The case: After a five‑year collaboration and having already introduced Agile approaches within the company (a multinational corporation), the context was clear from day one: six international teams, distributed across more than 12 countries, tasked with solving highly complex technical issues on packaging machines installed worldwide.

Each issue was essentially a project of its own: different customer, different context, different operating conditions. A program like this cannot be managed with standard processes. It requires method - but also cultural sensitivity. Structure - but also adaptability. Agile - but real Agile.

And so began a four‑year journey.

PMProgetti's intervention: The starting point included six globally distributed teams, many cultures, and a single shared challenge. Teams were mixed: engineers, technicians, product specialists — people with very different backgrounds and mindsets. Two Scrum Masters, six Product Owners, separate backlogs, rapidly shifting priorities. 

The complexity wasn’t only technical. It was cultural. How do you create a shared language among people living in different countries, speaking different languages, with different professional habits? How do you build a common way of working when every team faces different problems?

Our approach: start from the foundations, together. We began with what we consider essential: training. Not theoretical training, but a practical path built around the real problems of the teams. 

We organized:

• Workshops to adapt Scrum to each team’s specific context
• Support for Product Owners in creating their Product Backlogs
• Setup and configuration of all backlogs in Jira
• Creation of shared Kanban Boards to improve communication between teams and with external suppliers

The goal wasn’t to “do Scrum,” but to build a common and sustainable working system that improved communication across teams.

Daily complexity: priorities, cultures, suppliers. Each team had its own Product Backlog because each customer had different needs. Priorities shifted frequently, and the most complex solutions required the involvement of external mechanical companies. To prevent teams from becoming isolated, we introduced:

• Regular cross‑team alignment meetings
• Full tracking in Jira: Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog, Retrospectives, Reports
• Flow analysis using Cumulative Flow Diagrams and Lean Analysis to identify the most critical issues

The goal was simple: make work visible, so it can be improved.

The roll‑out challenge: launching five more teams in four months. After the first team went live, the challenge was to launch the remaining five teams within four months. It was an intense effort, involving:

• Daily coaching
• Close support for Product Owners
• Facilitation of Scrum events
• Helping teams shift from a reactive approach to an iterative one
• Individual and team coaching

And we succeeded. All teams were launched within the expected timeframe.

Scrum and SAFe: coordinating without complicating. To manage inter‑team planning — especially when multiple teams worked on the same customer or the same machines — we integrated elements of SAFe and Nexus. Not to create bureaucracy. But to give teams a simple, structured way to:

• Align priorities
• Share dependencies
• Plan coordinated releases

This became one of the most appreciated aspects of the program, because it transformed complexity into collaboration.

Four years later: what truly changed? It wasn’t just the way of working that changed. It was the culture. Teams learned to:

• Collaborate across geographic boundaries
• Share problems and solutions
• Make faster decisions
• Manage complex backlogs
• Communicate more effectively with external suppliers
• Measure and improve their workflow

And above all, they learned to trust the process. The truth is: this wasn’t a program. It was a transformation. A transformation made of people, not tools. Of conversations, not procedures. Of small daily improvements, not big announcements. And for us, being part of this journey for more than four years has been a privilege.