Booklet for IT coaches

Coaching Distributed Agile Projects

Tutorial booklet

Jaroslav Procházka

Tomáš Tureček

[email protected] [email protected]

2 ©2011 Tieto Corporation

About the authors

About Jaroslav

Jaroslav Procházka works as a Lean coach at Tieto Corporation and has been about 10 years in IT, started as Java developer. He has 5+ years coaching and mentoring experience in distributed environment: coaching development, support and maintenance teams inside and outside Tieto.

Jaroslav earned his PhD at University of Ostrava in 2007 and is also teaching Software development and Information Systems there. He speaks at international conferences like IBM RSDC Conference 2009 or Information Systems Development 2010.

About Tomáš

Tomáš Tureček has been working in IT for more than 10 years in various roles from development to management. He works as Agile and Lean coach in Tieto Corporation. He has more than 5 years experience from coaching and mentoring deliveries in distributed environment where he was implementing Agile and Lean principles.

Tomas has earned his PhD degree at VŠB Technical University of Ostrava in 2010 where he has been giving lectures from area of Software development for more than 9 years. Among others he contributes to communities around such as Java User Group or IT Academy and speaks at prestigious international conferences such as XP2010.


The way to overcome distribution – 14weeks framework

As the mean of transport to overcome distribution we use 14 weeks transformation framework. It is proven and ready-‐made packaged solution leading to significant improvements in Lead time, quality and EBIT.

Introduction• Transformation goals• Lean Awareness / Game• Key terms and tools

Focus / Kick-off• Common understanding of situation, motivation• Top issues captured (Kaizen workshop)

Continuous improvement• Improvement (A3) discussion and implementation• Internal coach education• Hands-on support

Independence• Team self-improvement• On demand consultancy

• Investment: 6 man-days extra time in 14 weeks for core team members

• Components:• Lean Awareness workshops• Kaizen workshop• Bi-weekly follow-ups• Additional tools and materials

It is last evolution step of our coaching way of working based on 5 year coaching and mentoring experience.

This framework contains among others following tools:

• Kaizen workshop …………………………………………………… page 4 • Value stream mapping ……………………………………………. page 5 • Root cause analysis ………………………………………………… page 6 • A3/A5 concept ………………………………………………………... page 8 • Efficient meetings for follow-‐ups …………………………….. page 10 • Our own coach manifesto ………………………………………... page 12 • Agile and Lean principles and practices


Kaizen Workshop guideline Critical aspect of workshop is to choose the right people, motivated to change things, having decision power, mixed roles and perspectives. Workshop itself has following four steps:

(1) Agree on common goal and map end-‐to-‐end value stream

(2) Visualize perceived issues

(3) Investigate root causes

(4) Brainstorm ideal solutions and small

“Kaizen” steps


Value stream mapping Value streams mapping (VSM) help us to visualize the flow of end to end activities delivering the value to our customer, starting with customer request, ending with customer consuming the result. Value creating activities can be necessary or unnecessary, we call those unnecessary waste.

VSM helps us to understand what waste can be eliminated. As a lead we use Lean principles and hints such as following most common IT wastes:

1. Waiting and delays 2. Gold plating (over production) 3. Rework and defects 4. Partially done work 5. Relearning 6. Handoffs 7. Task Switching

One of Lean goals is to eliminate waste. When we identify what are directly value-‐adding activities for our customers (necessary one) the remaining activities are considered as waste. Behind this elimination is question “Can we do things in a smarter way?”.

To get more value-‐adding activities we can simplify the chain, find new solutions or combine activities to e.g. reduce hand-‐over situations. Improvement initiative is driven by idea “How can we increase the customer value of what we already deliver?”

Jeffrey K. Liker (The Toyota way author): “Most business processes are 90 percent waste and 10 percent value-‐added work.”


Root cause analysis (5 why's, CRT) When we observe issues in the flow, e.g. waste, we tend to jump into solution. But these issues are very often only symptoms with deeper root cause. To identify underlying root cause we use simple tool called 5whys. If we just stick to symptoms and not solve the root cause, it can become unsolvable with much bigger impact. We ask WHY? – in several steps. The steps below show an example from real life. The root cause can, in many cases, be difficult to map and can sometimes be seen as being completely unrelated to the original problem. In the specific case more or less than five questions may be asked. Issue: Men discovered his car in garage has got flat tire ⤷ Why? Because there are scattered nails over the floor

⤷ Why? Because the carton box with the nails in the rack is wet and loses its nails ⤷ Why? Because the roof is broken and water is leaking to the garage onto the box

The problem often needs to be resolved on several levels at the same time. In the example above, nails need to be swept and cartoon box changed in short-‐term perspective. In the long-‐term, roof needs to be fixed. Another possible approach to map root causes is tool from EliYahu M. Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints called Current Reality Tree. Check CRT example at the following page. Now we know what the real issue is and we can start to solve it using PDCA cycle (using A3 form).



A3/A5 A5 is a form of improvement proposal. It documents the problem along with a solution proposal. It contains information about the name of the person who came up with the proposal, date and issue area to make the subsequent work easier.

The A5 will be then hung up on the team Lean dashboard. From there everyone in the team can vote on the proposal.

Approved and prioritized A5 can be already implemented if the actions are simple enough. If the problem is more complicated or costy the A5 is developed to so called A3. A3 is more elaborated A5 following Plan-‐Do-‐Check-‐Act approach. It has planning part describing perceived and measured issues together with expected goals to achieve. To solve the right problem, it contains also root cause analysis (e.g. 5 whys or CRT). Check A3 example at following page.



Efficient meetings In a meeting, two or more people come together for the purpose of discussing a (usually) predetermined topic such as business or community event planning, often in a formal setting.

Important vehicle for personal contact but often waste unless properly planned and executed. Coaching is in fact all about meeting people.

Efficient meeting structure: • Book a place and time of people • Send agenda upfront

o With the meeting goal and what is the expected output o With action points o With information what should participants prepare for the meeting

• Open the meeting o Meeting goals overview o Participants' expectations

• Walk through existing action points • Discussion • Next steps & follow-‐ups

o Define new action points and add not finished old ones o Plan follow-‐up meeting

• Give feedback against goals and expectations – were they met? • Give feedback to meeting efficiency using cards and discussion

• Send meeting minutes to the meeting participants and other relevant stakeholders

Hints: • Ensure 2 persons: meeting leader and meeting secretary who beams, shares

materials and takes meeting minutes • Make meeting time-‐boxed • Cut-‐off unnecessary discussions not contributing to the topic • Use (anonymous) voting for deciding about options • Visualize everything important onto whiteboard or sharing tool • If meeting does not go well suspend it and perform quick retrospective

with participants to improve meeting for the rest of the time

Before the meeting

Meeting time

After the meeting


Theory of constraints – resistance to change

In order to change something in a way we do things we need to understand why and also understand the benefits. Let’s assume we have team and one person sees the problem then this problem most likely touches whole team. The problem is joint problem even if the rest of the team do not see it. You know what people say: “If you do not see the problem then you are part of it” :-‐) It often happens that problem identifier does not know how to present problem so it is understandable for others. Here can help Eliyahu M. Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints and its Layers of resistance to change. It explains why we humans resist to changes:

1. We don’t agree about the extent or nature of the problem. 2. We don’t agree about the direction or completeness of the solution. 3. We can see additional negative outcomes. 4. We can see real obstacles. 5. We doubt the collaboration of others.

So to successfully overcome objections and fear of change consider following steps:

1. Visualize the problem in context e.g. as described above using Value stream mapping and analyze problem root cause so that everyone sees and understands the problem and its nature.

2. Brainstorm together solution attacking root cause, not symptom, so everyone understands why exactly these actions shall solve the problem. This way all the people will take the same direction and accept the solution.

3. Identify and visualize potential negative outcomes of the solution as risks and handle them as “known unknown” problems. Either you accept them or you plan actions to mitigate them.

4. Ensure executive support for the change from the leaders so that if any obstacle comes it will be taken care of.

5. Ensure the owner of the action and executive group of people who will support the change implementation. Then it most likely not happen that solver ends up alone with its solution. Others will help :-‐)

Kaizen workshop, as you can see above in description, already counts with these resistance layers.


Coach manifest

Types of coaching There are many different types of coaching like Life coaching, Sport coaching, Business coaching, Financial coaching and many more. Remember that each coaching type needs slightly different approach. But one thing is common for all of those – you coach people. Thus if you want to be a good coach you must continuously improve your soft skills.

We mostly focus onto IT Business coaching where we coach individuals or organizations (let’s call them coachee) to improve effectiveness of their business. In order to succeed we do a lot of stuff. Let us conclude it into following coaching hints.

Expertise Pure coaching does not depend on how much a coach understands the subject. It is more about keeping coachee focused on his goals. But if we talk about Business coaching then people expect from you, as an expert, to know what to do at some moments of chaos and confusion. If you plan to mentor and teach others you must know the subject very well.

Professionalism Coach is discrete, always willing to help, listening and understanding person that never has the right to be angry or even think bad things about anyone. Try first on yourself what you recommend to others – practise what you preach – and you might gain the trust and respect of people you coach.

Leadership People follow leaders. To inspire and encourage people you as a coach need to mobilize your leadership skills. Especially in Business coaching you might be the first one who see the light at the end of the tunnel during some complex transformation. In these times it is necessary to play a leader role to calm down situation and encourage coachees.


Executive support If the organization feels the need for change it must be supported by its leaders. Without this support all activities are doomed. First – people unconsciously copy leader’s behaviour and second – someone has to finance the change. Leaders must fully understand the need for change and stand behind it.

Pull concept One wise man once said “Remember that not wanted good is pure evil”. Coaching does not have sense if there is no one to listen. Pareto principle 80:20 works also here; coachee must be willing to spend much more time on learning than you do on coaching. Push does not lead to sustainable change and new behaviour adoption.

Visualization Visualization is one of the most powerful coach tools. To show the problem, to agree on solution, to whatever -‐ it boosts communication if you use visual tools like whiteboard, dashboard or other information radiators.

Measurement towards goals Coaching is about helping coachee to achieve his/her goals. It is really important for coach and coachee to evaluate not only goal achievement but also a progress. Progress visualization enables both to keep focus on targets and continuously evaluate and replan planned steps.

Humbleness Coach does not need to show others how great he/she is. Remember that coaching is not about you coach but it is about coached people. If they succeed with anything it is mostly their credit – not coach’s one :-‐)


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