Slides as presented on Dec 8, 2020 at FlowConf organized by Agile Kanban Istanbul. https://www.flowconf.com/ Organizational change often stalls out at departmental boundaries, whether that is IT or another division. How do we help organizations connect vertically and horizontally to realize the outcomes that they have when undertaking large-scale change efforts? Join this session to learn from a case study of a bank that combined flight levels and metrics to bridge their departmental boundaries and recognize gains not only in software delivery effectiveness but unifying higher-level strategy.

1. METRICS AT EVERY
(FLIGHT) LEVEL
ENABLING MANAGED EVOLUTION
matthew.r.philip@accenture.com
@mattphilip

2. 2
“THE AGILE
TRANSFORMATION”

3. BDUF BPUF
(BIG PICTURE UP FRONT)
3

4. @mattphilip
REALITY
4
Unfinished church at St George’s in Bermuda , “The Folly of St. George’s"

5. 5
AN ALTERNATIVE

6. ENABLING MANAGED EVOLUTION
METRICS AT EVERY
(FLIGHT) LEVEL
FLIGHT LEVELS KANBAN LENS
RUBRICS CUBE OF METRICS LEADERSHIP AT EVERY LEVEL

7. 7
FLIGHT LEVELS

8. @mattphilip
A THINKING MODEL THAT
HELPS YOU FIND OUT WHERE
IN AN ORGANIZATION YOU
HAVE TO DO WHAT IN ORDER
TO ACHIEVE THE RESULTS
THAT YOU WANT
8
— Klaus Leopold

9. @mattphilip
9
Security UAT Deploy Done
Feature
Feature
Feature
Team Z
Analyze Develop Test Done
Feature
Feature
Feature
Team N
Analyze Develop Test Done
Feature
Feature
Feature
Team C
Analyze Develop Test Done
Feature
Feature
Feature
Team BPreconditResearch Select Done
Feature
Feature
Feature
Team Launch
Level 3: Strategic/Portfolio
Level 2: End-to-End Coordination
Level1: Operational
Prioritize
Coordinate
Deliver
Concept Realize Deliver Done
Flow 1
Flow 2
Flow 3
Concept Realize Deliver Done
Family 1
Flow 2
Flow 3
Experiment Realize Learn
KPI
KPI
KPI
Experiment Realize Learn
KPI
KPI
KPI

10. FLIGHT LEVELS
10
• The higher you fly, you have more of an
overview with fewer details.
• The lower you fly, you can see more
details but not the entire landscape.
• the effect of specific improvement
steps at different levels, and
• the most useful starting point within the
organization to begin improvements.
RELATES TO FLIGHT ALTITUDE: IS AN INSTRUMENT OF COMMUNICATION THAT REVEALS:

11. 11
KANBAN LENS

12. THE KANBAN LENS IS A
WAY TO SEE YOUR WORK.
• WORK AS FLOW
• WORKFLOW AS
KNOWLEDGE-DISCOVERY
STEPS
• KNOWLEDGE WORK AS A
SERVICE
• ORGANIZATIONS AS
NETWORKS OF SERVICES
12

13. @mattphilip
LOOKING AT A CURRENT
ORGANIZATION THROUGH A
SERVICE-ORIENTED LENS
AND SEEING SERVICES WHERE
CURRENTLY PEOPLE ONLY SEE
FUNCTIONS AND SPECIALIZATIONS
IS LIBERATING AND EMPOWERING.
13
— David Anderson

14. 14
LEADERSHIP AT
EVERY LEVEL

15. THE ABILITY TO INSPIRE
OTHERS TO ACTION THROUGH
EXAMPLE, WORDS, AND
REFLECTION. MOST
ORGANIZATIONS HAVE SOME
DEGREE OF HIERARCHICAL
STRUCTURE, BUT IN KANBAN
LEADERSHIP IS NEEDED AT
ALL LEVELS TO ACHIEVE
VALUE DELIVERY AND
IMPROVEMENT.
15
Leader
Follower-
Leader
Follower-
Leader
Follower-
Leader
Follower Follower Follower Follower Follower Follower
Leader
Leader LeaderLeader
Leader Leader Leader Leader Leader Leader
Leader-Follower
Leader-Leader

16. @mattphilip
ENCOURAGE ACTS OF
LEADERSHIP AT EVERY
LEVEL—FROM THE
INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTOR
TO SENIOR MANAGEMENT.
16
— Kanban Method’s third change-management principle

17. 17
RUBRICS CUBE OF
METRICS

18. @mattphilip
TWO DIMENSIONS
18
Product
Service
Internal External
Delivery AspectPerspective
“Build
Thing
Right”
“Build
Right
Thing”
How
What

19. @mattphilip
TWO DIMENSIONS
19
Product
Service
Internal External
Delivery Aspect
Perspective
Is our team
healthy?
Is our
product
healthy?
Is our
product fit
for its
purpose?
Is our
service
delivery fit
for its
purpose?

20. @mattphilip
TWO DIMENSIONS: METRICS
20
Product
Service
Internal External
• Team
happiness
• Engagement
• Flow
efficiency
• Delivery time
• Throughput
• Mean time to
restore
service
• Due-date
performance
• Revenue
• Market Share
• Usage (e.g.,
bounce rate)
• C-Sat
• App-store
rating
• Mean time to
restore build
• Code health
• Performance
Delivery Aspect
Perspective

21. @mattphilip
METRICS + FLIGHT LEVELS
21
Product
Service
Internal External
Is our team
healthy?
Is our
product
healthy?
Is our
product fit
for its
purpose?
Is our
service
delivery fit
for its
purpose?
Delivery Aspect
Perspective

22. @mattphilip
THIRD DIMENSION: LEVELS
22
Internal External
Viewpoint
“Build
Thing
Right”
“Build
Right
Thing”
Product
Service
Perspective
How
What
Team/Operational
End-to-End/Coordination
Strategy/Portfolio
Level

23. @mattphilip
“RUBRICS CUBE” OF METRICS
23
Service
Internal
External
Level
Delivery Aspect
Perspective
Team/Operational
End-to-End/Coordination
Strategy/Portfolio
Product
Service
Internal External

24. @mattphilip
“RUBRICS CUBE” OF METRICS
24
Service
Internal
External
Level
Delivery Aspect
Perspective
Team/Operational
End-to-End/Coordination
Strategy/Portfolio
Product
Service
Internal External
Team-Level
Employee
Engagement

25. @mattphilip
“RUBRICS CUBE” OF METRICS
25
Service
Internal
External
Level
Delivery Aspect
Perspective
Team/Operational
End-to-End/Coordination
Strategy/Portfolio
Product
Service
Internal External
End-to-end
delivery time

26. @mattphilip
“RUBRICS CUBE” OF METRICS
26
Service
Internal
External
Level
Delivery Aspect
Perspective
Team/Operational
End-to-End/Coordination
Strategy/Portfolio
Product
Service
Internal External
Market Share

27. @mattphilip
“RUBRICS CUBE” OF METRICS
27
Service
Internal
External
Level
Delivery Aspect
Perspective
Team/Operational
End-to-End/Coordination
Strategy/Portfolio
Product
Service
Internal External
Delivery Time

28. 28
METRICS AT
EVERY (FLIGHT)
LEVEL: IN ACTION

29. @mattphilip
COMMON APPROACH TO AGILE
29
Agile Teams
Deliver
How do I monitor
someone’s
performance?
What’s our velocity?
How do I know if
teams are doing well?
How many teams are
“agile”?
Why don’t we get
everyone on Jira?
Why is Team A’s
velocity lower than
Team B’s?!
I’m not a
scrum master or
product owner, so what
do I do in agile?
Why do we need to do
these “ceremonies”?
How many stories did
you complete?
Management
Executives

30. @mattphilip
A LEADER WHO BELIEVES THAT HE CAN MAKE A
POSITIVE DIFFERENCE THROUGH CONTINUAL
PERSONAL INTERVENTIONS IS USUALLY
DELUDING HIMSELF. HE THEREBY TAKES OVER
THINGS OTHER PEOPLE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE
DOING, EFFECTIVELY DISPENSING WITH THEIR
EFFORTS, AND MULTIPLIES HIS OWN TASKS TO
SUCH AN EXTENT THAT HE CAN NO LONGER
CARRY THEM ALL OUT…
30
— Helmuth Von Moltke

31. @mattphilip
…THE DEMANDS MADE ON A SENIOR
COMMANDER ARE SEVERE ENOUGH AS IT
IS. IT IS FAR MORE IMPORTANT THAT
THE PERSON AT THE TOP RETAINS A
CLEAR PICTURE OF THE OVERALL
SITUATION THAN WHETHER SOME
PARTICULAR THING IS DONE THIS WAY
OR THAT.
31
— Helmuth Von Moltke

32. @mattphilip
32
Level 3: Strategic/Portfolio
Level 2: End-to-End Coordination
Level1: Operational
Prioritize
Coordinate
Deliver
Outcomes:
• Faster time to market (by 20%)
• Better due-date performance (90%)
• More competitive products (#1 in total addressable
market)
• More engaged employees
Product Groups
• Cycle time
• Discard rate
• Engagement
Strategies
• User engagement
• DevOps and tech modernization
• Employee empowerment and engagement
• Limit system WIP
Product
• Cycle time
• WIP
• Unit tests
• Engagement
Development
• Cycle time
• MTTR
• Engagement
Operations
• End-to-end delivery time
• Employee Engagement
• Product win rate
• Value-Added Work ratio
• WIP
Strategy
Reviews
Operations
Reviews
Service-
Delivery
Reviews

33. @mattphilip
33
Level 2: End-to-End Coordination
Level1: Operational
Coordinate
Deliver
Product Groups
Product Development Operations
WIP!WIP!
WIP!
WIP!
WIP!WIP! WIP!
ROOT OF ALL EVIL: ORGANIZATIONAL WIP?

34. @mattphilip
THE HIGHER THE LEVEL OF COMMAND, THE
SHORTER AND MORE GENERAL THE ORDERS
SHOULD BE. THE NEXT LEVEL DOWN
SHOULD ADD WHATEVER FURTHER
SPECIFICATION IT FEELS TO BE NECESSARY,
AND THE DETAILS OF EXECUTION ARE LEFT
TO VERBAL INSTRUCTIONS OR PERHAPS A
WORD OF COMMAND…
34
— Helmuth Von Moltke

35. @mattphilip
…THIS ENSURES THAT EVERYONE
RETAINS FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT
AND DECISION WITHIN THE
BOUNDS OF THEIR AUTHORITY.
35
— Helmuth Von Moltke

36. @mattphilip
36
Level 3: Strategic/Portfolio
Level 2: End-to-End Coordination
Level1: Operational Services
Prioritize
Coordinate
Deliver
What really matters to
our organization?
Why are we doing this
transformation?
How fit-for-purpose is
this service?
What do our
customers value and
care about?
How do these
services help us
execute our strategy?
Which services
should we throttle up or
down?
How might we
optimize on the whole?
What do our
consumers value?
How does this
experiment impact our
KPIs?

37. @mattphilip
AT FLIGHT LEVEL 2 AND
3, IT ISN’T ABOUT THE
BOARD. THE SYSTEM
REPRESENTS THE POINTS
OF COMMUNICATION.
37
— Klaus Leopold

38. 38
How my work connects to and impacts the organization’s
purpose
Where to provide the most leverage
The measurements by which we manage experiments
The minimal amount of specificity that I need to provide in order
to help others make aligned decisions
METRICS AT
EVERY (FLIGHT)
LEVEL
COMMUNICATE:

39. @mattphilip
39
1.MODEL SERVICES IN FLIGHT LEVELS
2.AGREE ON ORGANIZATIONAL GOALS
3.IDENTIFY METRICS AT EVERY LEVEL (LEADING AND LAGGING)
4.MAKE WORK VISIBLE
5.ENSURE ALL WORK (AND METRICS) CONNECT TO THE TOP
6.USE CADENCES TO INSPECT AND ADAPT
Takeaways for tomorrow

40. Sources and Resources
• PRACTICAL KANBAN
• ESSENTIAL KANBAN CONDENSED
• THE ART OF ACTION
• HTTPS://WWW.KANBANMATURITYMODEL.COM/
• HTTPS://WWW.LEANABILITY.COM/EN/BLOG-EN/2017/04/FLIGHT-LEVELS-THE-
ORGANIZATIONAL-IMPROVEMENT-LEVELS/
• HTTPS://MATTPHILIP.WORDPRESS.COM/2020/01/31/FLIGHT-LEVELS-AND-METRICS/
• HTTPS://WWW.REDDIT.COM/R/PROCRASTITECTURE/
• HTTPS://WWW.FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/ANDREWMALONE/6617176639
• HTTPS://XPROCESS.BLOGSPOT.COM/2018/02/THE-KANBAN-LENS-WAY-TO-SEE.HTML