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How Agile Methodology Propelled Jaguar Land Rover to the Top of Digital Innovation

31st January 2025
Rob Fain
Principal Consultant

On Thursday, 30th January, Berwick Partners hosted an insightful event in Manchester featuring Mark Brogden from Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and a group of North West CIOs and IT Leaders. Mark shared his valuable experience and insights on how adopting an Agile methodology has transformed JLR’s digital products, making them best in class.

Key Insights:
Digital Hub Creation

JLR established a digital hub in a separate location away from their headquarters. This strategic move provided the space to think differently, challenge norms, and remove blockers. JLR specifically chose Manchester as the size and maturity of its tech population allowed them to scale rapidly by hiring ‘Agile Natives.’ They targeted established squads rather than merely individuals, adopting a site reliability-based approach and team structure.

Innovation and Improvement

Mark emphasised enhancing the most popular features of JLR’s digital apps and improving customer experience. They reduced release times to weekly and rapidly actioned feedback. Insights were integrated back into the engineering function, and a continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipeline was established.

Executive Attention and Reorganisation

The progress made by the digital team drew significant attention at the executive level. This led to a mindset change, with widespread adoption of the Product Owner role. The model matured to break down silos and align with a value stream approach.

Leveraging Data and AI

JLR’s current and future challenges focus on delivering hyper-personalisation. This includes enhanced customisation for consumers, such as driving experience preferences (seat positions, temperatures, music preferences). They continue to innovate to support autonomous vehicle technology.

Throughout the event, guests had the opportunity to ask Mark questions and share their own experiences regarding transformation and maturity to Agile.

If you are interested in attending future IT leadership events, please email Rob Fain at rob.fain@berwickpartners.co.uk.

Categories: IT & Technology

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