'Sound-bites' are the useful takeaways or narrative fragments from conversations and presentations. When we only hear the 'sound-bites', we lose valuable information and will end up with poor outcomes. This session will explore the typical reactions that we get to our 'sound-bite' rallying cries like 'Celebrate Failure'. The reactions vary from the hoped for enthusiastic embrace all the way to disappointing disengagement...where our colleagues treat us as foolish for suggesting such a thing could be good in their workplace. These reactions are what we leave behind and the enthusiastic embrace can be just as harmful as the disappointing disengagement – in some ways the former is more dangerous and we need to be careful that what we leave behind does not cause any damage. We will unpack 'celebrate failure' and explain a healthier way to interpret the intention behind the 'sound-bite' as a means to explore boundaries in complex systems. History shows us that people with the best intentions can be misunderstood and many years later treated as creators of our current woes, an example being The Principles of Scientific Management by F.W. Taylor. In 100 years, what will people think of Lean and Agile? If we take another look, we can see a pattern emerging where Scientific Management can identify Best Practices in the Obvious Domain, Systems Thinking applies nicely in the Complicated Domain and the concepts of probe, sense and respond allow us to explore complexity more effectively. By using the modern 'Celebrate Failure' example and lessons from history, this session will remind us all to be careful with what we leave behind in every conversation.

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2. Taking Care with What we Leave
Behind
Kim Ballestrin

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Topics
• What I mean by ‘sound-bites’
• We will dive into the example you may be
familiar with ‘Celebrate Failure’
• A lesson from history – what can we learn
from our past?
• And looking towards the future – what might
people say about Lean and Agile in 100 years’
time?

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People Only Hear what They Hear

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‘Sound-Bites’ – Are Good

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‘Sound-Bites’ – Are Good

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‘Sound-Bites’ – Are Good and Bad

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‘Sound-Bites’ – Are Good and Bad

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Quote From The Agile Manifesto
‘…we have come to value
…working software over comprehensive
documentation…
that is, while there is value in the items on the
right, we value the items on the left more’

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Quote From The Agile Manifesto
‘…we have come to value
…working software over comprehensive
documentation…
that is, while there is value in the items on the
right, we value the items on the left more’

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‘Yay...’

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‘Yay...No Documentation’
X
X

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A Cautionary Tale

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A Cautionary Tale

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Celebrate Failure

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Celebrate Failure

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Container for Important Concepts
• Don’t give up

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Container for Important Concepts
• Don’t give up
• Learn from mistakes

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Container for Important Concepts
• Don’t give up
• Learn from mistakes
• Expect that failure might happen – so make it
safe-to-fail

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Container for Important Concepts
• Don’t give up
• Learn from mistakes
• Expect that failure might happen – so make it
safe-to-fail
• Don’t get embarrassed

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Container for Important Concepts
• Don’t give up
• Learn from mistakes
• Expect that failure might happen – so make it
safe-to-fail
• Don’t get embarrassed
• Share the lessons learned so that others
don’t make the same mistakes

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Does Not Mean
• Laugh at mistakes
• Embarrass others
• Invite failure – so that we can have a party

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Does Not Mean
• Laugh at mistakes
• Embarrass others
• Invite failure – so that we can have a party

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The Cynefin Framework
Image by Dave Snowden

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Obvious Domain - Failure Not Acceptable
Image by Dave Snowden

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Complex - Safe-to-Fail Experimentation
Image by Dave Snowden

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Our Probes will Impact the System

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Our Probes will Impact the System
Not
Safe-to-Fail

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Exploring the Complex Domain
• Multiple

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Exploring the Complex Domain
• Multiple
• Safe-to-fail probes

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Exploring the Complex Domain
• Multiple
• Safe-to-fail probes
• Based on contradictory hypotheses

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Exploring the Complex Domain
• Multiple
• Safe-to-fail probes
• Based on contradictory hypotheses
• That way you know that not all of them can
succeed and some will fail

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Each Probe must be Coherent

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Each Probe must be Coherent

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Wicked Problem - Nudge
Image by Dave Snowden

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Patterns of Stability
Image by Dave Snowden

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Patterns of Stability
Image by Dave Snowden

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Boundaries in the Complex Domain

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Boundaries in the Complex Domain
Non-Competing
Hypotheses

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Boundaries in the Complex Domain
Non-Competing
Hypotheses
Competing
Hypotheses

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A Lesson From History

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Frederick Winslow Taylor
Picture from Wikipedia https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Frederick_Winslow_Taylor_crop.jpg
Frederick Winslow Taylor Picture is over 100 years old.

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The Principles of Scientific Management
Published in 1911
1. The development of a true science
2. The scientific selection of the workman
3. His scientific education and development
4. Intimate friendly cooperation between the
management and the men

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The ‘Toyota DNA’
1999 – From Spear and Bowen
1. All work shall be highly specified as to content, sequence,
timing and outcome
2. Every Customer-supplier connection must be direct, and
there must be an unambiguous yes or no way to send
requests and receive responses
3. The pathway for every product and service must be simple
and direct
4. Any improvements must be made in accordance with the
scientific method, under the guidance of a teacher, at the
lowest possible level in the organisation

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Shovels – All the Same Size

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Large – Light Loads, Small – Heavy Loads

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Change Takes a Long Time
“The change from rule-of-thumb management to scientific management
involves, however, not only a study of what is the proper speed for doing the
work and a remodelling of the tools and the implements in the shop, but also a
complete change in the mental attitude of all the men in
the shop toward their work and toward their employers. The
physical improvements in the machines necessary to insure large gains, and the
motion, study followed by minute study with a stop-watch of the time in which
each workman should do his work, can be made comparatively quickly. But
the change in the mental attitude and in the habits of the
three hundred or more workmen can be broughtabout
only slowly and through a long series of object-lessons,
which finally demonstrates to each man the great
advantage which he will gain by heartily cooperating in his
every-day work with the men in the management. Within
three years, however, in this shop, the output had been more than doubled per
man and per machine.”
Excerpt From: Frederick Winslow Taylor. “The Principles of Scientific Management.”

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Go & See, Ask Why, Show Respect

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I Was Looking for a Tarzan Novel

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At the Project Gutenberg Site
Project Gutenberg

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Found ‘The Efficiency Expert’
Project Gutenberg

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The Principles of Scientific Management

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The Cynefin Framework
Image by Dave Snowden

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Scientific Management
Image by Dave Snowden

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Complicated to Obvious
Image by Dave Snowden

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Systems Thinking
Image by Dave Snowden
Value Streams
TOC
…

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Agile and Lean Startup
Image by Dave Snowden

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Healthy use of ‘Sound-Bites’

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Healthy use of ‘Sound-Bites’

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Healthy use of ‘Sound-Bites’
Picture from Wikipedia
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Frederick_Winslow_Taylor_crop.jpg
Frederick Winslow Taylor Picture is over 100 years old.

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References
Cynefin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_Framework
The Principles of Scientific Management
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6435
The Efficiency Expert
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3475