When Arla implemented SAP, it was a major project involving seven teams, each with a Scrum Master. One of them was Indian-born Abhishek Sharma, an employee of IBM. He had previously worked on projects for Arla and was therefore known to the company, but the role as a Scrum Master was new to him. Along with all the other more than 70 project staff he learned about Scrum and agile principles with Lasse Sørensen from Plan A Projects, who was associated with the project from the start.
“Lasse taught us all about the agile project methodology and helped us to implement it,” says Abhishek Sharma. “At first it was hard for us because none of us had previously tried to work agile, but Lasse showed us step by step how to work, and gradually it became easy. Lasse was the agile mentor and did a great job. In particular, it was good that he was always easy to get hold of, and that he constantly followed up on the individual teams. If there were any problems, he helped us solve them so that we could move forward.”
Abhishek Sharma believes Arla did the right thing to choose the agile model for the project and that Plan A Projects had the right method to ensure that the principles were adhered to by all concerned. “Lasse really know his stuff and worked completely by the book” Abhishek recalls. “He was good at progressing slowly ensuring that everyone learned the principles and why the method was as it was. Further he is a very understanding person who is good at reading a situation and responds appropriately to it.”
“I’ve been really happy working on the SAP project at Arla and to work together with Lasse,” Abhishek says. “There has been a great working environment, and Lasse added a whole lot of good. He has a very positive attitude and always has some great ideas on how to proceed. At the same time, he has a good sense of humor and is very confident in his work , which makes it nice to work with him. I can only say that Lasse has been great to work with!”