Mini workshop collaborative problem solving - OOP 2021 - Ben Linders

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Problem? What Problem? Practice Collaborative Problem-solving Working in teams we face problems in our daily work. As a team, we should be able to solve problems collaboratively. Agile calls these problems impediments. Impediments can be something in the way of working, processes, tools, or organizational rules or structures. They can also be something cultural or structural. In this mini-workshop, we’ll practice solving an impediment as a team. Next, we’ll explore how we solved it, how we worked together. What hindered and helped us. We’ll learn what we can do to collaborate better.

Leadership & Management

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Ben Linders Consulting
Problem? What Problem?
Practice Collaborative Problem-solving
OOP, February 11, 2021
Ben Linders

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Ben Linders Consulting
Trainer / Coach / Adviser / Author / Speaker
Agile, Lean, Quality & Continuous improvement
Freelance Editor for InfoQ.com
BenLinders.com
Books: Valuable Agile Retrospectives Problem? What Problem?
What Drives Quality Self-assessments Continuous Improvement
Games: Agile Self-assessment Game Retrospectives Bingo Impediments
Quality Coaching Cards Agile Testing Cards

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Ben Linders Consulting
Problem-solving Approach
 Pick up signals and recognize impediments
 Analyze problems to understand how they hinder teams
 Explore effective solutions to deal with them
 Decide how to solve and who takes action

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Ben Linders Consulting
Techniques for Problem Analysis
 5-times why
 Visualization
 Mindmapping
 Fishbone diagram
 Powerful questions
 Cynefin
 Appreciative Inquiry
 Retrospective Exercises
 Data and Facts

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Ben Linders Consulting
Analyzing Problems
 Dive deep to find root causes
 Explore how things are related
 Ask questions to understand
 Learn about the context
 Build a shared view
 Don’t jump to solutions

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Ben Linders Consulting

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Ben Linders Consulting
Practice your problem solving skills
Case: “Teamworking”
• 20 min: Work on problem - canvas
• 10 min: Mini-retro: Learned?
Break-out rooms for groups
Jamboard for each team
Share learnings in main Zoom room

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Ben Linders Consulting
Mini-retrospective: Learned?

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Ben Linders Consulting
Key Takeaways
• Once you have a deep understanding of the situation at
hand, solutions will be obvious
• Asking questions can provide essential insights and lead
to a shared understanding
• Jumping to solutions before deeply understanding the
problem can be costly
• Context matters when deciding how to solve a problem

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Ben Linders Consulting
Questions?
Questions?
Ben Linders
Trainer / Coach / Adviser / Author / Speaker
Agile, Lean, Quality & Continuous Improvement
info@BenLinders.com
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@BenLinders
www.linkedin.com/in/benlinders
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www.facebook.com/BenLindersAdvies
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Ben Linders Consulting
Background Information

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Ben Linders Consulting
Picking up signals of impediments
 Listen to what people say
 Observe symptoms of deeper problems
 Ask to understand – not to judge
 Can also be what people do (or don't do)
 Stop, take time to find out what's really happening
 Don’t shoot the messenger!

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Ben Linders Consulting
Tips for Solving Problems
 Good solutions in context
 Cynefin: Probe, sense, respond
 Fail-to-safe experiment
 Hypothesis
 Right to left: Backward from outcomes
 Value-adding activities: Remove waste/delays
 Leverage strengths & go with the energy

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Ben Linders Consulting

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