Improving as an organisation is hard. What’s even harder is continuously improving an organisation. Continuous improvement is key to any Agile transformation, because in order to improve our processes we must constantly challenge the ingrained practices and rigid ways of working. But how do we do this? In this talk will discuss how we have employed continuous improvement practices such as Retrospectives, Lean Coffee, Lunch and Learns, Team 1:1s, and Guilds, in order to fast-track Agile transformations. By implementing these practices you too can go beyond mere Agile adoption.

1. Continuous improvement
from the trenches
Ryan McKergow
ryanmckergow
rmckergow
elabor8
elabor8

2. Feel all too familiar?

3. Change is emotional
Morale
Shock
Denial
Time
Frustration
Depression
Experiment
Decision
Integration
The Kübler-Ross change curve

4. What change really looks like
Refer to this blog by @pawelbrodzinski: http://bit.ly/why-we-fail-to-change
Performance
Time
Start Agile
Transformation

5. What inevitably happens...
Performance
Time
Start Agile
Transformation
Change agent fired
Refer to this blog by @pawelbrodzinski: http://bit.ly/why-we-fail-to-change

6. Kaizen vs Kaikaku
Kaizen:
Japanese word for “incremental change”
or “continuous improvement”
Kaikaku:
Japanese word for “radical change”

7. Kaizen vs Kaikaku
Refer to this blog by @pawelbrodzinski: http://bit.ly/why-we-fail-to-change
Performance
Time
Start Agile
Transformation

8. Continuous improvement is everyone’s responsibility

9. 5
Continuous
Improvement
Techniques
from the trenches

10. 1 Retrospectives

11. Remember this?

12. Too busy to improve on this format?
What worked well? What didn’t worked well? What’s puzzling me?

13. Appreciative Retrospective
past iteration the future
strengths
successes
events

14. Appreciative Retrospective – In real life

15. Celebration Grid – Celebrate Learning!

16. Celebration Grid – Celebrate Learning!

17. Celebration Grid – Celebrate Learning!
Check out the video that we missed watching today:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNkTgMUQGDE

18. Celebration Grid – In real life

19. Ready to try something new?
Retro formats to check out:
• https://elabor8.com.au/retrospectives-a-fresh-look
• https://elabor8.com.au/retrospectives-strike-back-new-
formats/
• https://elabor8.com.au/team-culture-retrospective/
• http://retrospectivewiki.org/index.php?title=Retrospecti
ve_Plans
• http://www.funretrospectives.com/
• https://jayhyett.wordpress.com/

20. 2 Lean Coffee

21. How does it work?

22. Lean Coffee – In real life

23. Lean Coffee – In real life

24. How to setup Lean Coffee
• Find the following:
People who are interested
Venue that works for the group
Frequency that works for the group
• Limit the amount of people (~8 works well for
us)
• Nominate a facilitator each time
• Keep track of actions

25. 3 Team 1:1s

26. Team 1:1s – In real life

27. Team 1:1s – In real life
Leon Ryan Princy Vinh Miles
Leon 2pm 15/9 2pm 17/9
Ryan 3pm 14/9 10am 9/9 11am 10/9
Princy
Vinh 10am 12/9
Miles

28. Team 1:1s – In real life

29. My feedback
“Be careful not to be dismissive of non-Agile
approaches, particularly dismissive to people. Gain an
understanding of what are the pros & cons of all
approaches and where each is appropriate.”
(Vinh – Business Analyst)

30. My feedback
“Learn to stand up for yourself more
when you have a strong opinion,
especially when working with strong personalities.”
(Leon – Developer)

31. How to setup Team 1:1s
• Find people who are interested
• Be proactive in scheduling them
• Put thought into your feedback
• Push past the awkwardness
• Remember to say thank you

32. How to setup Team 1:1s
Leon Ryan Princy Vinh Miles
Leon 2pm 15/9 2pm 17/9
Ryan 3pm 14/9 10am 9/9 11am 10/9
Princy
Vinh 10am 12/9
Miles

33. How to setup Team 1:1s
• Find people who are interested
• Be proactive in scheduling them
• Put thought into your feedback
• Push past the awkwardness
• Remember to say thank you

34. 4 Guilds (aka Communities of Practice)

35. How do they work?

36. Guilds – In real life – The Presenters Guild

37. Guilds – In real life - #guild-delivery

38. How to setup a Guild
• Find the people who share a common passion
• Work out what works best for the Guild
- Chatting on Slack / Yammer / Skype
- Regular catch ups (i.e. Lean Coffee)
- Practice your skill set together
• At least 1 person driving the Guild initially
• But… plan for a successor/s

39. Want to know more?
Check our Emily Webber’s slides from YOW!
Brisbane 2016:
http://yowconference.com.au/slides/yow2016/We
bber-CommunitiesOfPractice.pdf

40. 5 Lunch and Learns

41. Lunch and Learns – In real life

42. Lunch and Learns – In real life

43. Lunch and Learns – In real life

44. Lunch and Learns – In real life

45. How to setup Lunch and Learns
Gaining buy in / support:
1. Get support from your team / leadership
2. Look for alignment with leadership’s goals
3. Identify support from within
How to build excitement:
4. Always keep promoting the Lunch and Learns
5. Mix the topics to keep everyone interested
6. Value community discussion

46. How to setup Lunch and Learns
How to maintain momentum:
7. Invite speakers from outside your organisation
8. Plan for successor/s  Fresh perspective
Just remember…
9. It’s about helping others, it’s not about you

47. 5 Continuous Improvement Techniques
from the trenches
1. Retrospectives
2. Lean Coffee
3. Team 1:1s
4. Guilds
5. Lunch and Learns

48. Continuous improvement is everyone’s responsibility

49. Thank you
Ryan McKergow
ryanmckergow
rmckergow
elabor8
elabor8