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Solving Problems: An Agile Approach
My influences …
                                  Growing and selling a successful software
                                   company in my 20’s;
                                  Spending several days with Christopher
    Toria                          Alexander (Pattern Language “founding
                                   father”)
                                  Working with Matt, Hong, Walt and Daryl
                                   figuring out “organizational agility”
                                  Turning around a failing Colorado health care
                                   broadband network without knowing much
                                   about healthcare or networks.
                                  Holacracy

… led me to this burning question:

If you take 5 people and an idea and another 5 people and a different idea
what makes one group successful and the other not?
                   It’s not the people and not the idea.
                                What is it?
Time boxed
                              Iterations                            Backlog of User
    Daily Stand-ups
                                                                        Stories
                                              Planning
                                               Poker


                      It’s the Practices
Cross-functional
  work teams                                             KANBAN board
                          On Site                         for detailing
                         Customer                             work



                                           Business Driven
                                            Development
Retrospectives             Burn Down                                 Value Stream
                             Charts                                    Mapping
So long as they are grounded in Agile principles

                      Backlog of User                Cross-functional
  Daily Stand-ups         Stories                      work teams


                    Time boxed            Planning
                     Iterations            Poker                On Site
  Retrospectives
                                                               Customer




                       Value Stream         Burn Down
                         Mapping              Charts
  Business Driven                                             KANBAN board
   Development                                                 for detailing
                                                                   work
Dynamic      Distributed
  Steering      Decisions




Value Driven     Big and
                 Visible
It takes a team…..
                       Leaf for
                        shade

                                  Wall to
Hose for                                    Rope for
                                  keep us
watering                                    binding
                                    safe




           Spear for
            hunting
                           …to see the whole picture
“Most businesses die from indigestion
      rather than starvation.”
                             -- Tom Thomison
                                   co-Founder
                                 HolacracyOne
So what do we do?




                       We outvote or ignore the
                         contradictory data.




                                                    We pay our leaders to be filters but
                                                  unwittingly setup a single point of failure.


   We make team decisions which
    often lead to “bloated” actions
 where we solve more than is needed.
So what’s the alternative?




 It’s all about processing tensions…

                   Tension: The felt-sense of a specific gap
                   between current reality and a sensed potential.
                   Chronic Tension: the response to emotional pressure
                   suffered for a prolonged period over which an individual
                   perceives they have no control.
Processing Tensions:


                          What are we even talking about?




                           Who can make this decision?




                       We’re going in the wrong direction!
Scaling the Agile Delivery Lead Role at Pillar:
                                      Metrics:
                                      1.
                                      2.
                                      3.

                                      Projects:
                                      1.
                                      2.
                                      3.
            Purpose: Create the
             Best Agile Delivery
            Leads in the Industry
Organizational Patterns
             human scale – evolutionary – value driven




                      Toria Thompson
Thank you!
                       303-746-3161
                toria@organizationalpatterns.com

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Solving Problems: An Agile Organization Approach

  • 1. Solving Problems: An Agile Approach
  • 2. My influences …  Growing and selling a successful software company in my 20’s;  Spending several days with Christopher Toria Alexander (Pattern Language “founding father”)  Working with Matt, Hong, Walt and Daryl figuring out “organizational agility”  Turning around a failing Colorado health care broadband network without knowing much about healthcare or networks.  Holacracy … led me to this burning question: If you take 5 people and an idea and another 5 people and a different idea what makes one group successful and the other not? It’s not the people and not the idea. What is it?
  • 3. Time boxed Iterations Backlog of User Daily Stand-ups Stories Planning Poker It’s the Practices Cross-functional work teams KANBAN board On Site for detailing Customer work Business Driven Development Retrospectives Burn Down Value Stream Charts Mapping
  • 4. So long as they are grounded in Agile principles Backlog of User Cross-functional Daily Stand-ups Stories work teams Time boxed Planning Iterations Poker On Site Retrospectives Customer Value Stream Burn Down Mapping Charts Business Driven KANBAN board Development for detailing work
  • 5. Dynamic Distributed Steering Decisions Value Driven Big and Visible
  • 6. It takes a team….. Leaf for shade Wall to Hose for Rope for keep us watering binding safe Spear for hunting …to see the whole picture
  • 7. “Most businesses die from indigestion rather than starvation.” -- Tom Thomison co-Founder HolacracyOne
  • 8. So what do we do? We outvote or ignore the contradictory data. We pay our leaders to be filters but unwittingly setup a single point of failure. We make team decisions which often lead to “bloated” actions where we solve more than is needed.
  • 9. So what’s the alternative? It’s all about processing tensions… Tension: The felt-sense of a specific gap between current reality and a sensed potential. Chronic Tension: the response to emotional pressure suffered for a prolonged period over which an individual perceives they have no control.
  • 10. Processing Tensions: What are we even talking about? Who can make this decision? We’re going in the wrong direction!
  • 11. Scaling the Agile Delivery Lead Role at Pillar: Metrics: 1. 2. 3. Projects: 1. 2. 3. Purpose: Create the Best Agile Delivery Leads in the Industry
  • 12. Organizational Patterns human scale – evolutionary – value driven Toria Thompson Thank you! 303-746-3161 toria@organizationalpatterns.com

Editor's Notes

  1. We have no shortage of ideas. We have trouble figuring out which ones to digest.How do we decide what is a good idea?
  2. 1 - We outvote the one person that has the key perspective that sees something that no one else sees that is needed to keep us moving toward our purpose.2 - We enlist a leader to be the filter but then we have a single point of awareness and a single point of failure.3 – If we’re really advanced we dissect the data as a team and decide what it means. This can be time consuming and frustrating and often leads to “bloated” design.
  3. Stress is tension that has no outlet. Every tension contains energy, time is limited but energy can be renewed.
  4. Processing tensions help us to integrate the minimally sufficient perspectives to keep the organization achieving value.
  5. Proposal: Establish a group of 6 individuals to iterate through 6 weeks of a