failure patterns and lessons i've learned - for triagile
Post on 17-Oct-2014
242 views
DESCRIPTION
Presentation 3/2/14 at TriAgile in North Carolina on failure patterns of introducing Agile/Scrum, lessons learned, and two very useful tools for how to find these potential problems.TRANSCRIPT
Failure patterns
and lessons I’ve learned
@catherinelouis, @PoDojo [email protected]
prepared for triagile.org
!
Suggested schedule for the next 45 minutes:!!
-Sharing timeline - 2 min -Sharing tools (5 whys, interview techniques) -2 -Sharing my failures - 15 minutes -Interviewing for empathy- probing why - 15 minutes -Sharing results - last 10 minutes
5-Whys!!
Why is the statue eroding?
harsh chemicals
splat
gulp!
gulp!!
source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IETtnK7gzlE
! •!We tend to stop at symptoms rather than going deeper.(4 whys!)!
! •!We tend not to go beyond our knowledge - we find causes that we already know. (outside the box!)!
! •!Tendency to isolate a single root cause, whereas each “why” could elicit many different root causes. (don’t hurry)!
! • Think about how you would verify each answer before going to the next.
5-why cautions:
Interviewing for empathy
1. We want to understand a person’s thoughts, emotions & motivations to determine how to innovate for him/her. !
2. When we understand the choices a person makes, and the behaviors they engage in, you can identify their needs, and design solutions to meet those needs.
How to interview1. Ask why. Even when you think you know the answer.!2. Never say “usually” when asking a question.!3. Encourage storytelling.!4. Look for inconsistencies. These inconsistencies
hide interesting insights.!5. Pay attention to nonverbal cues. Be aware of body
language and emotions. !6. Don’t be afraid of silence.!7. Don’t suggest answers to your questions.!8. Ask questions neutrally.!9. Don’t ask binary questions.!10. Make sure you’re prepared to capture. !11. Always interview in pairs.!12. use food: it offers just enough distraction.
source: http://dschool.stanford.edu/wp-content/themes/dschool/method-cards/interview-for-empathy.pdf
I believe!
•People want to do great work.!•People want to be able to decide how to do their work.!
•People need to understand the purpose of their work, to be part of something greater than themselves. !
!
If you believe this too it’ll influence your interviews.
sharing failures
Built the wrong product!
1.Missed a word in the spec. Why?!2.We weren’t listening. Why?!3.Engineers are intrinsically
motivated to build cool stuff. Why?!
4.We’re hard-wired that way. Why?!5.We know we are, that’s why we
demo’d every 2 weeks, but these demos were not to the real customers. Demos were to other folks just like us.!“Where are we working? C-?”
Not getting Done.!
1.The test for HW was not provided by the SW prime. Why?!
2.HW/SW folks don’t work together in-sprint. Why?!
3.Teams were told that their Sprints were separate. Why?!
4.They report to different directors, and they said so. Why?!
5.Dir. of SW & Dir. of HW compete for the same pile of money.
“Do you need help?”
Regressing to do-what-I-say behavior.
!
1.Because I want to know how long it will take for the product to be built. Why?!
2.Because it’s the time of year for the finance review and planning. Why?!
3.Because we do financial planning yearly. Why?!
4.We’ve always done it this way. Why?!5.Not sure! !
“Is iterative development supported?
Change manager wanted a big change
!
1.She wasn’t working with the teams, but seemed to work well managing upwards. Why?!
2.She …really did not want to work with teams in this job. Why?!
3.She wanted to put “Agile Coach” on her resume to get a new gig. Why?!
4.Company not helping her, she did not want to help the company. !
!“Do you really want to be here? Why?”
we are…bored.!
1.Only 2 of the 8 teams have the skills needed to deliver working software each Sprint. Why?!
2.Teams were formed as “work streams” versus fully functioning teams. Why?!
3.Teams were kicked off to reflect the original waterfall (silo’d) structure Why?!
4.Did not want to begin with “just what we need.” Why?!
5.Needed a Big Plan Up Front to get funding.!
“How did you start the development?”
!
Suggested schedule for the next 45 minutes:!!
-Sharing timeline - 2 min -Sharing tools (5 whys, interview techniques) -2 -Sharing my failures - 15 minutes -Interviewing for empathy- probing why - 15 minutes - look for the experiment -Sharing results - last 10 minutes
podojo.comfacebook/podojoplus.google.com/+PoDojoShare your hacks with a guest post!bizculturehackers.com!!@PoDojo - for Product Owners@Catherinelouis - to find me@Bizculturehacks - to tweet your hack!