Kuveyt Türk Bank: Applying Disciplined Agile® for PMO Transformation

Kuveyt Türk, one of Turkey’s largest and most rapidly growing participation banks, faced increasing pressure to modernize its project and portfolio management practices due to rising digital demands, complex initiatives and the need for faster strategic alignment. While the organization had a strong project management foundation, integrating agility without weakening existing governance created challenges. Teams operated with mixed delivery needs, such as predictive and agile, and lacked a unified, context-driven approach for managing both.

To address these issues, the strategic project management office launched a structured transformation using the Disciplined Agile® Value Acceleration Guide. Through discovery workshops, one-on-one interviews and visual assessments, the PMO identified critical gaps such as inconsistent prioritization, unclear agile roles, insufficient stakeholder ownership and the absence of standardized hybrid ways of working. A dedicated center of excellence was formed to coordinate and sustain improvement initiatives.

The PMO implemented a tailored hybrid operating model aligned with organizational strategy and team realities. Key advancements included:

• Establishing weighted shortest job first-based portfolio prioritization and quarterly planning
• Redefining the project manager role toward value-driven leadership
• Standardizing hybrid ways of working (agile, lean, predictive, hybrid)
• Integrating objectives and key results and value-based key performance indicators into project tracking
• Enhancing clarity across agile roles (product owner, scrum master, business owner)
• Using the Disciplined Agile® (DA®) Browser to guide teams in selecting their optimal WoW

These improvements led to measurable impact: Project completion increased by 30%–40%; project success rates rose by 15–20 percentage points; and strategic alignment exceeded 95%. Stakeholder engagement, delivery quality and project management autonomy significantly improved as teams gained the flexibility to choose the most appropriate life cycle for each initiative.

Kuveyt Türk’s experience demonstrates how a strategic project management office can strengthen governance, increase organizational agility and create a value-focused delivery environment without abandoning its foundational project management strengths. This case provides a clear example of how financial institutions can modernize their delivery approach by applying Disciplined Agile® (DA®) principles in a structured, scalable manner.