The document discusses six ways to improve agile success through building trust, giving ownership, letting teams make decisions, fixing processes, having the right people, and emphasizing integrity. The key points are: 1. To build trust, leaders should remove fear, validate others, accept risks together, use team-based measurements, and lead authentically. 2. To give ownership, leaders should ask questions, use a "macro leadership cube" of standing back and stepping up, and not take back ownership from teams. 3. To let teams make decisions, decisions should be based on business value through collaborative conversations, and teams should be empowered to decide for themselves. 4. To fix processes

1. six
free ideas to
improve
agile success
Pollyanna PIXTON
Co-Founder, Accelinnova
Evolutionary Systems
Director, Institute of Collaborative Leadership
President,
1

2. Agile Defined…
Agile Manifesto
We are uncovering better ways of developing
software by doing it and helping others do it.
Through this work we have come to value:
Individuals and interactions
Working software
Customer collaboration
Responding to change
over
over
over
over
processes and tools
comprehensive docs
contract negotiation
following a plan
That is, while there is value in the items on
the right, we value the items on the left more.
© 2001
www.agilemanifesto.org
2

3. Agile Manifesto
We are uncovering better ways of developing
software by doing it and helping others do it.
Through this work we have come to value:
Individuals and interactions
Working software
Customer collaboration
Responding to change
over
over
over
over
processes and tools
comprehensive docs
contract negotiation
following a plan
That is, while there is value in the items on
the right, we value the items on the left more.
© 2001
www.agilemanifesto.org
Agile Principles
§ Customer Satisfaction
§ Embrace and welcome change
§ Deliver working software frequently
§ Business people and developers work
together daily
§ Build projects around motivated individuals.
Support and trust them.
§ Face-to-face communication is best
3

4. Agile Principles (cont.)
§ Working software is measure of progress
§ Sustainable development with a consistent
pace
§ Attention to technical excellence
§ Simplicity is essential
§ Best designs and requirements emerge from
self-organized teams
§ Team reflects regularly on how to improve
Overview
1. Trust
2. Give Ownership
3. Teams Make
Decisions
4. Fix Processes
5. Right People
6. Integrity Matters
4

5. Trust
trust
Trust
how do you
define trust?
5

6. Unleashing Innovation
why is
trust important?
Collaboration Process
the data …
6

7. 2004-2008:
high trust companies
out perform low trust
companies by 43%
add 2009:
high trust companies
out perform low trust
companies by 126%
- Great Place to Work
trust companies
double performance
over S&P for 10 years
- Great Place to Work
high trust companies
out perform low trust
companies by 300%
- Watson Wyatt study
7

8. t
rus ?
T
of ags
ack ce T
L ri
P
transaction costs
Transaction
Costs
8

9. self
protection
repair
broken
trust?
9

10. other price tags?
Project Management
how can leaders
help teams build Trust?
§ Change Management
10

11. Project Management
remove
debilitating Fear
§ Dependency Management
in collaboration, people
fear …
- Warren Bennis
Beyond Bureaucracy
11

12. losing
identity
losing
intellectual
mastery
12

13. losing
individualism
Leadership Role
What can leaders do?
13

14. losing
identity
losing
intellectual
mastery
14

15. losing
individualism
what other fears do
people have?
15

16. Leadership Role
What can leaders do?
Unleashing Innovation
group and
prioritize
Collaboration Process
16

17. Exercise
§ What are the top fears in list?
§ Divide by 3 and round up
§ Everyone votes by raising hand
§ Work in groups on top three
§ Report out
fostering
trust
17

18. advance each other’s
intentions
and interests
don’t impede them
be proactive
in
moving work
forward
18

19. create
transparency
Project Management
honest and open
communication
§ Focus, Communication, and Expectation
Management
19

20. share
§ Build the right product
experiences
team
to
team trust…
20

21. “a
mega team”
validate others
21

22. accept risks collectively
leadership role ?
22

23. Leading
team based Agile
measurements
§ Collaboration Model
§ Collaboration Process
people do
what they are
measured
by
measure results
23

24. let
teams
evaluate
themselves
build
confidence
24

25. short iterations …
early wins
Collaboration Model
celebrate success !
25

26. Project Management
trust First !
§ Risk Management
Leadership Role
Suspicion is a permanent condition.
- Marcus Buckingham
26

27. Leadership Role
other leadership roles?
Trust
trust
summary
remove fear
validate others
accept risks together
team-based
measurements
§ authenticity
§
§
§
§
27

28. ownership
use
authentic motivation
- Alfie Kohn
Punished By Rewards
28

29. Unleashing Innovation
foster
collaboration
Collaboration Process
teams
collaborate
to
make their
decisions
29

30. let people
choose
let people
choose
how,
what,
and when
30

31. content
provide
meaningful
work
31

32. don’t take
back
their
ownership
don’t
give the
answers
32

33. or……
give them
the
solutions
ask
questions
33

34. questions
that
help teams
discover
solutions
howcan we avoid the temptation to rescue
How
our teams?
would
§ Ask Questions.like
you
§ What would you like me to do?
to
§ How would you like to solve that problem?
§ What would you like to do?
solve it?
34

35. what would
you
like me to do?
exercise: leader and worker conversation
35

36. Stay Positive
what questions worked?
Trust/Ownership Model
Leadership
& Business Process
Trust
Control
Low
Failure
No One Cares
Command &
Control
Team Does as Instructed
No Ownership
Leader / Process
is Bottleneck
Energy &
Innovation
we
do
ow ere?
H
h
get
Team Trusted
Team Accountable
Leader Freed
Conflict
Team Demotivated
Mired in Bureaucracy
& Wasted Effort
Team/Individual Ownership
High
36

37. Stay Positive
How can you help teams/
people take ownership?
macro-
leadership
tool
37

38. Macro Leadership Cube
Stand Back
Stand Back
38

39. Step Up
Step Up
Example
Example…
39

40. Your cube?
Your cube?
ownership summary
§ ask questions
§ macro leadership cube
§ don’t take back
ownership
40

41. team decides
why
decisions by teams?
41

42. Trustworthiness
positional
power =
decisions with
less information
How can we
make better decisions?
42

43. Legacy System
Replacement System
Name:
Phone:
Address:
Name:
Address:
Phone:
what’s the
value of
this required
change?
Ideally, we decide
based on
value,
but,
what’s
that?
43

44. Business Value Model
Purpose
Considerations
Costs and Benefits
Business Value Model
Purpose
44

45. Purpose Based Alignment Model
High
Partner?
Differentiate
Who
cares?
Parity
Market
Differentiating
Low
High
Low
Mission Critical
Purpose Based Alignment Model
High
Do we take
this on?
Innovate,
Create
Minimize
or
Eliminate
Achieve and
Maintain
Parity, Mimic,
Simplify
Market
Differentiating
Low
High
Low
Mission Critical
45

46. How about an example?
enterprise business
intelligence
product
competitor’s killer UI
46

47. Project Plan:
§ big team
§ millions of dollars
§ many months to
“out-do” competitors’ UI
Where Does My UI Belong?
High
Or Here?
Analytics
Engine + UI?
Or Even
Here?
UI Here?
Market
Differentiating
Low
High
Low
Mission Critical
47

48. UI As Parity
new design
goals:
“go to school” on
competitor’s UI
don’t be so
bad
48

49. Results:
§ Market-aligned project, cut time by 50%
and costs by 40%
§ Used resources to create next
evolution of analytics engine
Questions to ask:
1. Who do we serve?
2. What do they want and need most?
3. What do we provide to help them?
4. What is the best way to provide this?
49

50. the
“billboard” test…
Order new
pages by
2pm and get
them tomorrow!
50

51. “To be
the low cost airline.”
- Southwest Airlines
“Will this
help us be
the low cost airline?”
- Southwest Airlines
51

52. decision filters:
make daily
decisions
schedule projects
what
to
develop
Start Up
Exercise: Pick a project.
Exercise
Pick
an objective,
a brand, or
a project.
52

53. What is the purpose?
High
Partner?
Differentiate
Who
cares?
Parity
Market
Differentiating
Low
High
Low
Mission Critical
What’s On Your Billboard?
53

54. your
decision
filter?
other
considerations
?
54

55. Business Value Model
Purpose
Considerations
Collaboration Model
flexibility
55

56. dependencies
Collaboration Model
time
to
market
56

57. complexity team size
mission criticality
team location
team capacity
domain
knowledge gaps
dependencies
technical
complexity
uncertainty
market
uncertainty
technical
uncertainty
project duration
dependents
57

58. Business Value Model
Purpose
Considerations
Costs and Benefits
it’s
a
conversation
58

59. resolve differences
group chunks
high – medium - low
59

60. “build”
a
chunk…
at the end
of the
“chunk”
60

61. now you can
ask…
Do we have enough business
value to go to market?
61

62. Should we continue?
it’s
a
conversation
62

63. team decides
summary
base decisions
on business
value ...
collaboratively
decide!
process
63

64. fix
processes
not
people
What processes
aren’t working?
64

65. Leadership Role
How can we fix them?
Ask the team!
Project Management
collaboration
process
§ Dependency Management
65

66. what can we do
to fix the process?
brainstorm
66

67. group
in
silence
prioritize
based on
business
value
67

68. Business Value Model
Purpose
Considerations
Costs and Benefits
individuals
volunteer
for
and by
what
when
68

69. value stream mapping
Where do we waste time?
Cycle Time:
Average end-to-end process time
§ From problem detection
§ To problem solution
Problem
Solution
Cycle Time
Begins and ends with customer.
Customer Request
Customer Satisfied
69

70. Where do we waste time?
Cycle Time:
Average end-to-end process time
§ From problem detection
§ To problem solution
Problem
Solution
Cycle Time
Begins and ends with customer.
Customer Request
Customer Satisfied
Where do we waste time?
Cycle Time:
Average end-to-end process time
§ From problem detection
§ To problem solution
Problem
Solution
Cycle Time
Begins and ends with customer.
Customer Request
Customer Satisfied
70

71. Example: Customer Requests Fix
Support
triages
request
Work: 5 min
Wait:
Dev team
triages
request
Dev fixes,
releases in
fix pack
Customer
deploys
fix pack
2 hrs
Customer
requests fix
1 hr
2 wks
1 hr
5 min
3 days
1 wk
2 wks
Value Added Time = 10.5 days
Cycle time = Work + Wait = 38.5 days
Efficiency =
Value added time
10.5 days
=
Total cycle time
38.5 days
= 27%
Where can we remove the waste?
Select Delivery Content
(no travel allowed!)
2 Hours
Need for
Scope Def.
1 Hour
1 Hour
7 Days Call & Email 2 Days Call & Email 1 Day Agreement
With Cust
With Cust
Achieved
X6
Customer Request to Agreement
Face to Face Meeting
Working Time = 16 hours
Elapsed Time
= 32 days
Wasted Time
= 30 days
Efficiency
= 6%
Working Time
Elapsed Time
Waiting Time
Efficiency
= 8 hours
= 2 days
= 1 days
= 50%
Note: Comparison assumes
•
1 day travel to customer site
•
1 day face to face work
•
1 day travel home is excluded since
customer is satisfied
71

72. As-Is Example
As a new customer, I want to enter my Information only once
in the Small Business Portal
SOW
1 Day
Tech Central
(5 Days)
2 Days
Digital
Cement
(2 Days)
System Test
(5 Days)
2-4 Wks
GOL
(1 Day)
2 Wks
Tech Central
(1 Day)
2 Wks
Process Efficiency = Work / Time = 14 / 56 = 25%
To-Be Example
1 Day
Requirements
Planning
(2 Days)
Digital
Cement
(1 Day)
GOL
(1 Day)
Work = 14 days
Time = 8 days
Efficiency = 175%
Tech Central
(5 Days)
System Test
(5 Days)
72

73. Create a Value Stream Map
§ Select a Process that is relevant to you
§ Create a Value Stream Map
§ Calculate Process Cycle Efficiency
§ Process Efficiency =
Value Added Time
Total Cycle Time
How can you change the process to reduce
the waste? (the To Be state)
145
Value Stream Maps
§ Customer value not changed
§ Reduces the delivery time to customer
73

74. Process summary
§ Fix processes not people
§ Use sticky notes for
improving processes
§ Map value streams
right
people
74

75. get the right
people on the bus
in the right seats.
- Jim Collins
get the wrong people off the bus.
75

76. Passion
Best
Organizational
Fit
what
values
are you passionate about?
76

77. what do you do best ?
how do you define
success?
77

78. Do your circles intersect?
Passion
Best
Organizational
Fit
values
what’s holding you back?
78

79. What about your team?
Passion
Best
Organizational
Fit
values
right people summary
Intersection of:
§ Your passion?
§ What you do best?
§ Organizational fit?
79

80. integrity matters
Trust
how do you
define
integrity?
80

81. Enron The Smartest Guys in the
Room
(book and documentary)
The
Insider
Movie and book
81

82. other examples
of integrity?
Attract and retain:
first on the basis of integrity
second, motivation
third, capacity
fourth, understanding
fifth, knowledge
last and least, experience.
- Dee Hock, CEO Emeritus VISA International
82

83. …knowledge
without integrity
is dangerous
and dreadful.
- Samuel Johnson,
British author
how do you know if
someone has integrity?
83

84. Summary
summary
Trust
trust
summary
remove fear
validate others
accept risks together
team-based
measurements
§ authenticity
§
§
§
§
84

85. ownership summary
§ ask questions
§ macro leadership cube
§ don’t take back
ownership
team decides
summary
base decisions
on business value
collaboratively
decide!
85

86. process summary
§ Fix processes not people
§ Use sticky notes for
improving processes
§ Map value streams
right people summary
Intersection of:
§ Your passion?
§ What you do best?
§ Organizational fit?
86

87. integrity matters summary
hire and retain:
§ Integrity first
§
§
§
§
§
Motivation
Capacity
Understanding
Knowledge
Experience last
learn more…
Coming Soon!
Agile Culture Change
Our new book
due November 2013
ppixton@accelinnova.com
www.accelinnova.com
Text: 801.209.0195
Blog: pollyannapixton.com
87