A3 & Kaizen: Here's How

@agilesensei After reading this, introduce yourself to a person seated next to you. Tell this person why you are here and what you want to learn. written, illustrated and performed by Claudio Perrone

There is a warGoing on…

Most large organizations I know are stuckinto firefighting and command & control Is Yours?

The traditional organization model seemsinadequate to cope with today’scorporate challenges Organization chart Blame flow Rule makers Controllers Enforcers Losers …

But if organizations are more likeorganisms (i.e. complex adaptive systems)...

... How can we encourage and supporteveryone to be responsible for change?

I looked for clues when I attempted to...

1Leverage and celebrate everyone’simprovement ideas

Who are theheroes in afirefighting company?

It all started when I launched a kaizensystem as part of a major Lean & Agiletransition Kaizen memo: Kaizen Memos Before improvement: Action taken: We didn’t trace the small, Created “Kaizen memos” to continuous improvements post on an “implemented to our work ideas” board Effect: Team members trace and celebrate every implemented idea, even the smallest! Submitted by: Claudio Perrone Date:

One of the teams was going through adelicate storming phase

Things improved sharply as we began tocelebrate the completion of each story

... leading me to my first kaizen idea! Kaizen memo: Ready for Celebration Before improvement: Action taken: Created an explicit Story completion was “Ready for Celebration” step taken for granted in our workflow Effect: Team proudly celebrates completion of stories at standup meetings Submitted by: Claudio Perrone Date:

Backlog Selected Development Testing Ready for 4 4 2 celebration Done Done

In the early days, loud-voiced celebrationwas not for everyone, however...

... So, we introduced a celebration volume Kaizen memo: Celebration Volume Before improvement: Action taken: Some team members were Created a “celebration “too modest” to celebrate volume” icon to be crossed with a resounding applause on the Kaizen memo Effect: Members can choose to celebrate quietly (e.g. shake of hands, pat on the back, gimme 5, ..) Submitted by: Claudio Perrone Date:

People began implementing simple ideas suchas improving their working environment...Before… … AFTEr

... Experimented with different forms ofvisualization (e.g. prisoner metrics, djcheck sheets), scripts, and so on

What would yourfirst kaizen idea look like?

Write it down! Kaizen memo: Before improvement: Action taken: We had We did this this problem Effect: It became a little better Submitted by: You Today Date:

Unfortunately, Management’s initialreaction wasn’t exactly what I expected...

“Seeds of a revolution?Yeah right.” Who can yawn the loudest?

But as the transition progressed,massive impediments raised dramaticallyto the surface

Like never before, we badly needed to develop our ability to...

2Systematically solve problems

What do Youknow aboutA3 thinking?

Copies of my preliminary A3 were lyingon the table…

It was a hell of a good way to kick starta transition

I followed that same approach to tackleproblems at team level

a "problem" is the difference betweenthe "current situation" and the"standard/expectation" Gap = Problem Standard Current Situation

So the first step I took with a team wasto clarify & breakdown the problem… Theme: Countermeasure(s):Problem Situation: Implementation:Target(s):Cause Analysis: Follow-up:

Theme: Background Team is looking at improving its internal feedback loop to reduce cost of delay, particularly when rework is involved. Why are we talking about it? Current Situation Lead-time of reworked stories: 14.6 days Processing time: 2.8 days Where do things Current State Map stand today?

What should be happening? Problem Statement Expectation – Current SituationExpectation: Lead-time of reworked stories: 10dDiscrepancy: Team takes 4.6d longer to deliver a reworked storyExtent: The problem affects about 15% of all stories When? How often?Rationale: If no action is taken, customers will continue Where?to suffer delays How Long? What is Importance? effected? Urgency? Tendency?

WE THEN SET A TARGET TO STIMULATEIMPROVEMENT Theme: Countermeasure(s):Problem Situation: Implementation:Target(s):Cause Analysis: Follow-up:

Extent: The problem affects about 15% of all storiesRationale: If no action is taken, customers will continueto suffer delays Target what? Reduce lead-time of reworked items from 14.6d to 10d by July 31st 2011 how much? by when?

Theme:Then, we wrote the theme Reduce lead-time of reworked items from 14.6d to 10d Background Team is looking at improving its internal feedback loop to reduce cost of delay, particularly when rework is involved. what? how much? Current Situation Lead-time of reworked stories: 14.6 days Processing time: 2.8 days

What prevents us fromreaching our targetCondition? Facts, not Cause Analysis: Analysis opinions Push system Actionable root causes! Tasks FunctionalLead accumulate in test Why? large batches Why? No dedicatedtime performed> 10d on Deploy once a week tester stage Why? Nightly build official (test) setup/configurationVerify “why” logic with builds are Why? takes 0.5d“therefore” in reverse installed weekly

Only then we identified a set ofpotential countermeasures… Theme: Countermeasure(s):Problem Situation: Implementation:Target(s):Cause Analysis: Follow-up:

June 10, 2011 C.Perrone Countermeasures Cause Countermeasure Description Benefit Effecti Feasi- Impact veness bility Limit how many stories -improve flow A Limit WIP/Pull team can start in -encourage small + ++ 0 parallel stories eliminate dependency Hire dedicated internal on external people and B Hire tester tester spend more time on - ++ -- testing Devs that don’t work on Reduces testing Do system Test B internally feature can test bottlenecks, improves + + - someone else’s work knowledge sharing Create service level -more predictable flow SLAs with agreements between -clear expectations B external testers team and external -no “begging” ++ + - testes -closer collaboration Test the latest version Don’t need to wait for of a subset of daily/weekly builds, C Skip setup component files reduce feedback delay ++ + - skipping the full between dev/test product setup

With the proposed countermeasures thefuture would look like this Future State Map

In the implementation section, wecreated & shared an action plan Theme: Countermeasure(s):Problem Situation: Implementation:Target(s):Cause Analysis: Follow-up:

Action Plan What Who Where How Proj. Compl Actual complet etion ionVsm Stef./ Team Post-its 10/6 10/6 Claudio RoomTrace Paola Whiteboard Mark at 15/7 N/Aprisoner eachmetrics standupAdopt Team Team Agree 10/7 10/7skip-setup room policyprocedureLimit WIP Team Whiteboard Agree 27/6 27/6 policyHire tester Stef. Meeting Begging Never 29/6 room Mgmt :DAgree Team Meeting Retrospec 10/7 10/7internal Room tivetesting policySLAs with Claudio/ Meeting Agree 10/7 15/7external Elena/ Room policytesters Stef.

Finally the follow-up section… Theme: Countermeasure(s):Problem Situation: Implementation:Target(s):Cause Analysis: Follow-up:

Indicators Item Initial 15/7 31/7 Lead- 7.8d 5d 5d time non- reworked items Lead- 14.6d 6d 5d time reworked items WIP 15 5 6 Follow-up IF THENCountermeasure plan failed Begin A3 process to identify root cause of failed planTarget achieved but problem could Identify other root causes and find newrecur countermeasuresTarget achieved and problem won’t Share findings, standardize countermeasures, beginrecur A3 process to reduce percentage of reworked items

We posted the A3 on the wall, rightbeside the kanban board

the team became 3 times faster, withless rework

The new state became the new "baselinefor improvement”

We shared our findings with ourcommunities of practice to let theacquired knowledge spread “laterally”

What problems would you tackle?

More importantly, management saw whatit means to "remove impediments”

… making me realize thatI had chance to...

3 Turn the leadership triangleupside-down

At this point of the transition we were falling into chaos Satir Change ModelPerformance Late Status Quo New Status Quo Foreign Element (transition begins) Integration Time Resistance Chaos Transforming Idea

The leadership triangle was actually broken

To turn the leadership triangle upsidedown, we didn’t need enforcers, “easygoing” or absent managers… we needed problem solvers!

So I began to tackle problems by pairingup with one promising manager

… Then I began practicing quick coachingcyclesWhat do you mean by it? (Clarity)Is it always the case? (Assumptions)How do you know? (Evidence)What are you implyingby that? (Implications)Would that necessarilyhappen? (consequences)Do anyone see itanother way? (AlternativePoint of views)

Today more managers ,are beginning their a3 thinking journey

Final Thoughts

“If you want 1 year of prosperity,grow seeds.If you want 10 years of prosperity,grow trees.If you want 100 years of prosperity,grow people. -- Chinese proverb

Thank you Claudio Perrone claudio@agilesensei.com www.agilesensei.com www.twi;er.com/agilesensei

Evaluate your own learning!Write down… What did you learn? How will you apply it? How will it benefit your company? Suggestions or questions you still have? claudio@agilesensei.com www.agilesensei.com www.twi;er.com/agilesensei

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A3 & Kaizen: Here's How

by Claudio Perrone on Sep 11, 2011

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A3 & Kaizen: Here’s How — Presentation Transcript