CBA Leverages AI to Transform ‘Big Room Planning’ Approach
We independently review everything we recommend. When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission which is paid directly to our Australia-based writers, editors, and support staff. Thank you for your support!
Quick Summary
- CBA employs AI to enhance its quarterly Agile planning with 16,000 team members.
- Atlassian Intelligence distills complex documents and improves communication efficiency.
- The bank saves 2,500 hours monthly on document summarization.
- AI assists in decomposing epics into user stories, conserving 14 hours per squad each month across 1,100 squads.
- Internal customer satisfaction has markedly increased as a result of AI integration.
- CBA’s Agile transformation has raised monthly software updates from 3,000 to more than 9,000.
AI-Driven Planning at Scale
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has embarked on a transformative mission to modernise its Agile software delivery approach by embedding artificial intelligence into its quarterly “big room planning” gatherings. These sessions gather over 16,000 employees across Australia and India to align digital project objectives and outputs.
Utilizing Atlassian Intelligence—AI specifically crafted to work with Atlassian’s cloud tools such as Jira and Confluence—CBA is advancing planning efficiency, enhancing communication clarity, and boosting overall productivity.
Transitioning to the Cloud: A Bedrock for Innovation
CBA’s transformation commenced with a deliberate transition of its Jira and Confluence platforms from on-premises setups to the Atlassian Cloud. This shift created a solid foundation for the bank to integrate AI functionalities into its Agile environment.
Jira is instrumental in monitoring inter-team dependencies, whereas Confluence contains the comprehensive documentation that underpins these connections. Atlassian Intelligence is deployed to summarise this documentation, facilitating quicker comprehension and decision-making during planning discussions.
Simplifying Team Collaboration
Engineering platform general manager Helen Lau emphasised how AI aids in swiftly identifying the “essence of a discussion” by analysing extensive documentation. This reduces the need for prolonged email threads and unnecessary meetings by offering essential information upfront.
“We utilise AI to swiftly access the content necessary for the right conversation as promptly as possible,” Lau stated. “Rather than perusing a document, sending emails, having meetings, and repeating the cycle, we go directly to the critical points.”
Quantifiable Time Savings and Productivity Boosts
A key result of CBA’s AI integration is a monthly time saving of about 2,500 hours that were previously spent on summarising essential delivery documents. This represents a considerable enhancement in productivity for CBA’s IT and software delivery departments.
Moreover, Agile squads—comprising 10 to 20 members each—now enjoy an average savings of 14 hours a month thanks to AI’s ability to convert epics (large work segments) into actionable user stories. With over 1,100 squads, this equates to thousands of hours saved throughout the organisation.
Enhancing Internal Customer Satisfaction
While the time efficiencies and increased output are commendable, one of the unexpected positive outcomes has been a rise in internal satisfaction. Lau noted that internal feedback regarding Atlassian Intelligence has been largely positive.
“Many users express their appreciation for these tools. In the IT field, that feedback is not something you encounter frequently,” she elaborated. “Usually, it revolves around addressing critical issues. Therefore, this positivity about satisfaction has been a significant achievement for us.”
Accelerated Feature Delivery for Clients
Ultimately, the AI-enhanced planning framework is enabling CBA to provide greater value to its clients. Lau disclosed that CBA has ramped up its monthly software updates from 2,000-3,000 to over 9,000 changes made in production.
These updates range from enhancements in chatbot prompts to entirely new features, all focused on improving the customer experience. “This reflects the efficiency increase and pace we’re discussing regarding outcomes,” Lau commented.
Conclusion
CBA’s adoption of AI in its Agile planning workflows signifies a remarkable advance in business innovation. By leveraging Atlassian Intelligence for document summarisation automation and optimising team collaboration, the bank is achieving remarkable improvements in productivity, employee satisfaction, and customer-oriented feature delivery. With 16,000 participants engaged in quarterly planning and over 9,000 monthly production changes, CBA is establishing a benchmark for large-scale Agile changes within the financial services sector.
Q: What is big room planning, and why is CBA implementing AI for it?
A:
Big room planning is a quarterly Agile methodology where large groups align on project objectives, interdependencies, and priorities. CBA employs AI to condense documents and promote clearer, more efficient conversations among its 16,000 participants, reducing administrative burdens and enhancing decision-making speed.
Q: What is Atlassian Intelligence, and how does it benefit?
A:
Atlassian Intelligence is an AI feature integrated within Atlassian’s cloud tools like Jira and Confluence. It aids by summarising documentation, breaking substantial tasks into smaller pieces, and fostering more effective collaboration among teams.
Q: How much time is CBA conserving with AI implementation?
A:
CBA has reported approximate monthly savings of 2,500 hours due to AI-facilitated document summarisation. Furthermore, Agile squads save about 14 hours each month from task breakdowns, leading to substantial time savings across 1,100 squads.
Q: What has been the internal feedback regarding the AI tools?
A:
The internal response has been very favourable. Numerous employees have conveyed their satisfaction with the AI tools, which is a rare but appreciated situation in IT sectors often characterised by technical issue reporting.
Q: What impact has this had on software delivery?
A:
Since the adoption of AI and Agile methodologies, CBA has increased its output from 2,000-3,000 to over 9,000 monthly software updates. This has expedited the bank’s capability to introduce new features and improvements for customers.
Q: How does this align with CBA’s wider digital strategy?
A:
This AI-driven Agile evolution corresponds with CBA’s larger initiative towards DevSecOps and cloud adoption, boosting agility, security, and customer-focused innovation in a competitive financial environment.
Q: Is Atlassian Intelligence utilised beyond big room planning?
A:
Yes, CBA employs Atlassian Intelligence in addition to quarterly planning. It supports everyday Agile workflows such as translating epics into user stories and enhances teamwork at all levels of project execution.
