1. XR16 Agile Phase I – The Pragmatic Case Study of Schneider National
2005 AGILE CONFERENCE
XR16 Agile Phase I – The Pragmatic Case Study of Schneider National

2. Schneider National, Inc.
Schneider National, Inc. is a premier provider of transportation, logistics, and related services
$3.2 billion in revenue in 2004
Operate 14,000 tractors, 15,500 drivers, and 48,000 trailers with 21,900 associates operating in 28 countries
Purchase $1.7 billion in 3rd party transportation from 6,000 carriers
Pay 104 million invoices totaling $7.8 billion to 8,500 carriers
Commitment to superior information and communications technology
We are known for the orange trucks, but our portfolio of services has grown to include intermodal/rail service, Logistics and financial services. In addition, we’ve expanded our portfolio of truckload services.
Safe, courteous, hustling associates creating solutions that excite our customers.
Copyright © Schneider National, Inc. – Contents of this document should not be reproduced without permission.

3. Schneider IT at a Glance
400+ Associates
Utilize onsite contractors and offshore
Ranked 15th Best IT Place to Work by Computer World
Technology – JAVA J2EE, Websphere, DB2, Cognos, Oracle, COBOL, C++, Lawson, Siebel CRM
Deploy software in 3 releases (every 4 months) in a year
CIO – Judy Lemke
The operating principles you see described here are driven by market conditions and will change periodically.
These principles will support our strategies and drive our actions during upcoming years.
Earnings, far more than revenues, will be the most important driver of our growth.
Growth for the sake of growth is not enough; we must put the focus on earnings.
Customer satisfaction and synergistic opportunities are complementary concepts, allowing us to come to the table with a complete portfolio of services and the ability to leverage our capabilities.
Great companies have great balance sheets and can generate lots of cash.
Revenue, when moved across our cost base, will determine the strength of our competitive edge.
We are a service business with a strong need to develop our human capital.
Our decisions must be data-driven, requiring robust dialog among our leaders and associates alike.

4. Reasons SNI Pursued Agility
Corporate culture based on constant improvement and innovation
Always looking for ways to do things better, faster, less expensively
Provide greater delivery flexibility to the business
Improve quality of delivery
Improve developer’s quality of life

5. Kick Start the Process
Researched Agile/Iterative concepts and benefits
Reviewed with IT Leadership
Attended Agile conference
Developed plan of attack

6. Outside Experience Attended XP/Agile Universe 2004 Observations
Gathered learnings
Educated our people
Refined understating of Agile/Iterative concepts
Observations
No cookbook existed
Situational
Point vs. counter point
Minimal corporate experiences to reference
Academic information
… We needed to mold approaches into an SNI Agile Method

7. What Schneider Did … Selected pilot project with following criteria
Sufficient size
Team leadership
Project Management
Technical
Strong customer relationship
Change enablers
Utilization of offshore
Broke a four month release cycle into three day iterations
Aligned and worked closely with an offshore provider
Developed iterative milestones to track progress

8. What Schneider Did … (cont)
Buy-in from other IT groups
Data Management Group (DAs and DBAs)
Knowledge Services
Technical Services (Hosting Group)
Training Team
Technical Architecture
Addressed their concerns
Environment conflicts
Data changes
Code contention

9. What Schneider Did … (cont)
At the end of the first iteration, established a open pod concept
Concerns raised include:
Privacy
Noise
Different work pieces
Explained Benefits
Communication & Collaboration
Integration of team
Reduce learning curve
Self policing

10. Eight Person Pod Layout

11. The Results So Far … Very successful pilot – we delivered!
Rolled out SNI Agile Method to more project teams
Quality improvement
Improved communication & collaboration
Accelerated functionality
Eliminated non-value add functionality
Defects are down, on schedule, on budget!
Pods a success
Quality of life improved

12. Watch outs One size does not fit all
Business commitment and involvement
FUD (Fear-Uncertainty-Doubt) factor

13. What’s next for SNI and Agile
Continue rolling out to more project teams
More Pods
Share experiences
Continually adjust
Iterations to production

14. Conclusion Iterative successful for SNI… pragmatically
Re-shaping deployment process
Flexibility
Quality of life for Project Team

15. Conclusion
Right Functionality
at the Right Time
for the Right Cost

16. Questions?