This document discusses tools and frameworks for driving organizational improvement through an iterative process. It advocates establishing a vision for change and measuring success. Improvement opportunities are identified, such as getting closer to customers and clarifying processes. Experiments are suggested to test hypotheses and learn through small, time-boxed trials. Visual tools like Improvement Canvases and Storyboards help align stakeholders on goals, current conditions, target outcomes, experiments, and obstacles. The document provides examples of these tools and exercises for readers to apply them to their own improvement efforts.

1. Heart of Agile - Improvement
Mark Barber
Twitter @mark_barbs

2. At an organisational level, it's hard to just jump in
2
Envision Discover Change
The why.
Establish a vision for
change, the
objectives we need to
meet and measures
for how we judge
success
The what.
Study, assess and seek knowledge to establish
context and recommendations for change. Making
these changes will help achieve our objectives
The how.
Execution of an adaptive & iterative change
program, to validate how we meet our objectives
and execute and embed change.

3. Cynefin helped us make sense of the change
3
Initial
perception
of nature of
change was
here
It turned
out we
were
actually
over here

4. Improvement applied to team and organisation
4

5. The Lean Change Cycle
5

6. The Improvement Kata
© Mike Rother6

7. The Barber-Bristow Cycle of Awesomeness Improvement
7

8. Experiment!
8
“Sometimes science is
more art than science”
(Rick and Morty)

9. Practical tools to help you
9
Improvement Canvases
& Storyboards
Experiment Canvas Improvement Wall

10. ACME Pty Ltd identified some large problems & opportunities
10
• We needed to get closer to our customers
• Improve usable information radiation and transparency
• Clarify the product development process and roles
• Understand the capabilities and maturity of teams and a strategy to coach them
• Find ways to better share knowledge and amplify great practices
• Reduce dependencies between teams
• Improve flow of work
• Make work visible
• Understand and surface ‘hidden’ work
• Consistent prioritisation, not HiPPO

11. Exercise 1: How will you prioritise these opportunities?
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• We need to get closer to our customers
• Improve usable information radiation and transparency
• Clarify the product development process and roles
• Understand the capabilities and maturity of teams and a strategy to coach them
• Find ways to better share knowledge and amplify great practices
• Improve MVP lead time by 50%
• Improve flow of work and reduce dependencies
• Make work visible
• Understand and surface ‘hidden’ work
• Consistent prioritisation, not HiPPO

12. Improvement Canvas to drive alignment
12
What is the problem?
What do we want to achieve with this change? Why is this important to the organisation?
How will we measure success? How will we show progress to the goal?
Who is most affected? What parts of the business will be
most impacted?
Is there prior work that we can leverage?
What do we need to learn? What are the experiments
likely to run in the next 2
weeks?
What are the experiments
likely to run in the next 2
months?

13. Improvement Canvas: Another example
13

14. Improvement Canvas: Another example
14
Top 3 drivers
/ needs for
change
What will we
see?
How will we
know change
has stuck?
The
compelling
"WHY"
What channels
will we use to
communicate
Who will be
impacted by the
change?
What actions
can we take?
What do we need to succeed?
Time / Money / Commitment
etc
What wins are there to be
gained? Moral / Performance
/ Capability
What do we need
learn about as
we move?

15. Improvement Canvas for team alignment
15

16. Exercise 2: Write a canvas for your top opportunity
16

17. Kata Storyboards make learning visible
17
Focus Area Goal
Current Condition Target Condition Experiments
Obstacles

18. Exercise 3: Write a storyboard
18
Focus Area Goal
Current Condition Target Condition Experiments
Obstacles

19. 19
Hypothesis:
Rationale:
<The answer you think you will find by running this experiment>
<why do you think you will get to
your hypothesis>
Methodology:
<how will you execute your
experiment – what practical things
will you do?>
Time to run:
<how long will it run for, or when you
will stop it>
Audience:
<who is this experiment targeted at?
might be 1 or more>
Success metrics
Primary:
<measurable metric(s)>
Secondary:
<anything else that will
indicate success?>
Experiment Canvas

20. Make your hypothesis easy to understand
In order to... <why are you running this experiment?>
We believe that... <what is the experiment?>
Will result in... <the desired outcome of the experiment>
We will know we are successful when... <measurable success criteria>
We will end the experiment by... <time box>

21. Make your hypothesis easy to understand
In order to... <why are you running this experiment?>
We believe that... <what is the experiment?>
Will result in... <the desired outcome of the experiment>
We will know we are successful when... <measurable success criteria>
We will end the experiment by... <time box>
The
compelling
"WHY"
What actions
can we take?
What will we
see?
How will we
know change
has stuck?

22. Exercise 4: Frame your first experiment
2222
Hypothesis:
Rationale:
<The answer you think you will find by running this experiment>
<why do you think you will get to
your hypothesis>
Methodology:
<how will you execute your
experiment – what practical things
will you do?>
Time to run:
<how long will it run for, or when you
will stop it>
Audience:
<who is this experiment targeted at?
might be 1 or more>
Success metrics
Primary:
<measurable metric(s)>
Secondary:
<anything else that will
indicate success?>

23. 23

24. Exercise 5: How will you visualise improvement?

25. Thank you