Recently our team has been working with NSW Land Registry Services (NSW LRS) on a digital transformation program. The purpose of the program is to modernise the NSW LRS Online Portal and its underpinning technologies to enable execution of business initiatives in line with their corporate strategy.
Like everyone else, we were embarking on this project virtually in this new COVID-19 world. While our team has experienced working virtually, NSW LRS were previously 100% on-premises.
So after months of working together with NSW LRS, I wanted to find out how our team has built trust and confidence with the customer while working completely remotely. What better way than to interview the customer directly? I spoke to our Product Owner, Pete, and our three key business stream leads and stakeholders, Dan, Megan and Ahmed.
This is what they had to say:
How did you initially feel about having to work with DB Results virtually to deliver this project? Did you have any concerns?
Dan: It was daunting because we’ve never done a project of this size before. At the start of a project you need to do a lot of whiteboarding, and I thought it would be difficult not doing that in person. I was also concerned about how we would get through issues without being able to have a quick five-minute chat at our desks.
Ahmed: At first I thought it was going to be very difficult doing it virtually because ideas can be misconstrued or misinterpreted if you’re not face to face to communicate.
Megan: We have previously worked with DB Results face to face and our teams worked very well together, so it was not as daunting because we knew of DB Result’s capability. But we didn’t know how well we would do that virtually.
Pete: As an organisation, NSW LRS pulled together and went from 100% on-premises to 100% working remotely, so I didn’t have any concerns.
Do you think those concerns have been addressed, and how?
Dan: My concerns were very quickly mitigated. The DB Results team were so easy to talk to and there was continuous engagement between DB Results and NSW LRS teams, so we got comfortable very quickly. The team would never wait for an issue to simmer and will set up a meeting to quickly understand.
Ahmed: It has turned out to be so easy. The regular catch ups and constant communication through Teams, calls and stand ups have given us exposure to each other to build that bond so we understand each other.
Megan: DB Results successfully leveraged a lot of technology like Jira, Confluence, Miro, and Teams. But what made the difference is that we would jump on calls to resolve things quickly. We got very comfortable having a chat so that there were no barriers.
How much confidence and trust do you have working with DB Results and how do you think we have built that trust and made you feel confident?
Dan: I have a lot of confidence and trust because we have very difficult and niche requirements, where it is even difficult for us to explain. But the team would play back their understanding perfectly and made it less difficult than what we thought it was. This gave us faith that DB Results understood what we wanted and understood our problems straight away. You weren’t just moving on and trying to figure it out later.
Ahmed: I feel very confident. I have been very impressed at how fast DB Results have picked up an understanding of our business. This is demonstrated by the willingness to constantly challenge our requirements and then provide different options for what we need. There is a good bond and common understanding between the NSW LRS and DB Results teams.
Megan: I have a lot of trust and feel very confident because the DB Results team is very proactive at trying to understand the business and our requirements. You show that understanding by asking the right questions and being able to tie back to other processes or concepts that were previously discussed. The constant playback of scenarios and user journeys also gives us comfort that you have understood us. I have been very impressed with the team; we all get along and it doesn’t feel like us vs. them.
Pete: DB Results have done a great job at breaking through the barriers of our organisation and ingested themselves into our business very well. You guys are very agile and adaptive to what we do, and I think it is more about the people. Sam and Brenton have chosen the right individuals for our organisation. The individuals in the team have shown they care about what we are doing here and want to understand. I really do not think there this is anything we can do much better.
