Insurance Company Cuts Cycle Time by 20% and Saves Nearly $5 Million Using Agile Project Management Practices Project durations have been reduced by 20%, for a net savings of nearly $5 million. The percentage of projects coming in on time and within budget increased by 40%. As a result, management has broadened the scope of the initiative to implement agile practices across the organization. Company A US-based Fortune 100 company providing insurance products and services to clients in North America. Challenge With a billion dollar project portfolio numbering in the hundreds of projects, the client needed to decrease time-to-market in response to competitive pressures and its expanding product line. They set aggressive goals to reduce average project duration by approximately 50% and improve intemal customer satisfaction b9 25% over a three-year period. The client's project management environment at the time was rigid, depending almost entirely on traditional phase-based deliverable schedules, with a heavy development methodology. Solution The client adopted the Scrum framework and other agile product development techniques, hoping to benefit from the shorter project durations promised by an iterative approach. In adopting agile practices and techniques as part of this initiative, the organization was set to introduce radically new management practices to a traditionally trained project management community, with an emphasis on early and frequent delivery of value to end-users. During the beginning stages of this initiative, PM Solutions became an integral part of an internal group that provided agile coaching to teams employing agile development practices, coupled with training tailored to their specific environment. PM Solutions also mentored the client's project management organization through the various changes these new practices required of an organization schooled in traditional approaches.