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It is all about system: How Scrum helps in the bigger picture

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Two systems colliding

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Topics• What is System and what are System

Conditions• How Systems impact Scrum• How Scrum helps in the bigger picture

• A confession to make..

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A system is not the sum of its parts but the product of their interactions

- Russell Ackoff

What is System• Collection of parts that

are interdependent.• The parts interact in a

such a way that it affects the capabilities and qualities of the entire system

• System has a purpose

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System

System

Boundaries

System Syst

em

All systems interact at some level

We can choose boundaries and decide what system we study and improve

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Cause-effect

IssueCause Cause Impact Impact

Cause-effect relations are cyclic, not linear

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Companies and organizations are SystemsCu

stom

er)Care)

Legal)Logis/cs)Sales)

CTO$

Dept$1$ Dept$2$ Dept$3$

HR$

New$Technologies$

Research$and$Development$

Product$management$

Department$1$$

Sec;on$A$

Group$I$ Group$II$

Sec;on$B$

Group$III$

Embedded&SW&

Drivers& HW&adapta2on& Tes2ng&

3rd&party&SW&

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W Edwards Deming

Organization as a system

A bad system beats a good person every time

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An example of a system

Joe

Team

Product Owner

HelpDesk

Customers

Logistics DepartmentSuppliers

MAIN MENU1. Catalogue2. myInvoicesSelect: ___

webshop.comIT System

What could possibly go wrong in Joe’s work?

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What impacts Joe’s work• Clarity of the customer request

• Communication channels between departments

• Quality of backlog

• Other items in the backlog

• Team’s working practices

• Tools (compilers, editors, TA, CI, ...)

• Pressure

• Dependencies with other departments

• Processes and working practices

• Interrupts

• Bonuses (Joe, team members, PO, other people in the company)

• Responsibility sharing between the people

• Priority of work

• Non-work-related issues (e.g. mother hospitalized)

• Code base

• Joe’s Competency (domain knowledge, technical skills, “interpersonal skills”)

• Product Owner’s competence (e.g. ability to prioritize

• etc.

System

System

System

System

System

System

System

System

System

System

Joe

JoeSys

tem

System

System

System

Another Syste

m

System

System

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System

Thinking

Performance

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London, 1854

Actions

Consequences

Assumptions about cause-effect relationships

Change this?

Or this?

System

Thinking

Performance

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System

Thinking

Performance

How do we make resource planning in Scrum

What are project manager tasks in Scrum

Who assigns tasks in Scrum

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System conditions are direct of indirect results of the design and

management of work.

System conditions

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Some system conditionsProcesses Training

Existing source code

Stage gates

Tools

Organizational structures

Policies

Governance

BonusesExisting source code

IT systems

Physical working environment

Quality of requirements

Project model

Relationship with customers

Culture of high utilization rate Technologies

Approval chainsMissing feedback

Metrics

Roles and responsibilities

Meetings

Outsourcing and off-shoring

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System conditions

System conditions drive the performance of organization

Improving the work requires at least some system conditions are

changed

System conditions tell us about management thinking

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John Seddon

People issues are not the point of intervention.

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Why do harmful system conditions exist?

Because people responsible for system conditions lack

knowledge about the nature of work being done within a system

They do not know how the work works

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Changing system conditions?• When thinking does not change, the

programs of change often fail• We need to change thinking. By what

method?• Scrum is not a method to change thinking

• Scrum is an agile framework for completing complex projects.

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Change strategies• Power-Coercive

• Obliges compliance and punishes failure• Standards, best practices, process roll-outs

• Empirical-Rational• “I explain and you follow”• Works if thinking has already changed• Can lead to argument or conflict

• Normative-Reeducative• Change thinking through action and observation• Get knowledge before planning actions

Chin and Benne: General strategies for affecting change in human systems (1969)

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Systems Thinking and Scrum?

Scrum changes some system conditions

Scrum has mechanisms that help to make Normative

change

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Scrum changes system conditions

Team

Product Owner

Sprint Planning Sprint Review

and Retro

Potentially Shippable Product

Increment

Product Backlog

From

compe

ting p

rojec

ts to

one b

acklo

g of w

ork

From

proje

ct man

agem

ent t

o

prod

uct o

wnersh

ip

From

hand

over

s to

colla

bora

tive p

lannin

g

From

func

tiona

l silo

s to

cross-

functi

onal

teams

From

long

feed

back

cycle

s to

daily

and w

eekly

feed

back

From

prob

lem hi

ding t

o

cultu

re o

f lear

ning

From

proje

ct mod

el to

cont

inuou

s deli

very

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Scrum changes system conditions

Team

Product Owner

Sprint Planning Sprint Review

and Retro

Potentially Shippable Product

Increment

Product Backlog

Coerci

ve?

Ration

al?

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Scrum and seeing System conditions• Understanding Purpose and Demand• Transparency and visibility• Experiments

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Understanding Purpose and Demand“System has a Purpose”

Customers

Organization

Demand

New$Technologies$

Research$and$Development$

Product$management$

Department$1$$

Sec;on$A$

Group$I$ Group$II$

Sec;on$B$

Group$III$

1. Understand the Demand from customers2. Define a purpose for organization in customer terms3. Have freedom to organize against the demand4. Measure how well the organization fulfills the Purpose

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How do I know if I am doing Scrum right?At the end of each iteration, if you know exactly where you are; then you are doing it right

Transparency and Visibility

Freedom to make an informed choice

Valid information

Constant monitoring of actions

Purpose

- Chris Argyris

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Experiments

Team

Product Owner

Sprint Planning Sprint Review

and Retro

Potentially Shippable Product

Increment

Product Backlog

Every

Sprint

is an

experi

ment!

Learning and adapting requires moving from fail-safe design to safe-to-fail experiments

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Summary• Organizations are systems, created by thinking

• Thinking -> System -> Performance

• System dictates the sustainable performance of an organization

• System conditions help to see a system• To improve a system we must change thinking

• Change can be Coercive, Rational or Normative

• Scrum helps to see. Scrum helps with new thinking

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A confession

It is not about Scrum.

It is about the System.

Turning eyes away from Scrum and looking at the system might help a lot.

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Thank you!

Twitter: @samililja

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