overcoming your fear of change

Three techniques to drive continuous improvement through experimentation


Laura Burke
@agilenvironment

Discussion


Pair up

Discuss: (3 min per person)
What are some of the changes or improvements that you've made in your Agile adoption?
What techniques have you used to make these changes?
 What are the biggest barriers to change?

Share at the end



agile requires constant change 


no matter how far along on your transformation you may be, you need a way to manage it


Use experiments, 

prepare for the complex



overview


Why experiment?
How are people doing this today?
3 Techniques
    background
      overview of technique
        example
        Getting started
        Close and Q&A

        Why experiments? 




        But experts know what to do, 

        right?

        http://freakonomics.com/2011/06/30/freakonomics-radio-hour-long-episode-4-%E2%80%9Cthe-folly-of-prediction%E2%80%9D-2/

        bias

        Business Insider's 57 "most notable"

        information bias
        hindsight bias
        priming
        post-purchase  rationalization
        recency
        reciprocity
        status quo bias

        http://www.businessinsider.com/cognitive-biases-2014-6?op=1


        Experimentation:

        it's happening

        lean startup  

        design thinking




        Philosophy


         




        Techniques

        Cynefin framework


        Image credit: Karl Scotland, http://www.infoq.com/articles/kanban-heuristics-common-sense



        In the complicated domain there are right answers which can be discovered either by deployment of expertise or research of some type. 




        In the complex domain we focus on safe-fail experiments rather than fail-safe design. 


        Experiments are not necessarily 
        designed to succeed but to create insight and understanding about what is possible. 


        Experiment #1

        http://cognitive-edge.com/


        Lean
        http://hakanforss.wordpress.com/2012/09/14/lean-lego-the-red-brick-cancer/

        What is an a3?






        A3 Proposals typically use the word "countermeasure" rather than "solution."... the wording recognizes that even apparent "solutions" inevitably create new problems. 





        http://sloanreview.mit.edu/files/2009/07/50408-s2.pdf

        Experiment #2: Problem A3


        http://www.reliableplant.com/Read/22984/a3-problem-solving-lean
        More information: http://sloanreview.mit.edu/files/2009/07/50408-s2.pdf

        examples: 


        "Every A3 is no more than a visual manifestation of a problem-solving thought process involving continual dialogue between the owner of an issue and others in the organization. "

        toyota kata-inspired 


        http://hakanforss.wordpress.com/2012/04/25/agile-lego-toyota-kata-an-alternative-to-retrospectives/

        Retrospectives




        Experiment #3: IMPROVEMENT THEME


        http://blog.crisp.se/2013/05/14/jimmyjanlen/improvement-theme-simple-and-practical-toyota-kata



        Things to remember


        Talk to people
        Identify the problem first
        Don't change too many conditions at once
        Limited WIP is your friend
        Start small
        Take biases into account

        develop your own experiment


        1. Work individually
        2. Think about a problem that you want to
          try to work through
        3. Decide on an experiment format
        4. Spend 5 minutes working through a draft
        5. Share with a partner


        Use simple,

        disciplined experiments 

        to manage change in 

        your organization





        [Successful] change 

        Requires disciplined 

        experimentation 



        take what you've started, 

        share it with someone by friday



        you'll learn if the changes you're making are creating the impact you intend





        Q&A