Imagine you can suggest just any kind of feature you think will be important for the product you're working on, or even any kind of product to work on- and you will work on that product only with people who are interested to work on that feature / product as well? And now imagine furthermore, that for every decision you need to make in your team, there will be full buy-in for that decision from every team member - no matter if some colleagues (or even you) were at first very opinionated about (not) using that framework, that library, etc. Well, Sociocracy will help you to make that happen. In this session we will explore these concepts, so you can use them back at work.

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@JuttaEckstein
Jutta@JEckstein.com
www.JEckstein.com
Sociocracy for Creating Better Products

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Agenda
 Making decisions
 (S)electing people & topics
 Background & summary

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MAKING DECISIONS

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Experienced Struggles
 Lack of full buy-in
– On team level, but also cross-teams and hierarchies
 Some people feel like their voice never gets heard
 In meetings – always the same (talkatives) people talk
 How decisions are made is not transparent

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Constraints & Observations
 Not every topic can be decided with same approach
 Some things aren‘t ready for deciding
Open heavy discussions is a sign that it‘s not
important.
~Jeff Patton

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Making Decisions

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Consent Decision Making
 No paramount argued objection
 Objection is owned by group / team
 Hearing everyone‘s voice
 Acceptance not agreement
Good enough for now, safe enough to try.
~John Buck

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(S)ELECTING PEOPLE & TOPICS

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Example: Electing People to Functions & Tasks

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Approach: Electing People to Functions & Tasks
 Clarification of functions and tasks
 Proposal round – in writing
 Proposals are collected by facilitator and read out loud
 Rationale round
 Change round
 Summary of remaining suggestions and proposal
 Consent round
 Celebrate

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Application: Electing People to Functions & Tasks

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IN SUMMARY

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Sociocracy
 Definition:
– Rule by „socios,“ by people who know each other as
partners
– Democracy for ogranizations
 Designed for use in organizations
– Feedback built-in the structure
– Every voice gets heard, no perspective overlooked

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4 Principles
1. Circles as semi-autnomous units
2. Shared decisions based on consent
3. Double linking
4. Electing people to functions and tasks

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Lessons Learned
 Decisions based on consent ensure full buy-in
 Sociocratic (s)election opens new possibilities

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Many Thanks!
#agilebossanova
http://agilebossanova.com
Jutta Eckstein, @JuttaEckstein
Jutta@JEckstein.com
www.JEckstein.com
PicturesbyKatjaGloggengießer