This Agile success story is drawn from the Agile Experience Report “Developers and Sales, Sitting in a Tree” written by Aras Bilgen.
At first glance, the idea of an IT consultancy where engineers handle everything, including sales, feels noble. It’s a vision built on trust, craftsmanship, and technical pride. But beneath that idealism, Kloia found itself wrestling with a quiet storm: the need to grow without losing its soul.
This is the story of how Kloia, a company founded by passionate engineers, navigated the wilderness of business growth using Agile values, not just as a development practice, but as a compass for organizational transformation.
What was at stake?
Kloia wanted to scale its operations. But growth often demands compromise, and the team refused to take the well-trodden path of hiring a traditional sales team. The founders believed engineers should own the full project lifecycle, from pitch to delivery. It was an attempt to avoid the pitfalls of overpromising, underdelivering, and eroding trust, an all-too-common trap in tech consulting.
But idealism, like any strong wind, can blow off course without a guiding structure.
When ideals clash with reality
The first crack in the model
Between 2015 and 2017, Kloia thrived with engineers handling everything. The team’s technical depth impressed clients during initial meetings. Deals closed fast. Delivery quality soared.
But as projects grew and more engineers joined, the strain became visible. Sales calls dragged on. Some engineers disliked the ambiguity of sales compared to the concrete logic of code. Morale dipped. Projects started with less clarity, and potential deals fell through due to delays or misalignment.
Agile’s heart beats to the rhythm of teamwork and adaptability. Yet here, the team was locked into an inflexible model disguised as a flat structure. Agile values weren’t being broken, but they weren’t being fully lived either.
Experiments begin
In true Agile spirit, the company pivoted. Kloia began outsourcing parts of its tool sales to external agents. In parallel, engineers doubled down on inbound marketing (blog posts, talks, webinars) to draw in leads who understood Kloia’s ethos.
This dual-track approach bore fruit. Tool sales climbed, engineering time was protected, and revenue jumped 120% in a year. But even in success, shadows lingered. One agent secretly bypassed Kloia to claim higher commissions. The experiment had reached its limits.
The Agile pivot: Roles, not rigidity
Breaking the “no sales team” rule
With cautious optimism, Kloia hired its first dedicated salesperson. The result? A 70% increase in sales within six months. But a new tension emerged. The deals that came in were either too trivial or so massive they required extensive scoping. Engineers began to worry: were they slipping into the very pattern they’d sworn to avoid?
Bringing back balance
Kloia didn’t retreat. Instead, it regrouped. The team had an open, honest conversation—tense at first, but clarifying in the end. They agreed: sales needed structure, but also empathy. Engineers didn’t hate sales; they hated being disconnected from purpose.
Out of this emerged a new model:
- Salespeople led the process, ensuring speed and follow-up.
- Capability heads stepped in to shape technical solutions early.
- Relationship managers tracked long-term client satisfaction and anticipated risks.
- Some engineers chose to stay involved where it made sense, contributing to scope clarity.
This wasn’t hierarchy. It was an Agile system of roles that flexed based on strengths: collaboration without chaos.
Results that mattered
With this model in place, Kloia didn’t just boost revenue. It protected what mattered:
- Engineers felt heard and protected from poor-fit projects.
- Clients received better-scoped, better-delivered services.
- Salespeople aligned incentives with long-term success, not just quick wins.
By focusing commissions on profit and sharing project bonuses, the company reinforced that everyone had skin in the game, whether they were writing code or writing proposals.
Why Agile made the difference
Agile didn’t save Kloia with ceremonies or checklists. It worked because the company treated Agile as a mindset, not a manual. Every step, every cycle of trial, error, and iteration was about inspecting, adapting, and improving.
Agile taught Kloia that values aren’t static. They must evolve with the team. And in doing so, Agile offered something deeper than velocity or burndown charts—it gave Kloia a sustainable way to grow without compromising its soul.
What Agile looked like in action
Throughout Kloia’s journey, Agile wasn’t just a method; it was the mindset that guided each step. Here’s how Agile values showed up in practice:
- Embraced short feedback loops to refine sales strategies in real time.
- Used iterative experimentation to evolve roles and responsibilities naturally.
- Fostered open, honest communication across technical and sales teams.
- Aligned team structure with individual strengths instead of rigid job titles.
- Prioritized customer value over process uniformity or sales volume.
- Adapted incentive models to support sustainable, long-term success.
- Kept collaboration central to both sales conversations and delivery execution.
- Balanced autonomy with accountability through clear role definitions.
- Reinforced continuous improvement over static planning and policy.
- Applied Agile thinking beyond software into every aspect of business growth.
It’s not about “doing more”
Kloia’s journey reminds us that Agile is not about doing more. It’s about doing what matters, with the people who matter, in a way that supports growth, honesty, and purpose. It is a discipline of continuous discovery. And it applies far beyond code.
Read the original Experience Report “Developers and Sales, Sitting in a Tree” by Aras Bilgen.
