Lean Leadership & Systems Thinking. Al Shalloway CEO, Enterprise Consultant

Lean Leadership & Systems Thinking Al Shalloway CEO, Enterprise Consultant

Copyright Net Objectives, Inc. All Rights Reserved 2 Al Shalloway CEO, Founder alshall@netobjectives.com @AlShalloway Co-founder of Lean-Systems Society Co-founder Lean-Kanban University Contributor to SAFe

Copyright Net Objectives, Inc. All Rights Reserved 3 Learning Outcomes The proper role of management in Agile The challenges managers face Understanding the role of the servant leader: help their people while focusing the realization of business value Understanding why the system people are in greatly affects the way they behave How to affect culture and manage transitions The different aspects of an organization that need to be changed (social architecture vs. operating architecture)

Copyright Net Objectives, Inc. All Rights Reserved 8 Resistance is not to change. In practice, all systems do insist on exercising their own creativity. They never accept imposed solutions, pre-determined designs, or well-articulated plans that have been generated somewhere else. Too often, we interpret their refusal as resistance. We say that people innately resist change. But the resistance we experience from others is not to change itself. It is to the particular process of change that believes in imposition rather than creation. It is the resistance of a living system to being treated as a non-living thing. It is an assertion of the system s right to create. It is life insisting on its primary responsibility to create itself. A Simpler Way. Margaret Wheatley & Myron Kellner-Rogers

Copyright Net Objectives, Inc. All Rights Reserved 9 Systems Thinking: Russ Ackoff Systems Thinking is a mode of thought that begins with SYNTHESIS before ANALYSIS: 1. Identify the containing whole (system) of which the thing to be explained is part. 2. Explain the behavior or properties of the containing whole See www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqeeig8appk 3. Now, explain the behavior or properties of the thing to be explained in terms of its role(s) or function(s) within its containing whole

Copyright Net Objectives, Inc. All Rights Reserved 11 A system must be managed. It will not manage itself. Left to themselves, components become selfish, competitive, independent profit centers, and thus destroy the system The secret is cooperation between components toward the aim of the organization. W. Edwards Deming

Copyright Net Objectives, Inc. All Rights Reserved 12 There is more value Visualize the result and allow teams to form their own solutions. created with overall alignment than with local excellence. Don Reinertsen

Culture is important, but changing it directly is not possible. Culture is no more likely a target than the air we breathe. It is not something to target for change. Culture is an idea arising from experience. Copyright Net Objectives, Inc. All Rights Reserved 14 That is, our idea of culture of a place or organization is a result of what we experience there. In this way a company s culture is a result of how people collaborate with each other. Culture is critical, and to change it, you have to change your method of collaboration. Focus on agreements, behaviors, specific expectations, tools and routine practices. Lean systems make this easier because they emphasize explicitly defined agreements and use visual controls to make the work and agreements visible. change the way we work together Paraphrased from Creating a Lean Culture David Mann

autonomy Copyright Net Objectives, Inc. All Rights Reserved 15 actions to realize intent what to do and how the more alignment you have, the more autonomy you can grant alignment intent what to achieve and why Stephen Bungay Art of Action

Towards Middle Up Down Management: Accelerating Information Creation Ikujiro Nonaka, 88 Business Stakeholders Middle Management Create environment to facilitate manifestation of vision The New New Product Development Game. Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro Nonaka, 1986. Work with teams to ensure the environment supports them Copyright Net Objectives, Inc. All Rights Reserved 16

Purpose of action Be able to move the work to the teams Management: reorganize as beneficial Collaborate to ensure building what you need Management: Encourage collaboration & budget how to do it Leadership / Management Role Reorganize the talent around products / services Drive with Test-First Work on those items that will deliver the greatest value Short cycles to validate and release quickly Lightweight Agile at Mid-Scale Control the Intake Process Get feedback quickly to avoid waste Small batches of work Keep work within Capacity Management: Don t allow shoulder taps Management: Create environment enabling this Start with Minimum Business Increments (MBIs) Business stakeholders must agree to what s important Enable quick delivery Management: Allow teams to pull Copyright Net Objectives, Inc. All Rights Reserved 17

Enterprise OTHER TECHNOLOGY what to invest in BUSINESS STRATEGIC PLANNING strategic themes ENTERPRISE ARCHITECT business backlog business increment LEAN PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS MANAGER LEAN-AGILE PRODUCT MANAGEMENT Portfolio Large Solution Program Systems Thinking SYSTEM ARCHITECT program backlog RTE PRODUCT OWNER PRODUCT MANAGER PLANNING IMPLEMENTATION & INTEGRATION RELEASE Team Visibility of workflow team backlogs SHARED SERVICES OPS SUPPORT MARKETING Note: Feedback loops are not shown but are present throughout the value stream Copyright Net Objectives, Inc. All Rights Reserved 20

Team Backlogs S T R AT E G I C P L A N N I N G What to invest in BUSINESS Strategic Themes TECHNOLOGY OTHER Business Backlog Business Increment PRODUCT MANAGER PRODUCT OWNER implementation via collaboration & dependency management release to realize value refining the backlog & controlling the intake process Program Backlog SHARED SERVICES OPS SUPPORT MARKETING L E A N - A G I L E P R O D U C T M A N A G E M E N T P L A N N I N G I M P L E M E N TAT I O N & I N T E G R AT I O N E A S E Note: Feedback loops are not shown but are present throughout the value stream

Team Backlogs S T R AT E G I C P L A N N I N G What to invest in BUSINESS Strategic Themes TECHNOLOGY takes too long to get anything done OTHER Business Backlog Business Increment not properly prioritized some people are constraints high technical debt chunks of work too big refining the backlog & controlling the intake process unclear requirements L E A N - A G I L E P R O D U C T M A N A G E M E N T working on too many things ` Program Backlog teams not understanding needs of business Note: Feedback loops are not shown but are present throughout the value stream P L A N N I N G lack of visibility implementation via collaboration & dependency management insufficient collaboration integration errors SHARED SERVICES I M P L E M E N TAT I O N & I N T E G R AT I O N release to realize value OPS Ops blindsided and pulled in many directions SUPPORT MARKETING R E L E A S E

Team Backlogs S T R AT E G I C P L A N N I N G What to invest in BUSINESS Strategic Themes TECHNOLOGY takes too long to get anything done OTHER Business Backlog Business Increment not properly prioritized some people are constraints high technical debt chunks of work too big working on too many things lack of visibility implementation via collaboration & dependency management integration errors release to realize value refining the backlog & controlling the intake process unclear requirements L E A N - A G I L E P R O D U C T M A N A G E M E N T Program Backlog teams not understanding needs of business Note: Feedback loops are not shown but are present throughout the value stream P L A N N I N G insufficient collaboration SHARED SERVICES I M P L E M E N TAT I O N & I N T E G R AT I O N OPS Ops blindsided and pulled in many directions SUPPORT MARKETING R E L E A S E

Team Backlogs S T R AT E G I C P L A N N I N G What to invest in BUSINESS Strategic Themes TECHNOLOGY takes too long to get anything done OTHER Business Backlog Business Increment not properly prioritized some people are constraints high technical debt chunks of work too big refining the backlog & controlling the intake process unclear requirements L E A N - A G I L E P R O D U C T M A N A G E M E N T working on too many things Program Backlog teams not understanding needs of business Note: Feedback loops are not shown but are present throughout the value stream P L A N N I N G lack of visibility implementation via collaboration & dependency management insufficient collaboration integration errors SHARED SERVICES I M P L E M E N TAT I O N & I N T E G R AT I O N release to realize value OPS Ops blindsided and pulled in many directions SUPPORT MARKETING R E L E A S E

Team Backlogs S T R AT E G I C P L A N N I N G What to invest in BUSINESS Strategic Themes TECHNOLOGY takes too long to get anything done OTHER Business Backlog Business Increment not properly prioritized some people are constraints high technical debt chunks of work too big working on too many things lack of visibility implementation via collaboration & dependency management integration errors release to realize value refining the backlog & controlling the intake process unclear requirements L E A N - A G I L E P R O D U C T M A N A G E M E N T Program Backlog teams not understanding needs of business Note: Feedback loops are not shown but are present throughout the value stream P L A N N I N G insufficient collaboration SHARED SERVICES I M P L E M E N TAT I O N & I N T E G R AT I O N OPS Ops blindsided and pulled in many directions SUPPORT MARKETING R E L E A S E

S T R AT E G I C P L A N N I N G Systems Thinking What to invest in BUSINESS OTHER targetprocess supports all of these by providing a system specifically designed to do so Strategic Themes takes too long to get anything done TECHNOLOGY Business Backlog Business Increment Visibility of workflow not properly prioritized some people are constraints high technical debt lack of visibility chunks of work too big refining the backlog & controlling the intake process unclear requirements Program Backlog implementation via collaboration & dependency management Team Backlogs working on too many things teams not understanding needs of business LEAN-AGILE PRODUCT MANAGEMENT PLANNING Note: Feedback loops are not shown but are present throughout the value stream release to realize value integration errors OPS insufficient collaboration SHARED SERVICES I M P L E M E N TAT I O N & I N T E G R AT I O N SUPPORT MARKETING Ops blindsided and pulled in many directions RELEASE

Copyright Net Objectives, Inc. All Rights Reserved 31 What if you don t have an Agile culture? Is there anything that we can do about it? You get more trust by working together than you do by talking about why you need it. It is easier to work yourself into a new way of thinking than to think yourself into a new way of working

Enterprise Transition Model Social Architecture Operating Architecture Leadership Pervasive Business Value Business Value Driven Cycles Leader Engagement Common Language and Vision Cross-organizational impact Customer Engagement Continuous Improvement Mindset Improvement Targets Technical Engagement Lean Thinking Productivity Value Metrics Empirical Technical Integrity Management Knowledge Business Value Planning Standards and Technical Discipline Discipline Train and Deploy Experts Architectural Integrity Communication Lean Business Rhythms Business Discovery & Business Delivery Whole Team Environment High Bandwidth Value Delivery Controls Activity Continuous Improvement Routine Metrics Results Problem Solving Practices Transition is a multi-dimensional journey Copyright Net Objectives, Inc. All Rights Reserved 32

Culture is important, but changing it directly is not possible. Culture is no more likely a target than the air we breathe. It is not something to target for change. Culture is an idea arising from experience. Copyright Net Objectives, Inc. All Rights Reserved 33 That is, our idea of culture of a place or organization is a result of what we experience there. In this way a company s culture is a result of how people collaborate with each other. Culture is critical, and to change it, you have to change your method of collaboration. Focus on agreements, behaviors, specific expectations, tools and routine practices. Lean systems make this easier because they emphasize explicitly defined agreements and use tools to make the work and agreements visible. change the way we work together Paraphrased from Creating a Lean Culture David Mann

Copyright Net Objectives, Inc. All Rights Reserved 34 Drive from Business Value Improve continuously Collaborate across boundaries Guardrails Keep WIP within capacity Make all work visible Increase Predictability

Copyright Net Objectives, Inc. All Rights Reserved 35 Facets of Leadership and Management Leadership / Vision Manager as Coach Leader- Leader Effective Leadership / Management Adaptive Mgmt Lean Mgmt / culture

Lean Leadership and Systems Thinking The proper role of management in Agile The challenges managers face Understanding the role of the servant leader help their people while focusing the realization of business value Understanding why the system people are in greatly affects the way they behave How to affect culture and manage transitions The different aspects of an organization that need to be changed (e.g., social architecture vs operating architecture) Copyright Net Objectives, Inc. All Rights Reserved 38

Copyright Net Objectives, Inc. All Rights Reserved 40 Lean for Executives Product Portfolio Management Business Product Owner Product Owner University.netobjectives.com Portal.netobjectives.com Onsite SPC Leading SAFe Agile Architecture Product Manager/PO ASSESSMENTS CONSULTING TRAINING COACHING technical Leanban / Kanban / Scrum ATDD / TDD / Design Patterns Lean Management Project Management