six free ideas to

improve

agile success

Co-Founder, Accelinnova President, Evolutionary Systems

Director, Institute of Collaborative Leadership

Pollyanna PIXTON

Overview

1. Trust

2. Give Ownership

3. Teams Make

Decisions

4. Fix Processes

5. Passion Fit

6. Integrity Matters

trust

Unleashing Innovation

Collaboration Process

why is

Trust important?

the data …

2004-2008: high trust companies out perform low trust companies by 43%

- Great Place to Work

add 2009:

high trust companies

out perform low trust

companies by 126%

trust companies double performance over S&P for 10 years

- Great Place to Work

- Watson Wyatt study

high trust companies

out perform low trust

companies by 300%

Transaction

Costs

transaction costs

self

protection

repair

broken

trust?

other price tags?

Project Management

Change Management

how can leaders

help teams build Trust?

Project Management

Dependency Management

remove

debilitating Fear

in collaboration, people

fear …

- Warren Bennis

Beyond Bureaucracy

losing

identity

losing

intellectual

mastery

losing

individualism

what do people fear ?

Unleashing Innovation

Collaboration Process

group and

prioritize

Leadership Role

What can leaders do?

fostering

trust

advance each other’s

intentions

and interests

don’t impede them

be proactive in

moving work

forward

create transparency

Project Management

Focus, Communication, and Expectation

Management

honest and open

communication

Build the right product

share

experiences

team to team trust…

“a mega team”

validate others

accept risks collectively

leadership role ?

Leading Agile

Collaboration Model

Collaboration Process

team based

measurements

people do

what they are

measured

by

measure results

let

teams

evaluate

themselves

build

confidence

Collaboration Model

short iterations …

early wins

celebrate success !

Project Management

Risk Management

trust First !

Leadership Role

Suspicion is a permanent condition.

- Marcus Buckingham

Leadership Role

other leadership roles?

trust summary

remove fear

validate others

accept risks together

team-based measurements

authenticity

ownership

use

authentic motivation

- Alfie Kohn Punished By Rewards

Unleashing Innovation

Collaboration Process

foster

collaboration

teams

collaborate

to

make their

decisions

let people

choose

let people

choose how,

what,

and when

content

provide

meaningful

work

don’t take

back

their

ownership

don’t give the

answers

or……

give them

the

solutions

ask

questions

questions

that

help teams

discover

solutions

How can we avoid the temptation to rescue

our teams?

Ask Questions.

What would you like me to do?

How would you like to solve that problem?

What would you like to do?

how

would you like

to

solve it?

what would you

like me to do?

exercise: leader and worker conversation

Stay Positive

what questions worked?

Trust/Ownership Model

Command &

Control

Team Does as Instructed

No Ownership

Leader / Process

is Bottleneck

Conflict

Team Demotivated

Mired in Bureaucracy

& Wasted Effort

Energy &

Innovation

Team Trusted

Team Accountable

Leader Freed

Failure

No One Cares

High Team/Individual Ownership

Control

Trust

Low

Lead

ers

hip

& B

usin

es

s P

rocess

Stay Positive

How can you help

teams/people take

ownership?

macro-

leadership

tool

Macro Leadership Cube

Stand Back Stand Back

Step Up Step Up

Example… Example

Your cube? Your cube?

ownership summary

ask questions

macro leadership cube

don’t take back ownership

team decisions

why decisions by teams?

Trustworthiness

positional

power =

decisions with less information

How?

Legacy System Name:

Phone:

Address:

Replacement System Name:

Address:

Phone:

what’s the value of

this required change?

Ideally, we decide

based on

value,

but, what’s that?

Purpose

Considerations

Costs and Benefits

Business Value Model

Purpose

Business Value Model

Market

Differentiating

High

Low

Mission Critical Low High

Differentiate

Parity

Partner?

Who

cares?

Purpose Based Alignment Model

Market

Differentiating

High

Low

Mission Critical Low High

Innovate,

Create

Do we take

this on?

Minimize

or

Eliminate

Achieve and

Maintain

Parity, Mimic,

Simplify

Purpose Based Alignment Model

How about an example?

enterprise business

intelligence

product

competitor’s killer UI competitor’s killer UI

Project Plan:

big team,

millions of dollars,

and many months

to “out-do” competitors’ UI

Market

Differentiating

High

Low

Mission Critical Low High

Analytics

Engine + UI?

Or Here?

Or Even

Here?

UI Here?

Where Does My UI Belong?

UI As Parity

new design

goals:

“go to school” on

competitor’s UI

don’t be so bad

Results:

Market-aligned project, cut time by 50%

and costs by 40%

Used resources to create next

evolution of analytics engine

Results:

Questions to ask:

1. Who do we serve?

2. What do they want and need most?

3. What do we provide to help them?

4. What is the best way to provide this?

the “billboard” test…

Order new

pages by

2pm and get

them tomorrow!

“To be the low cost airline.”

- Southwest Airlines

“Will this help us be

the low cost airline?”

- Southwest Airlines

decision filters:

make daily

decisions

schedule projects

what

to develop

Start Up

Exercise: Pick a project.

Exercise

Pick

an objective,

a brand, or

a project.

Market

Differentiating

High

Low

Mission Critical Low High

Differentiate

Parity

Partner?

Who

cares?

What is the purpose?

What’s On Your Billboard?

your

decision

filter?

other

considerations

?

Purpose

Considerations

Business Value Model

Collaboration Model

flexibility

Collaboration Model

dependencies

time

to

market

complexity

team size

mission criticality

team location team capacity

domain

knowledge gaps

dependencies

technical complexity

uncertainty

market uncertainty

technical

uncertainty project duration

dependents

Purpose

Considerations

Costs and Benefits

Business Value Model

it’s

a

conversation

resolve differences

group chunks

high – medium - low

“build”

a

chunk…

at the end

of the

“chunk”

now you can

ask…

Do we have enough business value to go to market?

Should we continue?

it’s

a

conversation

team decisions summary

Decide based on business value:

Collaborate!

process

fix

processes

not

people

What processes

aren’t working?

Leadership Role

How can we fix them?

Ask the team!

Project Management

Dependency Management

collaboration

process

what can we do

to fix the process?

brainstorm

group

in

silence

prioritize

based on

business

value

Purpose

Considerations

Costs and Benefits

Business Value Model

individuals

volunteer for what

and by when

value stream mapping

Where do we waste time?

Cycle Time:

Average end-to-end process time

From problem detection

To problem solution

Begins and ends with customer.

Problem Solution

Cycle Time

Customer Request Customer Satisfied

Example: Customer Requests Fix

Where can we remove the waste?

Customer

requests fix

Support

triages

request

Dev team

triages

request

Dev fixes,

releases in

fix pack

Customer

deploys

fix pack

Work: 5 min 2 hrs 1 hr 2 wks 1 hr

Efficiency = Value added time

Total cycle time

10.5 days

38.5 days = = 27%

Wait: 5 min 3 days 1 wk 2 wks

Value Added Time = 10.5 days

Cycle time = Work + Wait = 38.5 days

Select Delivery Content

(no travel allowed!)

Need for

Scope Def.

2 Hours

Call & Email

With Cust

1 Hour

Call & Email

With Cust

1 Hour

7 Days 2 Days Agreement

Achieved

1 Day

X 6

Customer Request to Agreement

Working Time = 16 hours

Elapsed Time = 32 days

Wasted Time = 30 days

Efficiency = 6%

Note: Comparison assumes

• 1 day travel to customer site

• 1 day face to face work

• 1 day travel home is excluded since

customer is satisfied

Face to Face Meeting

Working Time = 8 hours

Elapsed Time = 2 days

Waiting Time = 1 days

Efficiency = 50%

As-Is Example

As a new customer, I want to enter my Information only once

in the Small Business Portal

SOW

Tech Central

(1 Day)

System Test

(5 Days)

GOL

(1 Day)

Digital

Cement

(2 Days)

Tech Central

(5 Days)

1 Day

2 Wks 2 Days

2 Wks 2-4 Wks

Process Efficiency = Work / Time = 14 / 56 = 25%

To-Be Example

Requirements

Planning

(2 Days)

System Test

(5 Days)

GOL

(1 Day)

Digital

Cement

(1 Day)

Tech Central

(5 Days)

1 Day

Work = 14 days

Time = 8 days

Efficiency = 175%

133 133

Create a Value Stream Map

Select a Process that is relevant to you

Create a Value Stream Map

Calculate Process Cycle Efficiency

Process Efficiency =

How can you change the process to reduce

the waste? (the To Be state)

Value Added Time

Total Cycle Time

Value Stream Maps

Customer value not changed

Reduces the delivery time to customer

process summary

Fix processes not people

Use sticky notes for

improving processes

Map value streams

passion fit

Passion

Best

Organizational

Fit values

what are you passionate about?

what do you do best ?

how do you define

success?

Passion

Best

Organizational

Fit values

Do your circles intersect?

what’s holding you back?

Passion

Best

Organizational

Fit values

What about your team?

passion fit summary

Intersection of:

Your passion?

What you do best?

Organizational fit?

integrity matters

Trust

how do you

define

integrity?

Enron The Smartest Guys in the

Room (book and documentary)

The

Insider

Movie and book

other examples

of integrity?

Attract and retain:

first on the basis of integrity

second, motivation

third, capacity

fourth, understanding

fifth, knowledge

last and least, experience.

- Dee Hock, CEO Emeritus VISA International

…knowledge

without integrity

is dangerous

and dreadful.

- Samuel Johnson,

British author

how do you know if

someone has integrity?

summary

trust remove fear

validate others

accept risks together

team-based measurements

authenticity

ownership

ask questions

macro leadership cube

don’t take back ownership

team decisions Decide based on business value:

Collaborate!

process Fix processes not people

Use sticky notes for

improving processes

Map value streams

passion fit

Intersection of:

Your passion?

What you do best?

Organizational fit?

integrity

Hire and Retain:

Integrity first

Motivation

Capacity

Understanding

Knowledge

Experience last