Teams
demonstrated 25% faster cycle time versus teams operating at the status quo
USAA partnered with Galvanize to modernize its engineering workforce and accelerate delivery by integrating modern software practices directly into its workflow.
Key Outcomes
Improved
communication between engineers and product owners
Context
Modernizing Engineering to Match a $1.5B Technology Investment
Two years into a $1.5B technology modernization effort, the Fortune 500 enterprise USAA saw an opportunity to extend its progress by investing in the human side of transformation. The company had adopted SAFe Agile at scale, but the implementation emphasized process over practice. While the program improved coordination, it did little to evolve how software was actually built using the newly implemented tools
Leadership recognized that to unlock the full return on its technology investment, USAA needed to modernize its engineering practices, equipping teams with the skills, habits, and shared disciplines to translate strategic agility into day-to-day execution. They turned to Galvanize to help.
Our Approach
Collaborate
Galvanize partnered closely with engineering and product leadership to assess existing team capabilities with the new technologies and identify key barriers to Agile execution. Through talent assessments and stakeholder interviews, the team mapped gaps in story slicing, test-driven development, and delivery predictability.
Translate
Based on these findings, Galvanize designed a customized 12-week SAFe ScrumXP program. The program embedded USAA’s own product backlog, technologies, and workflows directly into the training, ensuring immediate relevance and application. Instruction focused on TDD and BDD in Java/Spring and React/JavaScript, SOLID principles, CI/CD deployment through GitLab, API testing, end-to-end testing, and effective story planning.
Innovate
Delivery combined live instruction, hands-on project work, and embedded coaching. Participants applied new practices to real USAA product stories, allowing engineering teams to confidently engage the new platforms and implement workflow improvements during training.
Validate
Weekly reporting and regular stakeholder meetings ensured transparency and continuous feedback. Teams were measured on deployment frequency, lead time, mean time to recover, change failure rate, and velocity. The training reinforced modern development practices through production-level work, and the corresponding metrics provided objective visibility into performance gains.
Impact
The Galvanize program enhanced USAA’s long-term return on technology modernization investment, as its engineering teams are now operating with deeper proficiency across new tools and platforms. Additionally, the training led to improved communication between engineers and product owners, allowing teams to deliver 25% faster – with higher predictability and quality – while leadership gained clearer insight into delivery performance.
Client Voice
Let’s Collaborate
At Galvanize, we believe progress happens through partnership. We work side-by-side with our clients to turn strategy into action and learning into performance.
Ready to build what’s next together?