Upskilling your personnel is essential—even in a virtual world. New Resources Consulting’s training program is designed to be easily tailored to a client’s business needs and skill sets. Our experienced personnel act as an extension of your team, remaining committed to helping our clients find suitable and effective solutions to their unique technology needs. We sat down with Ryan Garlock of Milwaukee Tool to discuss one of their recent challenges and how NRC helped.
1. What was the event or challenge you faced that inspired you to work with NRC?
In March 2020, we took our development team that was one large team and split it into smaller, autonomous teams that we call “Product Teams.” Within these Product Teams, we found there were conflicting opinions on how to effectively utilize Scrum [an industry standard for developing, delivering, and sustaining software]; everyone had a different idea of what that should look like. We were faced with this challenge when our contacts at NRC told us about their training capabilities.
2. What type of services did NRC provide to your organization?
NRC provided an 8-hour Scrum Best Practices training seminar, completed virtually over two half-days. They brought in an experienced Scrum Master who was a great teacher and outstanding at answering all of our questions. We sat down together and tailored the curriculum to meet our needs. We determined what areas we needed the most focus on in Scrum and also learned through a pre-survey NRC sent out where our staff felt they struggled or excelled. We continued communication while planning the workshop with multiple reviews and a dry run before the workshop. Ultimately, the training helped our Product Teams better understand the methodology, why Scrum is good for our team, and how it can make our team more productive.
3. What benefits did you experience as a result of NRC’s services?
After the first day, I was getting some feedback; one of the comments I heard from a Product Team was, Well, we thought we knew what Scrum was, but we didn’t know how badly we were doing it. So, one of the early results is that our Product Teams are more aware; they’re doing things differently, planning better, holding the right meetings at the right times, etc. There is more of an emphasis on moving forward as a team. The workshop also had activities that included a team health monitor check. Our Product Teams are now utilizing this activity as part of their regular review. NRC did a great job; it felt like it was a Milwaukee Tool employee giving the course, not an outside consultant.
4. What advice would you give to a company looking for similar services?
This was truly a “right-place-right-time” situation for us. We had this challenge, and we were looking for a way to solve it. We meet with our contacts at NRC quarterly, and they mentioned this training program, which is when the lightbulb went off—we can leverage this. My advice to anyone looking to work with NRC for a user training program—they do a great job. It really feels like the training is coming from within your own company, not an outside company. They dedicate themselves to sitting down with you to identify your needs and work with you to meet your goals.
5. What have you enjoyed most about working with NRC?
Everyone I have worked with has really listened to what Milwaukee Tool’s needs were and came up with solutions and ideas of how to meet them. Instead of trying to shove down our throats features or offerings that have little to do with us, they really listened to come up with viable solutions and feedback. I don’t think our training would have been nearly as successful if there hadn’t been that level of listening.
