Is Your Agile Lean Enough

Agile
Is Your Agile Lean Enough?
George Tsai
CSM, CSPO, CSP, SPC4
gtsai972@gmail.com
Agile-DevOps: DFW Chapter
Feb 02, 2017
1Copyright (c) 2017 by George Tsai, https://www.linkedin.com/in/george-tsai-3256bab7

Agile
Feel
Think
Be
Agile
Differently

3
Scrum Team
SAFe Team of Teams
Mkt DEV QA RM
My Journey with Agile
Glass Ceiling within IT Organization
Copyright (c) 2017 by George Tsai, https://www.linkedin.com/in/george-tsai-3256bab7

6
Scrum is Necessary
but Not Sufficient
Local Optimization – Silos, Silos everywhere!
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/27/1f/56/271f56cf345f5685124af2283ce42559.jpg

7
LEAN is the Missing Link
• Global Optimization with End-to-End Systems Thinking
Cost of Delay
Agile typically only optimizes our systems for Product Development
http://blackswanfarming.com/cost-of-delay/

8
• Common Language: methodology agnostic
(complement, not replacing existing methodologies).
No more us vs. them – Agile is for IT, not us!
Comparing to Agile, it is easier
for Lean to unify the disparate
organizations because it is
easier for everyone to
understand customer value
and eliminating waste!

9
Scrum is Necessary
but Not Sufficient
• Are we drown in the implementation mode?
• What are the problems Agile trying to solve?

10
Two Critical Questions
What is the True North
of your Agile initiative?
How do you measure
your Agile success?

11
• Focus on the True North: find the Voice of Customer
(VoC), deliver Customer Value with Highest Quality,
Lowest Cost, Shortest Lead Time, and High Moral –
looking from outside in to see how to delivery value to
customers.

12
Uh...
1. Lean is for Manufacturing only
2. People may not listen to Lean either

1986 HBR The new new product
development game by
Hirotaka Takeuchi and
Ikujiro Nonaka.
Grandfather of Scrum
Ken Schwaber & Jeff Sutherland
started Scrum,
originally
inspired by the
idea of in the
article by Ikujiro. Father of Scrum
13
Lean is Universal
Manufacturing SW Development
GE adapts Lean Startup (called
FastWorks) to reduce cost and
speed up product development.
So far GE Appliance has
achieved: half the
program cost, twice
the program speed.
https://hbr.org/2014/04/how-ge-applies-lean-startup-practices
2008 Eric Ries’ Lean Startup claims
that startups can shorten their
product development cycles by
combining of business-
hypothesis-driven
experimentation, iterative
product releases, and
validated learning.

14
Psychology of Judgment & Decision Making
THINKING, FAST AND SLOW
Daniel Kahneman, 2002 Nobel Prize winner in Economic. For quick review on THINK, FAST AND SLOW:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqXVAo7dVRU

15
System 1
Implementation Mode
System 2
Improvement Mode
Path is perceived clear,
predicable
Path is perceived uncertain,
dynamic
Jump to Solution quickly Experiment as quickly as possible
Command style – more telling Coaching style – more asking
Experiences, bias, opinions –
emotional (past performance)
Facts, data, measurements –
scientific (show me)
Comfort zone Learning zone
React, Protect (e.g. SOP) Reflect, Explore (e.g. PDCA)
Pick the Right Mode
for the Right Task

16
Can Agile Do This?
Discussion:
The IT department delivers a feature to customer in total of 46 weeks. The
feature is estimated by marketing department to generate $200,000
revenue a week for the company. The CEO, Mark, calculated the $8 million
of unrealized revenue during the development process.
A similar Phase II project is coming. Mark asks your boss, VP of
Development, to come up with a plan to cut down 11 weeks ( ~1/4, about
$2 million revenue) of the lead time with existing resources and without
sacrificing the quality.

17
Can Agile Do This?

18
Toyota Production System - TPS
Success of Toyota has rarely been replicated.
Why?
Visible
Less
Visible
Lean Tools and
techniques to
improve quality,
cost, and delivery
A systematic,
scientific way of
thinking and acting
to meet the next
challenge
Managers as the
teachers of the way

19
Sustain LEAN
Toyota Kata
Mike Rother – answer the two questions:
1. What are the unseen managerial routines and
thinking that lie behind Toyota’s success with
continuous improvement and adaptation?
2. How can other companies develop similar
routines and thinking in their organizations?
Put the continuous in continuous improvement

20
Improvement/Coaching Kata
Systematic & Scientific routine of meeting challenges
along an uncertain path
Note: you may find Kata familiar with some similar Scrum practices: daily meeting, time-
boxed, Iterative development, and visual display. Simple model, yet hard to master.

21
Experiment with PDCA Cycle
As Quickly, Cheaply, and Safely as possible

24
Vision
Next
Target
Condition
Current
Condition Obstacles Challenge
Kata – Connecting
Strategy & Execution
Technical Execution
(Decentralized – How)
Business Strategy
(Centralized – What)
Leaders establish the
organization's strategic
concept (the “rallying point”
or overall direction)
Managers develop people by
coaching application practice of
the Improvement Kata in the
direction of the challenge

27
Kata Complements Agile
• Managers as Coaches:
leaders set the vision,
middle managers execute it –
line managers as Coaches* to
teach improvement kata pattern
as part of daily work, not add-on.
• Scientific Thinking Pattern:
fact-based, innovative and
adaptive thinking – hypothesis,
discovery, experiment & learn
through rapid, iterative PDCA cycles.
*Leaders who have mastered four or more— especially the authoritative, democratic, affiliative, and coaching styles— have
the best climate and business performance. Leadership That Gets Results by Daniel Goleman, HBR March-April 2000
https://nealandministries.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/goleman-leadership-that-gets-results.pdf

28
Kata Complements Agile (cont.)
• Purpose Driven: Vision-Challenge-Target Condition
What we can do
What we need to do

• Eliminate waste the right way!
Shotgun Approach
Action List
Jump to Solution
Know where we are
Know where we are going
Experiment through it
One obstacle at a time

30
• Deliberate Practice: (near) Daily Improvement
Kata/Coaching Kata, where habits are formed, Culture
created.
• Time Tested and Proven: no fab or flavor of the month.
6 yrs 15 yrs 25 yrs 50 yrs

31
Essentially, all models are
wrong, but some are
useful. Remember that all
models are wrong; the
practical question is how
wrong do they have to be
to not be useful.
All models are wrong, but
some are useful.
George E.P. Box

32
Summary
No matter where you are in your Agile journey,
Lean can complement Agile:
• Apply Systems Thinking (end-to-end)
• Deliver Customer Value (outside in)
• Communicate more effectively in Lean (common language)
Go deeper to create culture of
Continuous Improvement,
Adaptation, and Innovation,
Try

33
References
• Cost of Delay: What is Cost of Delay? Why is it the “one thing” to quantify? How
can I get started with Cost of Delay? How do I quantify the Cost of Delay for my
initiative/project or feature? (http://blackswanfarming.com/cost-of-delay/ )
• The New New Product Development Game by Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro
Nonaka (https://hbr.org/1986/01/the-new-new-product-development-game)
• How GE Applies Lean Startup Practices by Brad Power, HBR
(https://hbr.org/2014/04/how-ge-applies-lean-startup-practices)
• Daniel Kahneman, 2002 Nobel Prize winner in Economic. For quick review on
THINK, FAST and SLOW: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqXVAo7dVRU)
• Toyota Kata: Managing People for Improvement, Adaptiveness ande Superior
Results by Mile Rother: https://www.amazon.com/Toyota-Kata-Managing-
Improvement-Adaptiveness/dp/0071635238/

34
Q&A

35
George Tsai
CSM, CSPO, CSP, SPC4
Certified Lean Management Professional
ICP-ACC, Toyota Kata
Thanks!
For more information about Agile beyond Scrum teams with
SAFe, Lean, and Kata,
please contact me at: gtsai972@gmail.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/george-tsai-3256bab7

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