CASE STUDY

Introduction:

In-person card transactions are essential to Visa’s services, ensuring secure and efficient payments at physical terminals. To optimise and accelerate the delivery of new features within this area, Visa’s Munich office embarked on an agile transformation focused on enhancing collaboration, increasing transparency, and improving operational efficiency. Specifically, We Do IT Agile supported the In-Person Accept area, addressing challenges related to coordination across multiple workstreams, establishing a DevOps culture, and restructuring team roles to reduce bottlenecks.

Client background:

The In-Person Accept area at Visa Munich is responsible for transaction processing when a card is physically present at a terminal. With a high volume of transactions, this area requires a smooth, reliable, and scalable system that involves collaboration across specialised teams, including backend development, mobile development, testing, and robotic process automation (RPA). Visa’s existing processes faced challenges from functional silos, limited cross-team visibility, and a lack of standardisation, leading to inefficiencies and delays.

Objectives:

The main objectives for the In-Person Accept project included:

• Improving cross-functional collaboration: Break down silos and enhance collaboration between specialised teams to increase alignment and transparency across workstreams.
• Embedding DevOps practices: Establish a DevOps mindset to support continuous integration and delivery, enabling teams to release features more frequently and with higher quality.
• Developing a scalable deployment framework: Create a standardised process to ensure reliable, repeatable transaction processing across all physical terminals.

Solution: agile enablement and DevOps integration:

Implementing agile coaching and structured Scrum events
To address the complexity of multiple specialised teams working in silos, our team implemented a structured Scrum framework, including key events like sprint planning, the Daily Scrum, sprint reviews, and retrospectives. These events provided regular alignment opportunities and a clear structure for prioritising work across teams, improving visibility and fostering accountability.

Building a DevOps culture and establishing CI/CD pipelines
We introduced DevOps practices to enable continuous integration and delivery, supporting Visa Munich’s goal of faster, more reliable releases. By implementing a CI/CD pipeline, we automated testing and deployment processes, reducing manual errors and accelerating the release cadence. This DevOps integration not only improved quality but also enhanced team collaboration and alignment.

Restructuring team roles for cross-functional integration
Our team worked with Visa to dissolve the standalone QA team and integrate quality assurance roles directly within development teams. By embedding QA specialists within cross-functional teams, quality became a shared responsibility, enabling more frequent testing cycles and reducing bottlenecks at the end of development.

1:1 coaching and leadership development
To support the transformation, we conducted 1:1 coaching sessions with team members and leadership, equipping them with agile principles and helping them champion the new ways of working. This coaching fostered a deeper understanding of agile values and practices, empowering leaders to guide their teams through the transition.

Results and impact:

1. Increased transparency and reduced workflow issues

• Impact: Cross-functional Scrum events and 1:1 coaching sessions helped identify and address workflow bottlenecks, enabling smoother handoffs between teams and increasing transparency across the board.

2. Scalable, standardised deployment framework

• Impact: The deployment framework established during this transformation enabled Visa Munich to standardise processes, reducing time to market for new features and ensuring a reliable transaction experience across terminals.

3. 30% reduction in delivery cycle time

• Impact: By integrating DevOps practices and Lean workflows, Visa Munich reduced cycle times by 30%, allowing the teams to deliver updates and improvements faster while maintaining high quality.

4. Elimination of QA bottlenecks

• Impact: Integrating QA into development teams distributed quality responsibilities and enabled faster, more frequent testing cycles, reducing the delays that previously impacted final delivery timelines.

5. Long-term agility and DevOps adoption

Impact: The successful integration of agile and DevOps practices in the In-Person Accept area inspired wider adoption across Visa Munich, setting a foundation for long-term agility and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

Conclusion:

The agile and DevOps transformation in Visa Munich’s In-Person Accept area demonstrates how structured agile coaching, cross-functional team alignment, and DevOps practices can accelerate value delivery in a complex, transaction-heavy environment. We Do IT Agile enabled Visa to achieve faster delivery cycles, seamless team collaboration, and a scalable framework for ongoing product development. This transformation has equipped Visa Munich with the agility needed to innovate and respond effectively in a rapidly evolving payments landscape.