the quarterly review process.Teams are expected to be fully accountable for defining and improving their own processes and everyone is a full time member of just one team. To achieve this efficiently, we created centers of excellence for Agile Coaching, Quality Engineering, Customer Research and Optimisation, allowing teams to pull on this expertise when necessary.To track progress, teams meet with their key stakeholders every two weeks, where they present a widely distributed update. The agenda is set by the teams, creating a key forum for challenge, debate, support and coaching - holding each other to account in the context of missions, goals and our principles.The Transformation Never StopsThe above has taken us over two and a half years of iteration, frustration, persistence and dedication, but the results are well worth it. To track impact over time, we run regular health checks and have seen upward trends across impact, learning, teamwork and fun. Our teams now feel engaged, empowered and are enjoying delivering impact for the business as well as our customers. Best of all, Technology has grown from an ignored support function to a position of leadership, setting an example for the rest of the business. I can't wait to see how this continues to evolve in the future. Technology has grown from an ignored support function to a position of leadership, setting an example for the rest of the business
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