Our Starting Point

Curriculum Co had built its reputation in K–5 education, refining and updating existing content with tested processes and predictable outcomes. But when the company set its sights on the Middle School market with a new Algebra product, everything changed.

This was uncharted territory. The team had no existing product to reference that reflected their unique approach to instruction, no prior experience navigating the complex and contradictory sets of Algebra standards, and no framework for new product development. The ambiguity was high. So were the stakes.

Leaders worried the team would struggle to deliver on time and on budget. There were concerns about rework, costly missteps, and the need for constant executive intervention. The challenge wasn’t just launching a new product—it was proving that Curriculum Co could succeed beyond the boundaries of its core business.

Our Journey

Using Seamless Ways of Working, MileZero embedded as player-coach to help the team build collaboration infrastructure that turned ambiguity into coordinated action.

We worked together to:

• Establish Psychological Safety foundations creating explicit permission to acknowledge uncertainty and ask questions without judgment
• Co-create Team Norms and Mission (10 principles from inclusion to accountability) rooted in what made their best team experiences work, reviewed at start of every key meeting
• Replace silos with swarms focusing the entire team on single shared priorities in 2-week sprints instead of functional handoffs that created bottlenecks
• Define decision-making approach using 1-2-3-Block model (Agree/Agree with reservation/Stand aside/Block) with clear RACI for who decides what and how
• Establish communication and decision-making rhythms with structured meetings, clear success criteria, and stakeholder check-ins that eliminated need for excessive oversight

Our Impact

1. On-Time Delivery with Zero Major Issues
   Despite team inexperience with both content area and new product development, curriculum delivered on time to next team and to market—stark contrast to leadership’s fears of delays and overruns.
2. Decision-Making Speed Transformation
   1-2-3-Block approach reduced decision time from 2-6 weeks to 1 day-1 week. Team made faster, more confident decisions without getting stuck in analysis or consensus-seeking.
3. Collaboration Efficiency
   Swarms replaced functional silos, eliminating handoff delays and duplicated work. Team worked as one unit on shared priorities instead of separate functions.
4. Sustained Team Effectiveness
   Widely recognized as happiest and most effective team in company, requiring fewest interventions and having fewest problems. Team maintained performance throughout entire engagement.
5. Repeatable Framework Adopted Company-Wide
   Ways of Working toolkit and swarm approach became blueprint for all product development and improvement work across organization.

The team proved that explicitly defining how to work together doesn’t slow delivery—it accelerates it by eliminating the friction that comes from unclear expectations and mismatched working styles.

Our Starting Point

Curriculum Co had built its reputation in K–5 education, refining and updating existing content with tested processes and predictable outcomes. But when the company set its sights on the Middle School market with a new Algebra product, everything changed.

This was uncharted territory. The team had no existing product to reference that reflected their unique approach to instruction, no prior experience navigating the complex and contradictory sets of Algebra standards, and no framework for new product development. The ambiguity was high. So were the stakes.

Leaders worried the team would struggle to deliver on time and on budget. There were concerns about rework, costly missteps, and the need for constant executive intervention. The challenge wasn’t just launching a new product—it was proving that Curriculum Co could succeed beyond the boundaries of its core business.

Our Journey

Using Seamless Ways of Working, MileZero embedded as player-coach to help the team build collaboration infrastructure that turned ambiguity into coordinated action.

We worked together to:

• Establish Psychological Safety foundations creating explicit permission to acknowledge uncertainty and ask questions without judgment
• Co-create Team Norms and Mission (10 principles from inclusion to accountability) rooted in what made their best team experiences work, reviewed at start of every key meeting
• Replace silos with swarms focusing the entire team on single shared priorities in 2-week sprints instead of functional handoffs that created bottlenecks
• Define decision-making approach using 1-2-3-Block model (Agree/Agree with reservation/Stand aside/Block) with clear RACI for who decides what and how
• Establish communication and decision-making rhythms with structured meetings, clear success criteria, and stakeholder check-ins that eliminated need for excessive oversight

Our Impact

1. On-Time Delivery with Zero Major Issues
   Despite team inexperience with both content area and new product development, curriculum delivered on time to next team and to market—stark contrast to leadership’s fears of delays and overruns.
2. Decision-Making Speed Transformation
   1-2-3-Block approach reduced decision time from 2-6 weeks to 1 day-1 week. Team made faster, more confident decisions without getting stuck in analysis or consensus-seeking.
3. Collaboration Efficiency
   Swarms replaced functional silos, eliminating handoff delays and duplicated work. Team worked as one unit on shared priorities instead of separate functions.
4. Sustained Team Effectiveness
   Widely recognized as happiest and most effective team in company, requiring fewest interventions and having fewest problems. Team maintained performance throughout entire engagement.
5. Repeatable Framework Adopted Company-Wide
   Ways of Working toolkit and swarm approach became blueprint for all product development and improvement work across organization.

The team proved that explicitly defining how to work together doesn’t slow delivery—it accelerates it by eliminating the friction that comes from unclear expectations and mismatched working styles.