Client
Federal Reserve Board of Governors
Market
Federal Government
Industry
Financial Services
Offerings
Enterprise Agile Transformation, Agile VMO, Governance
Challenge
As the governing body of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors plays a critical role in promoting the stability and effective operation of the U.S. economy. Supporting this mission requires internal organizations that can deliver technology and business capabilities with speed, quality, and precision.
The Division of Financial Management (DFM), Division of Management (MGT), and Information Technology Division sought to modernize how work was planned, governed, and delivered across more than 600 employees.
Key objectives included:
- Reducing organizational risk and delivery costs
- Improving the quality and predictability of delivery
- Strengthening collaboration between business and IT divisions
- Increasing transparency into work, priorities, and progress
- Responding more rapidly to changing business and regulatory needs
- Modernizing governance while maintaining strong oversight and compliance
The Board required an enterprise transformation that balanced Agile flexibility with the governance expectations of one of the nation's most important financial institutions.
Solution
LitheSpeed partnered closely with executive leadership to design and implement a comprehensive enterprise Agile operating model that modernized governance, delivery, and organizational culture.
Enterprise Operating Model & Governance
LitheSpeed introduced several foundational operating models, including:
- Agile Value Management Offices (VMOs®)
- Lean Agile Center of Excellence (LACE)
- Scaled "Team of Teams" operating model
- Product Management roadmaps
- Demand Management practices
- Product Discovery workshops
- Quarterly Big Room Planning
Together, these capabilities aligned strategic priorities with execution while improving visibility across the enterprise.
Capability Development & Coaching
LitheSpeed strengthened organizational capability through comprehensive coaching and training, including:
- Executive Agile leadership coaching
- Program and team coaching
- Team maturity assessments
- Coaching plans for teams and portfolios
- Estimation and relative sizing workshops
- Azure DevOps and ServiceNow enablement
To reinforce continuous learning, LitheSpeed also established Agile Communities of Practice for Agile practitioners, Scrum Masters, and Product Owners.
Agile Governance Modernization
Working directly with senior leadership, LitheSpeed designed an Agile governance model that clearly defined decision-making responsibilities while empowering teams to make delivery decisions within established financial and organizational guardrails.
This governance model improved accountability while significantly reducing decision bottlenecks.
Results & Impact
The transformation established a sustainable Agile operating model while delivering measurable improvements across governance, delivery, and organizational culture.
Organizational Transformation
- Established three Agile Value Management Offices (VMOs®) supporting Executive, Management, and IT organizations
- Coached 17 new Agile teams, with six teams reaching Agile maturity
- Developed the organization's Agile standards through a comprehensive Agile Playbook, standardized templates, and self-paced learning modules
- Established Agile as the organization's preferred delivery methodology, with waterfall becoming the exception rather than the norm
Workforce Enablement
LitheSpeed delivered customized enterprise-wide training across multiple disciplines, including:
- Agile 101
- Scrum 101
- Kanban 101
- Scrumban 101
- Story Estimation
- Demand Management
- Product Management
- Azure DevOps
- ServiceNow
Additional engagement activities included:
- 29 instructor-led classes
- 650+ employees trained
- Executive leadership workshops
- Division-wide Agile Carnival experiential learning events
- Ongoing facilitation of Agile, Scrum Master, and Product Owner Communities of Practice
Operational Results
The transformation generated measurable performance improvements, including:
- Increased delivery predictability from less than 50% to 75% for a data warehouse development team
- Reduced enhancement lead times from 2–3 months to two weeks or less for an application development team
- Improved visibility into work across business and technology organizations
- Stronger collaboration between business, management, and IT divisions
Cultural Impact
Beyond process improvements, the engagement helped create a more collaborative and adaptive organizational culture characterized by:
- Higher psychological safety among teams
- Improved employee morale and engagement
- Stronger cross-functional partnerships
- Better decision-making and delivery quality
- Increased organizational agility in responding to changing priorities
