My Story
• 2003: new development manager, team of 5
• My boss:
• Expert in craft of development (did file system and kernel work in MS OS/2)
• Believed in not telling people how they should work - mentor, facilitator
• 2004: Let me try out Agile in 2004
Philip LjubicichMonday, August 20, 12
Middle Management: Anyone two levels
below the CEO and one level above line
workers and professionals
Monday, August 20, 12
Outline
• Introductions
• Some Data
• What is Middle Management’s Role Anyway
• Key Point and Actions
• Lean Management Principles
• Apply the model
Monday, August 20, 12
25% of companies surveyed have greater than 500 employees
up from 5% in 2006
*State of Agile Development Survey Version One 2011
Monday, August 20, 12
67% of initial champions in
management layer
*State of Agile Development Survey Version One 2011
Monday, August 20, 12
27% “lack of management support” as barrier to change
*State of Agile Development Survey Version One 2011
Monday, August 20, 12
26% “general resistance to change” as a barrier
to adopting
*State of Agile Development Survey Version One 2011
Monday, August 20, 12
All In
Stealth Mode
Top DownLe
vel o
f Cha
nge
Spon
sors
hip
Bottom Up
Pilot
Public Display of
Agility
Types of Agile Adoption - Mike Cohn: http://www.agilejournal.com/articles/columns/column-articles/734-
Typical Agile Adoption Change Strategy
Monday, August 20, 12
All In
Stealth Mode
Top DownLe
vel o
f Cha
nge
Spon
sors
hip
Bottom Up
Pilot
Public Display of
Agility
Types of Agile Adoption - Mike Cohn: http://www.agilejournal.com/articles/columns/column-articles/734-
what happens to middle management?
Typical Agile Adoption Change Strategy
Monday, August 20, 12
Recommendation
Remove roadblocks
Coaching and
Mentoring
Input/advice on features and
technical difficulties
Training and skills
development
Stay abreast of industry and technology developments
Performance evaluations and
career development
Recruit, hire, build teams
Decide and Assign Tasks
Track tasks and what
people are doing
Make commitments to mgmt on what team can do
Weekly status reports
Do Don’t Do
Weekly staff
meetings?
Work across teams
Monday, August 20, 12
Derby on Middle Managers
• Want to do a good job, may not know how
• Little training in management
• Peers perceive them differently now
• They are responsible for results over which they have no direct control
• They are pulled from demands from above and below
• They receive little support from above and below
• They have little training in system thinking
Monday, August 20, 12
Middle management is essential to succeed
with agile adoption in large companies
Monday, August 20, 12
What you need to do
1. Use the six sources of influence to encourage management to change your behaviors.
2. Pick a problem solving tool (A3, Current Reality Tree and use it to teach system thinking)
3. Find a mentor and mentee
Monday, August 20, 12
Benefits if you do this
• Less firefighting
• Build up your organizational immune system
• You will frustrate the teams less - more engagement, lower attrition.
• You will impress your boss - making it possible to increase your influence across the organization.
Monday, August 20, 12
"In almost all the mechanic arts the science which underlies each act of each workman is so great and amounts to so much that the workman who is best suited to actually doing the work is incapable of fully understanding this science.."
Taylor
Monday, August 20, 12
“The greatest waste … is failure to use the abilities of people…to learn about their frustrations and about the contributions that they are eager to make.”
“Out of the Crisis” 1982 – Ch.2 -Principles for Transformation-, page 53
Deming
Monday, August 20, 12
Lean Management
• Workers have a head as well as hands
• Leaders role is to mentor and coach through problem solving
• Team / Management create the standard
Monday, August 20, 12
Managers at Toyota
Facilitator Coach
Bureaucrat AutocratAut
onom
y
HighLowMastery
HighTrue North
Yes, but how?
Adapted from Jeffrey Liker: Toyota Way
Monday, August 20, 12
http://techblog.netflix.com/search/label/chaos%20monkeyMonday, August 20, 12
Through Problem Solving
• Firefighting?
• 6 month Six Sigma Analysis Projects?
Monday, August 20, 12
Lean “Tools”
• Root Cause Analysis
• Ishikawa Diagrams
• Cause and Effect Diagrams
• A3 Problem Solving Reports
• Value Stream Mapping
• Kaizen Workshops
Tools can be of value, but the point is not the lean tool, the point is to train problem solving
Monday, August 20, 12
Lean Management
Visual Control
Daily AccountabilityProcess Leader Standard Work
go see
Monday, August 20, 12
David Mann, Creating a Lean Culture, Lean Aerospace Initiative Plenary Conference 2005
Leader Standard Work
Monday, August 20, 12
David Mann, Creating a Lean Culture, Lean Aerospace Initiative Plenary Conference 2005
Monday, August 20, 12
Visual Controls
David Mann, Creating a Lean Culture, Lean Aerospace Initiative Plenary Conference 2005
Monday, August 20, 12
Coaching Kata
currrent
target
Fog
plan do check
plan do check
plan do check
mentor
mentee
Go See
Establish target
conditionMonday, August 20, 12
The Five Questions*
1. What is the target condition? (The challenge)
2. What is the actual condition now?
3. What obstacles are now preventing you from reaching the target condition? Which one are you addressing now?
4. What is your next step? (Start of next PDCA cycle)
5. When can we go and see what we have learned from taking that step?
*Rother, Mike (2009-08-11). Toyota Kata : Managing People for Improvement, Adaptiveness and Superior Results (Kindle Locations 2260-2265). McGraw-Hill. Kindle Edition.
Monday, August 20, 12
How does this fit with software teams
• Tiered Daily Standups
• 9:30 - 10:00 Teams Meet, 10-10:15 Portfolio Management Meets
• Purpose - Blockers escalated
• Benefit - Solve problem when they are easy to solve
Monday, August 20, 12
How does this fit with software teams
• Visual Controls
• Kanban Boards
• Burn up Charts
• Build Monitors
Monday, August 20, 12
How does this fit with software teams
• Leader Standard Work
• Team Lead Leader Standard Work - Note standups they go to, impediments that were raised
• Daily Accountability Process
• Impediments with Owners
• Backlog of A3 Improvement Proposals
• Go and SeeMonday, August 20, 12
http://www.eatmedaily.com/2009/09/psychological-experiments-in-self-control-the-marshmallow-test/
Marshmallow Test
Monday, August 20, 12
Step 1• Identify a vital behavior
• Think of “positive deviance”
• A scenario where you or a manager you coached exhibited positive behavior
• Usually in an environment where you typically exhibited a negative behavior
Monday, August 20, 12
Identify Vital Behavior
• Think of a behavior for management that, more than anything else, will help you succeed.
• They are usually challenging or outside your comfort zone.
Monday, August 20, 12
Six Sources of Influence
Visit your Default Future
Surpass your limits
Harness peer pressure
Find strength in numbers
Invert the Economy
Change the environment
Will Skill
Individual
Team
Structural
Monday, August 20, 12
What will make the behavior motivating?
• Visit your default future. What happens if you don’t change?
• Really visit it.
Monday, August 20, 12
Six Sources of Influence
Visit your Default Future
Surpass your limits
Harness peer pressure
Find strength in numbers
Invert the Economy
Change the environment
Will Skill
Individual
Team
Structural
Monday, August 20, 12
What do you need to learn?
• Do a skill scan.
• Brainstorm at least 3 skills with your neighbor that would help you achieve your vital behavior.
Monday, August 20, 12
Six Sources of Influence
Visit your Default Future
Surpass your limits
Harness peer pressure
Find a coach, social network
Invert the Economy
Change the environment
Will Skill
Individual
Team
Structural
Monday, August 20, 12
Who can you ask to motivate or coach you?
• Identify “enemies” or people who keep you from exhibiting the behavior you want to see
• Brainstorm ways to turn these enemies into friends.
Monday, August 20, 12
Six Sources of Influence
Visit your Default Future
Surpass your limits
Harness peer pressure
Find a coach, social network
Invert the Economy
Change the environment
Will Skill
Individual
Team
Structural
Monday, August 20, 12
Who can you turn to to improve your skills
and hold you accountable?
• Identify a peer, mentor or a coach
• Make the commitment to talk with them about supporting you
Monday, August 20, 12
Six Sources of Influence
Visit your Default Future
Surpass your limits
Harness peer pressure
Find a coach, social network
Invert the Economy
Change the environment
Will Skill
Individual
Team
Structural
Monday, August 20, 12
What incentives can you offer?
• Be careful. As Dan Pink’s work shows, incentives can reduce our desire to complete complex work
• Think of non-monetary incentives
• What about donating to a non-charity in 30 days if you don’t keep up with your behavior?
Monday, August 20, 12
Six Sources of Influence
Visit your Default Future
Surpass your limits
Harness peer pressure
Find a coach, social network
Invert the Economy
Change the environment
Will Skill
Individual
Team
Structural
Monday, August 20, 12
How can you make you environment conducive to excercising your vital
behavior? • Identify 3 things with your neighbor that
you can do to make the physical environment more conducive to lean leadership.
Monday, August 20, 12
Under the creative commons license
• Man getting squeezed: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pyhooya/2326244567/
• Chicken: http://www.flickr.com/photos/locomotion/3556879530/
• Expert: http://www.flickr.com/photos/raster/3380860520/
• Eye: http://www.flickr.com/photos/capsicina/138910801/
Monday, August 20, 12
References
• Mann, David. "Creating a Lean Culture Process Focus and Leader Standard Work." Lecture. Lean Aerospace Initiative Plenary Conference. 23 Mar. 2005. LAI MIT. Lean Advancement Initiative, 28 Mar. 2005. Web. 15 Aug. 2012. <http://lean.mit.edu/downloads/doc_download/591-creating-a-lean-culture-process-focus-and-leader-standard-work>.
• Mann, David. Creating a Lean Culture: Tools to Sustain Lean Conversions. New York: Productivity, 2005. Print.
• Patterson, Kerry. Influencer: The Power to Change Anything. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008. Print.
• Rother, Mike. Toyota Kata: Managing People for Improvement, Adaptiveness, and Superior Results. New York: McGraw Hill, 2010. Print.
Monday, August 20, 12