Empowering Teams to create value at pace: Asda (George.com)
Enable your brand to deliver increased value, at pace.
A world of possibilities, enhanced by embracing a Servant Leadership and Talent Empowered environment.
During Simon’s 8 year journey at Asda, he took on the role of the first Product Owner in the organisation, as the George clothing and general merchandise brand pivoted from the previous Waterfall operating model, and over to a new Agile focused mindset and delivery framework.
This pivot, in partnership with a platform and solution provider in Bulgaria, was the opportunity to think and operate in a completely different way to anything that had gone before, and ultimately led to Simon utilising and building upon this experience over his career since, where empowerment of talent and teams has remained at the core of his thinking, whilst coupled with frameworks to delivery value and creativity, at pace.
There are a multitude of case studies Simon could share about the benefits to people and the wider organisation, however, this case study is focused upon the improvement in mobile application conversation, and how a change in approach enabled significant benefits.
The organisation was seeking to lift mobile conversation from 1.5% to 2.5% over 12 months, and ultimately drive a significant uplift to the P&L.
A number of ideas had been worked on in silos, resulting in those ‘requirements’ being presented to the technology teams to deliver. Simon advocated to stakeholders that there could be a better way, where teams from business and technology came together to ideate, map user journey’s, and ultimately select what they thought were the best target deliverables.
This was a wholesale shift in mindset and approach, and Simon recalls that after a few weeks, 10 solutions were presented, covering such as improvements to site speed, feature additions/enhancements, technical debt removal, and UX re-design…..plus more!
Simon was asked which they should do first, to which the reply was “which do you think we should do first?”, and in doing so, Simon empowered the teams to think with a Product mindset and with the consumer at the centre of their decision making. Furthermore, he ensured psychological safety in decision making, by advocating that no decision would lead to a scapegoat exercise if it din’t produce the hoped for results.
So, cutting this long story to a conclusion, in 6 months, the teams demonstrated their talent, took on the decision making aspect, and delivered conversion in excess of 5%. They achieved 200% more growth than was planned, and in half the time.
This Servant Leadership, Product Led, Data Driven, and Customer Centric approach demonstrates how step changes in value can be delivered at pace, by empowering and enabling talent.
Testimonial: (Gergana Atanasova | LinkedIn
I had the pleasure of partnering with Simon Tuddenham in our agile adoption journey at eCommera/Merkle and ASDA George. Together, we led a transformative agile delivery approach from both sides, establishing a "one team" mindset focused on transparency, collaboration, and continuous improvement. This would not have been possible without Simon’s dedication and commitment as our greatest advocate and champion within ASDA and Walmart, particularly in promoting agile ways of working.
Simon initially served as our first Product Owner, while I was the Scrum Master for our engineering team. We both progressed into leadership roles, ultimately driving the Agile Delivery Programme for the George.com eCommerce platform in the years that followed.
Simon is a thoughtful and approachable leader who is highly organized and an excellent strategist. He manages stakeholders effectively, ensuring alignment and a shared focus on goals. I am particularly impressed by his ability to balance value, priorities, and technical challenges while crafting roadmaps that align with both business objectives and team capacity. This skill made Simon and his team very successful—not only consistently delighting the ASDA George business but also building a strong bond with our delivery teams in Sofia. His thoughtful approach and commitment to letting everyone "play their role and shine" had a notable impact on team satisfaction, motivation, and productivity on both sides.
Working with Simon was both rewarding and inspiring. I am forever grateful for the lessons learned during this journey in building and maintaining trust, inspiring teams, managing stakeholders effectively, and achieving shared success. I highly recommend Simon to any organization seeking a visionary Product Leader who combines strategic acumen with a people-first approach. Simon is a rare blend of a strong leader and a kind mentor, dedicated to driving meaningful impact in both business outcomes and team well-being and growth.