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© Reaktor 2013 Three perspectives to Agile Leadership Sami Lilja Agile Coach and Certified Scrum Trainer Reaktor Helsinki, Finland Wednesday, July 24, 13
© Reaktor 2013
Three perspectives to Agile LeadershipSami Lilja
Agile Coach and Certified Scrum TrainerReaktor
Helsinki, FinlandWednesday, July 24, 13
© Reaktor 2013
About me• Sami Lilja, coach and trainer
• Reaktor since March 2011
• Certified Scrum Trainer since July 2013
• Before Reaktor, 15+ years experience at Nokia Networks and Nokia Siemens Networks
• SW engineer 1994-1998• 10+ years management experience: Project manager, Department
manager 1997-2008
• Assignment in China (Hangzhou) 2005-2007
• Agile coach 2008-2010
• Contact and connect [email protected] LinkedIn: samililja
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© Reaktor 2013
Purpose
People
Three perspectives to Leadership
System
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© Reaktor 2013
SystemSystems Thinking
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”© Reaktor 2013
A system is not the sum of its parts but the product of their interactions
- Russell Ackoff
What is System• Collection of parts that
are interdependent.• The parts interact in a
such a way that it affects the capabilities and qualities of the entire system
• System has a purpose
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© Reaktor 2013
How can we see the system?
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© Reaktor 2013
System conditions are direct or indirect results of the design
and management of work.
System conditions
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© Reaktor 2013
Some system conditionsProcesses Training
Existing source code
Stage gates
Tools
Organizational structures
Policies
Governance
BonusesExisting source code
IT systems
Physical working environment
Quality of requirements
Project model
Relationship with customers
Culture of high utilization rate Technologies
Approval chainsMissing feedback
Metrics
Roles and responsibilities
Meetings
Outsourcing and off-shoring
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© Reaktor 2013
System conditions
System conditions drive the performance of organization
Improving the work requires at least some system conditions are
changed
System conditions tell us about management thinking
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© Reaktor 2013
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© Reaktor 2013
Little’s Law and work-in-progress
Time through system =Work-in-progress
Throughput
Little’s Law
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© Reaktor 2013
Why limit Work-in-Progress?• Limiting Work-in-Progress creates Pull
• Without WIP limits, we do not know when to take (pull) new work
• Pull system..• Creates visibility to system and reveals
bottlenecks• Removes queues from the system• Creates slack for innovation and improvement
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© Reaktor 2013
Organizations are systems• Improvement should focus on the System
as a whole, not parts taken separately• Interactions are more important than components
• In order to improve the System, at least some System Conditions need to change
• Systems have Purpose• Improvement is aimed towards the Purpose, from
customer perspective
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© Reaktor 2013
Purpose
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© Reaktor 2013
Purpose
Purpose
Measure
Methods
Purpose is the reason for an organization to exist
It defines from customer perspective what (and
how) is Value
Purpose is derived from customer Demand
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© Copyright Reaktor 2011 Confidential
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© Copyright Reaktor 2011 Confidential
1. Eliminate causes of
failure demand
2. Shape Demand
1
Most significant improvement is on this side!
Create FLOW
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© Reaktor 2013
Value demand and failure demand
Value demand
Adds value to our product or service from customer point of view.
Something customers are willing to pay for.
Failure demand
Failure to do what customer needs.
Bad quality, delay, wrong product or service. No product or service.
Missing either what or how customer wants the service or product.
Can account up to 80% of work
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© Reaktor 2013
Measurements• Measure against the Purpose of the
organization• From customer perspective
• Look at variation and trend over time• Allows learning
• Measure to understand and improve• Instead of arbitrary target, bonus or competition
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© Reaktor 2013
Measurements• Measure against the Purpose of the
organization• From customer perspective
• Look at variation and trend over time• Allows learning
• Measure to understand and improve• Instead of arbitrary target, bonus or competition
Are we achieving the Purpose of the system?
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© Reaktor 2013
Purpose: Summary• Organizations have purpose
• “What” and “How” it creates value for customer• A good Purpose creates alignment, motivation
and allows sensible measurement
• Study demand to understand Purpose • Organize work to produce Value Demand• Study causes of Failure Demand and remove
those
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© Reaktor 2013
People
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”© Reaktor 2013
John Seddon
People issues are not the point of intervention.
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© Reaktor 2013
So, what is the point of intervention?
We need to change System Conditions to that the System
can better respond to Value Demand
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© Reaktor 2013
Process Improvement?
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© Reaktor 2013
Process Improvement?
Do we need this process at all?
What kind of thinking has created this process?
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© Reaktor 2013
System
Thinking
Performance
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© Reaktor 2013
Change strategies• Power-Coercive
• Obliges compliance and punishes failure• Standards, best practices, process roll-outs
• Empirical-Rational• “I explain and you follow”• Works if thinking has already changed• Can lead to argument or conflict
• Normative-Reeducative• Change thinking through action and observation• Get knowledge before planning actions
Chin and Benne: General strategies for affecting change in human systems (1969)
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© Reaktor 2013
Change strategies• Power-Coercive
• Obliges compliance and punishes failure• Standards, best practices, process roll-outs
• Empirical-Rational• “I explain and you follow”• Works if thinking has already changed• Can lead to argument or conflict
• Normative-Reeducative• Change thinking through action and observation• Get knowledge before planning actions
Chin and Benne: General strategies for affecting change in human systems (1969)
Agile
Transformation
Training,
workshops
Study and
understand
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© Reaktor 2013
Experiments
Team
Product Owner
Sprint Planning Sprint Review
and Retro
Potentially Shippable Product
Increment
Product Backlog
Every
Sprint
is an
experi
ment!
Learning and adapting requires moving from fail-safe design to safe-to-fail experiments
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© Reaktor 2013
Roll-in vs. Roll-out• Roll-out: developing an improved process, standardizing it
and applying it to other areas. • Problems
• The solution is not optimized for each specific context• The other units have not been through the same learning --> lack
sense of ownership, loss of control and resist change.
• Roll-in: A method to scale up a change to the whole organization that was successful in one unit.
• Change is not imposed. Instead, each area needs to learn how to do the analysis for themselves and devise own solutions.
• Engages the people and creates better, more sustainable solutions.
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© Reaktor 2013
Agile Leadership is about studying and improving the System, creating Purpose
and learning through experiments
Wednesday, July 24, 13
© Reaktor 2013
Agile Leadership is about studying and improving the System, creating Purpose
and learning through experiments
Purpose
PeopleSystem
•Study and understand how the work works
•Change unwanted System conditions•Limit WIP and create Flow
•Study demand and what matters to customer
•Remove sources of Failure Demand•Organize work against Value Demand•Create Pull system to achieve Flow
•Alignment and motivation come from clear Purpose
•Do experiments to learn•Roll-in good ways of working, avoid “roll-out” harmonization
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© Reaktor 2013
Thank you!
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