How a leading academic health system built an enterprise Agile strategy and a repeatable model for launching Agile Pods

The Digital and Technology organization of a leading academic health system already had Agile practices running across parts of the enterprise, but no consistent way to scale them. Agile Brains developed an enterprise Agile strategy, a four-horizon transformation roadmap, an operating framework and a repeatable three-month activation model for launching Agile Pods, creating a direct line from leadership priorities to team execution.

The challenge

The health system was not starting from zero, and that shaped the challenge. Teams had different levels of Agile maturity, different delivery practices and different ways of managing work. The question was how to establish enterprise consistency without removing the flexibility teams need to deliver different kinds of work.

The gaps were interconnected: inconsistent practices and roles, varied approaches to planning and prioritization, capacity constraints, inconsistent delivery metrics, variable Jira usage and reporting, cross-team dependencies, weak portfolio-to-team alignment, and no repeatable way to launch new Agile Pods. The organization needed more than an assessment or a training program. It needed an enterprise strategy and a management system for Agile delivery.

How we helped

Agile Brains developed an integrated approach with four connected components, centered on evolution rather than disruption: preserve what was working, and add the common standards, governance, roles, metrics and activation mechanisms needed to scale.

Enterprise Agile Strategy. The strategy defined how Agile would support the organization's Digital and Technology objectives and set minimum common standards, with flexibility at the team level. It covered the enterprise Agile vision and transformation outcomes, Agile principles, leadership expectations, team operating standards, roles and decision rights, planning and prioritization, capacity management, governance, metrics and KPIs, Jira standards, training and enablement, change management, and continuous improvement. The result was a common definition of what Agile should mean across the organization.

Transformation Roadmap. The roadmap sequenced the work across four horizons. Align and Mobilize established the vision, outcomes, leadership alignment, priorities and baseline. Design and Prepare developed the operating model, governance, roles, capacity practices, planning processes, Jira standards, training approach and Pod activation mechanisms. Pilot and Learn launched Agile Pods, coached them through live delivery, measured performance and refined the model. Scale and Sustain expanded proven practices across additional teams, institutionalized governance, established continuous improvement mechanisms, and transitioned ownership to internal leaders.

Enterprise Agile Framework. The framework turned strategy into everyday behavior, defining how work moves from strategy through demand, prioritization, capacity, planning, delivery, measurement and learning. It established a consistent mechanism for evaluating and prioritizing incoming work; visibility into team capacity so commitments matched realistic delivery capability; a planning and delivery cadence connecting enterprise priorities to team execution; clear accountability across leadership, product, delivery, technical and Agile roles; earlier visibility of cross-team dependencies and delivery risks; governance that provides oversight without delivery bureaucracy; metrics that move beyond activity measures toward predictability, flow, quality, value and outcomes; and standardized Jira hierarchy, workflows, sizing, health indicators and executive dashboards.

Agile Pod Activation Plan. A repeatable three-month model moves each new Pod from formation to independent execution. Month one, Form and Prepare, covers team formation, Agile readiness, a Scrum-versus-Kanban assessment, fundamentals training, role definition, working agreements, Jira configuration, backlog and story preparation, prioritization, definitions of ready and done, initial capacity planning, delivery metrics and sprint or flow preparation. Month two, Launch and Deliver, takes the Pod through its first two delivery cycles with hands-on coaching across planning, daily coordination, backlog refinement, story quality, impediment management, stakeholder engagement, reviews, retrospectives, metrics, capacity management, dependency identification and continuous improvement. The objective is not simply to complete two sprints but to establish the behaviors required for predictable, transparent delivery. Month three, Stabilize and Transition, shifts the coach from facilitation to mentoring, with a focus on team self-sufficiency, role effectiveness, delivery predictability, backlog health, flow and velocity, quality, stakeholder engagement, metrics, knowledge transfer and sustainment planning. Each Pod completes a readiness review and moves to independent operation with targeted coaching available where needed.

Scrum or Kanban: fit the model to the work. A structured assessment determined which approach suited each team, evaluating predictability of incoming work, frequency of interruptions, ability to plan in advance, stability of priorities, nature of operational demand, team composition, dependency patterns, delivery cadence, stakeholder expectations and the ability to set sprint goals. Teams with planned, outcome-oriented work adopted Scrum; teams managing continuous operational demand used Kanban. The methodology followed the work, not the other way around.

Together these components created a three-layer Agile management system: the enterprise layer (strategy, governance, portfolio priorities, capacity and outcomes), the framework layer (demand, prioritization, planning, roles, metrics, Jira and dependencies), and the Pod layer (backlogs, Scrum or Kanban execution, reviews, retrospectives and continuous improvement), with a direct line from enterprise strategy to the work of individual teams.

The result

Rather than a strategy document that stopped at recommendations, the engagement linked strategy to operating model, governance, Jira standards, team activation, coaching, metrics and sustainment. The organization did not need to start Agile over. It needed to connect and strengthen what was already there. Agile Brains created the strategy and mechanisms to do exactly that, connecting leadership priorities to governance, governance to planning, planning to Agile Pods, and Pod execution back to measurable outcomes. The result is a delivery system designed to keep learning, adapting and scaling.

What the organization gained

• One enterprise Agile strategy: a common vision and set of standards for scaling Agile
• A four-horizon transformation roadmap from alignment through enterprise sustainment
• One enterprise Agile framework connecting demand, capacity, planning, delivery, governance, measurement and learning
• A three-month Pod activation model for moving new teams from formation to sustainable delivery
• Scrum and Kanban team models matched to the nature of each team's work
• Standardized Jira practices for hierarchy, workflows, sizing, delivery health and reporting
• Common Agile governance connecting leadership oversight with team execution while preserving team autonomy