⚡ Accelerating Agile Adoption at SAP with Miki Island: Building a High-Performing Squad

In large organizations like SAP, embracing agile ways of working goes beyond adopting new tools or ceremonies — it requires a shift in mindset, collaboration, and team dynamics. That’s why SAP partnered with Miki Island to support one of its squads on their journey toward becoming a high-performing, agile team.

🚧 The Challenge

While agile principles had been introduced, the team faced familiar roadblocks: unclear roles, fragmented communication, and difficulty aligning on shared goals. To truly accelerate adoption of agile practices, they needed more than process training — they needed an experience that would transform how they worked together.

The key objectives were:

• Strengthen collaboration and psychological safety within the squad

• Clarify roles, responsibilities, and decision-making

• Cultivate a team mindset focused on continuous improvement and collective success

🌴 The Miki Island Simulation

To meet these needs, we brought in Miki Island — a science-backed, immersive team simulation designed to boost collaboration, strategic thinking, and real-time decision-making.

Over the course of the session, squad members:
✅ Faced time-pressured challenges mirroring real-world team dynamics
✅ Practiced agile values like transparency, inspection, and adaptation
✅ Reflected on their communication patterns, collaboration style, and team rituals

Our facilitators guided the team through structured debriefs, helping them draw direct connections between the simulation experience and their day-to-day agile practices.

🎯 Outcomes for the SAP Squad

The impact was immediate and visible. After just one session, the team walked away with:

• A stronger sense of trust and shared ownership

• Greater alignment on team goals and agile workflows

• Clearer roles and a renewed focus on accountability

• Practical strategies to apply agile principles with confidence

More importantly, the squad embraced a high-performing mindset — shifting from individual execution to collective success.

💡 Why It Matters

Agile isn’t just about frameworks — it’s about how teams show up together. Through Miki Island, SAP’s squad experienced what high performance feels like and left with the mindset and tools to sustain it.

This wasn’t just a simulation — it was a pivotal moment in the team’s agile journey. One island. One squad. Real transformation.