Business Case Studies & Business Publications

Saving Griffin

Grushka-Cockayne, ...

Case

Saving Griffin

Grushka-Cockayne, Yael; Cowan, Alex; Turse, Jason

OM-1717 | Published March 15, 2021 | 14 pages Case

Collection: Darden School of Business

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This case is designed to introduce general management students to applied digital transformation at the program level. The Griffin Program is a midsized but high-stakes program in the US Special Operations Command focused on intelligence gathering and analytics. This case describes how the team and its lead used agile to refocus the program, working to drive valuable outcomes for stakeholders. Given that students may be new to the management of programs involving a lot of digital engineering, the case is designed to allow a progression from concepts that are likely familiar to management students to concepts that may be less familiar. Specifically, Pastures 1 and 2 of this note deal with what the protagonist should do and why. Pasture 3 deals with the use of analytics to adaptively evaluate and adjust the managerial decisions. The use of analytics to explore implementation alternatives is particularly important because the core of agile management is adaptive, evidence-based decisions rather than lots of up-front analysis and then a single big bet.

1. Explain the fundamentals of agile and how companies can measure progress on their practice thereof. 2. Define successful outcomes on user experience and behavior with both qualitative and quantitative observations. 3. Frame and adapt decisions with an adaptive, evidence-based approach to innovation using objectives and key results (OKRs). 4. Facilitate collaboration with stakeholders outside of agile teams.