Feedback and cadence are two essential elements of control. That's why management of agile teams needs them – particularly as our purpose is to help businesses respond to continuously changing fitness landscapes. Choosing appropriate feedback loops and their cadences (the periods between feedback cycles) is the key to effective management of agile processes and their continuous improvement. It's one of the keys to improving improvement.The  session will explore actual feedback loops in typical businesses and process frameworks, including those in agile methods like Scrum and Kanban, scaled frameworks like SAFe or LeSS, and bespoke processes that have evolved within businesses.  Feedback loops and cadences abound in controlling work. Scrum has a dominant cadence, defined by Sprint length. Kanban – described by one critic as an agile method without a cadence – in reality defines many of them. Other methods may use cadence or event-driven feedback loops to achieve control, or like the “no deliberate process” approach, use instinctive feedback loops based on managers’ experience or preference. In all cases examining current processes and comparing them with schematic cadence models, yields important insights that can generate and guide improvement initiatives.If you need to know how to improve your continuous improvement efforts, let feedback and cadence be your guide.  * Choosing the right work * Making the work flow * Ensuring the work’s right * Improving the workflow We’ll look at two typical scales – the agile team (proverbially 7 plus or minus two), and the multi-team, multi-service context.

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How to Improve Improvement

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I teach Kanban!

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Source: Kanban Masterclass (2013/4)
David J Anderson @djaa_dja
Cited in Carmichael & Wood 2015

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Source: Kanban Masterclass (2013/4)
David J Anderson @djaa_dja
Cited in Carmichael & Wood 2015

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John Boyd

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The Learning is in the
difference between them
The Learning is in the
difference between them

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“The brain is not only an ocean of
feedback loops but also a museum
of them.” Jurgen Beetz
It seems brains evolved primarily
to handle movement.
The sea squirt digests its own brain
once it has found a suitable spot
on the sea bed!
How is your organisation’s “brain”?
Does it need to move?!
With thanks to …
Image: https://alchetron.com/Ascidiacea

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Single Loop Learning
By Xjent03 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/
index.php?curid=5774791

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By Xjent03 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/
index.php?curid=5774791
Single Loop Learning Double Loop Learning

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Beinhocker, Eric D. 2007. The origin of wealth: evolution, complexity,
and the radical remaking of economics. London: Random House
Business Books.

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BMC Ecology, 2011. Flickr: Interactions of Malayatelura ponerophila with Leptogenys
distinguenda host workers (Ant Colony). https://commons.wikimedia.org
Co-evolution of individuals and of groups …

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Selfish and “groupist”
humans … are 90%
chimp and 10% bee!
Jonathan Haidt

24. You should be
going over here!
You should be
going over here!
However elephants can be
influenced by other friendly
elephants! Jonathan Haidt

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1. flow
2. replenishment
3. customer deliveries
4. service improvement
5. risk management
6. operational coordination
7. strategy
The right thing,
done right…
then better

31. 1. What’s nearly done?
2. What’s not flowing?
3. What’s nearing due date or SLA?
Flow:
Focus on the work…

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What’s the best
thing to do
next?

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1. What will be in the next delivery?
2. When will that be?
3. Due dates and SLAs?

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1. Are we delivering the right stuff in a timely fashion?
2. Is the service fit for the customer’s purpose?
3. How could we do it better?

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The
Service Set

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1. What risks do we face in delivering the
right stuff on time?
2. What blocks works?
3. Where are the bottlenecks?

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1. How are the services performing together?
2. Do we have the balance of workload and
resources right?
3. How can we improve?

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1. As an organisation are we focused in
the right place
2. Is the organisation fit for the customer’
purposes
3. How do we align?

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Operations
Review
Service
Delivery
Review
Kanban
Meeting
Replenishment
Meeting
Delivery
Planning
Meeting
StrategyReview
Risk
Review
Do the
thing
better
Do the
right
thing
Do the
right
thing
Do the
thing
better Do the
thing
right
Do the thing
better

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The right thing,
done right…
then better

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Slides: slideshare