Three lessons from a postal operator’s agile transformation

When Belgium’s national postal service faced deregulation, the pressure was immense. The Tracked Mail team had been racing to launch products, but the result was fragile systems, buggy applications, and an unstable foundation.

Turning to Scrum and Agile engineering practices wasn’t just a technical fix—it became the spark for cultural change. Here are the three lessons that shaped the transformation and continue to guide how we think about Agile today.

At first, the teams performed well, but competing demands from multiple business managers created a tug-of-war. Everyone believed their request was the most important.

The breakthrough came when alignment moved up a level: a single leader with authority across projects defined the priorities for the entire value stream. Suddenly, conflicts dissolved, and teams had the clarity to focus on what mattered most.

Tip: Always identify who is accountable for the end-to-end value stream. Without that clarity, even high-performing teams can get paralyzed.

The problems were obvious: poor quality, siloed knowledge, disconnected business. The temptation was to push hard for change immediately. But forcing it would have backfired.

Instead, the transformation moved at the pace of trust. By creating space for people to process fears and by showing early wins, leaders gradually earned buy-in. Change stuck because it was co-owned.

Tip: Change only moves at the speed of trust. Move fast on what you can, but be patient where it matters most.

In the beginning, every release felt risky. The codebase was fragile, bugs piled up, and innovation seemed impossible. Teams were stuck in firefighting mode.

That changed once engineering practices took root: continuous integration, automated testing, shared ownership. Quality improvements didn’t just stabilize systems—they unlocked speed, confidence, and morale.

Tip: If you want teams to thrive, start by enabling them to deliver high-quality increments at a sustainable pace. Quality fuels everything else.

The Tracked Mail transformation shows that Agile isn’t just about ceremonies or backlogs—it’s about creating the conditions for trust, clarity, and quality. When those three elements are in place, teams do more than deliver; they grow, adapt, and inspire others across the organization.