The document discusses lean IT leadership and outlines essential strategies for successful transformation in IT environments, emphasizing the roles of both leaders and managers. It highlights ten critical factors, such as effective communication, involving all employees, developing internal coaches, and integrating IT with business strategy. Overall, the focus is on fostering a culture of continuous improvement through hands-on experience and collaboration.

1. Copyright © Institut Lean France 2013
3 & 4 October, 2013
Paris, France
Lean IT Leadership
The essential element of a Lean IT
transformation
Mike Orzen, MO & Associates

2. Copyright © Institut Lean France 2013
• What are those things which
enable/disable the effective application of
Lean, Agile, DevOps & ITIL in IT
environments?
Witnessed
Sustained for at least 3 years
Not complete
A Top 10 List…
Lean IT Leadership – Mike Orzen 2

3. Copyright © Institut Lean France 2013
• Leaders
 Vision & Strategy
 Objectives
 Alignment
 Creating Systems
 Innovation
 Growth
 Risk Mgt.
• Managers
 Execution
 Tactics
 Results
 Run/check/adjust
systems of people &
technology
Leaders vs. Managers
Lean IT Leadership – Mike Orzen 3

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Lean IT Leadership – Mike Orzen 4

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“Ultimately, there are no special secret
strategies to the Toyota Production System.
We are just doing the obvious things, thoroughly,
without omission, as a habit. This is simple, but
difficult to do consistently across large
organizations.”
Lean IT Leadership – Mike Orzen 5
Eiji Toyoda - A Great Leader

6. Copyright © Institut Lean France 2013
• Having the COE or Lean Office lead
• Making it the responsibility of a Director
• Ordering Managers to do it
• Outsourcing
#10 – Delegating Lean
Lean IT Leadership – Mike Orzen 6


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Provide the training, opportunity and support
• Develop internal Lean IT coaches
• Standard Lean IT training
• Improvement projects and Daily Kaizen
• 2 - 4 hours a week expectation
• Min. 3 Kaizens/year
#9 – Support Learn-by-Doing
Lean IT Leadership – Mike Orzen 7


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#9+ – Make it Visual and No-Tech
Lean IT Leadership – Mike Orzen 8

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• Failing to inform people we are “doing Lean”
 Not explaining the WHY
 Not creating a consistent message
 Leading with Humility
 Not involving everyone in the organization
 Gathering ideas
 Respect for the individual
#8 – Believing that Leading =
Command & Control
Lean IT Leadership – Mike Orzen 9


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• Define IT strategy in context of Org’s strategy
• Translate strategy into a thematic goal that “clicks”
• Managers explain work in terms of strategy – daily!
• Making it clear how work contributes to the goals of:
#7 – Having a Strategy and
Communicating It
Lean IT Leadership – Mike Orzen 10
 IT
 division
 company
 community
 team
 department


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Before announcing…
 Commitment
 Time / $, €, £, ¥
 Challenges
 Culture
 Politics
 Inertia
 Failures and Setbacks
#6 – Not Understanding
Lean IT Leadership – Mike Orzen 11


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• Training
• Hands-on experience with Kaizen & PDCA
• Leading with Questions
• Coaching Skills
• Clear roles and responsibilities/LSW
#5 – Involving Leaders and Managers
before Staff
Lean IT Leadership – Mike Orzen 12


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• Focusing on Silos
• Missing the point with ITIL
• Not involving customers and end users
• Not understanding IT as an enabler of work
processes
• Not managing Information as an asset
#4 – Not Managing IT & Information
as a Integrated Value Stream
Lean IT Leadership – Mike Orzen 13


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#4+ – Not Managing IT & Information
as a Integrated Value Stream
Lean IT Leadership – Mike Orzen 14


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Dual Focus – Leaders & Managers
Leaders develop Managers
Managers develop their People
Dual Focus - Staff
#3 –Developing People
Lean IT Leadership – Mike Orzen 15


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• Being comfortable with uncertainty
• Showing vulnerability
• Acknowledging weaknesses
• Applying PDCA and “failing quickly” without
blame
• First Leadership, then Management, then IT Staff
#2 – Not Proactively Building Trust
Lean IT Leadership – Mike Orzen 16


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Participating in Training, Kaizen, PDCA, Report Outs, Stand Ups
Demonstrating ideal behavior
Going to Gemba – observing, understanding, asking not telling
Show respect
Lead with questions
Look for: Mura – variability
Muri – overburden
Muda – wasteful, NVA tasks
#1 – Leading By Example
Lean IT Leadership – Mike Orzen 17


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“Even when top management makes a decision, their
role is merely to wave the flag. It is no use if people do
not follow that flag.”
Eiji Toyoda
Simple But Not Easy
Lean IT Leadership – Mike Orzen 18

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• Share this message with your Leadership
team
• Be aware of your circle of influence
• Three key wins
 On ramp
 Quality/speed over cost/functionality
 Post-implementation reviews
What Can I Do?
Lean IT Leadership – Mike Orzen 19

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• Reflect, Check, Adjust
 What’s working and what is not working?
 Adapt this list to your organization
 Keep learning, use an A3 and experiment
• Add to this list and share!
Next Steps
Lean IT Leadership – Mike Orzen 20

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Thank You
Lean IT Leadership – Mike Orzen 21
Mike@maorzen.com
www.maorzen.com
Mike Orzen
@MikeOrzen
+01 503.313.0023

22. Copyright © Institut Lean France 2013
3 & 4 October, 2013
Paris, France
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