solving problems: an agile organization approach
DESCRIPTION
The way we work diTRANSCRIPT
Solving Problems: An Agile Approach
Toria
My influences … Growing and selling a successful software
company in my 20’s;
Spending several days with Christopher Alexander (Pattern Language “founding father”)
Working with Matt, Hong, Walt and Daryl figuring out “organizational agility”
Turning around a failing Colorado health care broadband network without knowing much about healthcare or networks.
Holacracy
… led me to this burning question:
If you take 5 people and an idea and another 5 people and a different idea what makes one group successful and the other not?
It’s not the people and not the idea.
What is it?
PlanningPoker
Daily Stand-ups
On Site Customer
KANBAN board for detailing
work
Business Driven DevelopmentRetrospectives
Backlog of User Stories
Time boxed Iterations
Value Stream Mapping
Cross-functional work teams
Burn Down Charts
It’s the Practices
Backlog of User StoriesDaily Stand-ups
Business Driven Development
Time boxed Iterations
Value Stream Mapping
Burn Down Charts
Retrospectives
Cross-functional work teams
PlanningPoker On Site
Customer
KANBAN board for detailing
work
So long as they are grounded in Agile principles
Value Driven
Work
Team Based
Decisions
Big and
Visible
Iterative &
Incremental
Value Driven
Distributed Decisions
Big and Visible
Dynamic Steering
Value Driven
Work
Team Based
Decisions
Big and
Visible
Iterative &
Incremental
It takes a team…..
…to see the whole picture
Hose for watering
Spear for hunting
Leaf for shade
Wall to keep us
safe
Rope for binding
“Most businesses die from indigestion rather than starvation.”
-- Tom Thomisonco-Founder
HolacracyOne
So what do we do?
We outvote or ignore the contradictory data.
We pay our leaders to be filters butunwittingly setup a single point of failure.
We make team decisions which often lead to “bloated” actions
where we solve more than is needed.
So what’s the alternative?
It’s all about processing tensions…
Tension: The felt-sense of a specific gap between current reality and a sensed potential.
Chronic Tension: the response to emotional pressure suffered for a prolonged period over which an individual perceives they have no control.
Who can make this decision?
What are we even talking about?
We’re going in the wrong direction!
Processing Tensions:
Establish/clarify
Roles &
Accountability
Establish Point of
Awareness
Establish/Clarify
Purpose
Scaling the Agile Delivery Lead Role at Pillar:
Purpose: Create the Best Agile Delivery
Leads in the Industry
Metrics:1. 2. 3. Projects:1. 2. 3.
Next Actions
Organizational Patterns human scale – evolutionary – value driven
Toria Thompson303-746-3161
Thank you!