Case Study: Sony Interactive Entertainment's Agile Transformation

The Challenge

Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) sought to transition 2,000+ developers from traditional waterfall methodologies to agile/scrum across their game development studios. The deeply ingrained "ship it perfect" culture clashed with agile's "iterate fast" philosophy.

The Approach

Rather than mandating agile adoption top-down, Ataway helped SIE design a voluntary, pull-based transformation:

• Pilot Studios: Three volunteer studios adopted agile first, creating internal proof points.
• Cultural Bridge: We reframed agile principles using concepts familiar to Japanese developers (カイゼン/continuous improvement).
• Leadership Coaching: Studio heads received 1-on-1 coaching on servant leadership—a paradigm shift from traditional management.

The Results

Within 18 months, 14 of 18 studios had voluntarily adopted agile. Sprint velocity increased 34%, and developer satisfaction scores rose from 3.1 to 4.4 out of 5.0.