Agile respectively Scrum offers a model to learn on an individual and group/team level. It misses methods to learn on an organizational level. The talk explains how tacit knowledge is transformed into explicit knowledge, what Ikujiro Nonaka's und Hirotaka Takeuchi's knowledge spiral is and how to get from an individual and team level learning to organizational learning

1. Agile and Learning Organizations
LeanAgileUS 2017 - Fort Lauderdale
Wolfgang Wiedenroth
@wwiedenroth
@wwiedenroth

2. Learn to better use Scrum’s potential to
become a learning organization.
For this, linking the teams to the rest of
the organization is essential.
About this talk
@wwiedenroth

3. :) :| :(
€
Vision
Product
Owner
Product
Backlog Sprint
Backlog
Retrospective
Review
ScrumMaster
Development
Team
Product
Increment
Daily Scrum
Agile is about learning
An agile organization is
a learning organization
@wwiedenroth

4. Hirotaka Takeuchi
Ikujirō Nonaka
Nonaka,Takeuchi: „The New
New Product Development
Game“, Harvard Business
Review, 1986
Scrum - the origin
@wwiedenroth

5. Fuji Xerox FX-3500 in 1978
Honda City in 1981
NEC PC8000 in 1979 Canon AE-1 in 1978
Scrum in the 70s?
@wwiedenroth

6. sequential
Scrum
overlapping
fast and innovative
@wwiedenroth

7. The Scrum-Team
cross-functional autonomous
inspect&adapt
@wwiedenroth

8. 1987: Matsushita
releases the first home
bread maker
see Nonaka, Takeuchi: „The Knowledge-Creating Company“@wwiedenroth

9. explicit knowledge
lkadslö adskl jadslköasdjölkjadsö lkjasd ÖLKasdölk
jasdölkjöl adslökasd jÖLK Asölkj aslök asölkjasöl
ÖLKasd jölasd jölkasd jölkja slkö jasdöLK JAsödl
jölsad kJÖLasd jölasdkjlöasd jlöasd jÖLAsd kjölaks
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KLÖasölkadsj lökasd
Explicit Knowledge
@wwiedenroth

10. lkadslö adskl jadslköasdjölkjadsö lkjasd ÖLKasdölk
jasdölkjöl adslökasd jÖLK Asölkj aslök asölkjasöl
ÖLKasd jölasd jölkasd jölkja slkö jasdöLK JAsödl
jölsad kJÖLasd jölasdkjlöasd jlöasd jÖLAsd kjölaks
jÖL Ask jölads jÖL adskjölasd jÖLAsd kjlöasd
ÖLasdlöads jlöads jlöads jLÖAsd jlöads
KLÖasölkadsj lökasd
tacit
knowledge
Tacit Knowledge
explicit knowledge
siehe Michael Polanyi: „The Tacit Dimension“
Michael Polanyi: „We can
know more than we can tell“.
@wwiedenroth

11. explicit knowledge
lkadslö adskl jadslköasdjölkjadsö lkjasd ÖLKasdölk
jasdölkjöl adslökasd jÖLK Asölkj aslök asölkjasöl
ÖLKasd jölasd jölkasd jölkja slkö jasdöLK JAsödl
jölsad kJÖLasd jölasdkjlöasd jlöasd jÖLAsd kjölaks
jÖL Ask jölads jÖL adskjölasd jÖLAsd kjlöasd
ÖLasdlöads jlöads jlöads jLÖAsd jlöads
KLÖasölkadsj lökasd
tacit
knowledge
transforming knowledge is learning
Dave Snowden:
„Knowledge is only
known, when it is
needed to be known.“
@wwiedenroth

12. transforming tacit to tacit knowledge
socialization
tacit
tacit
e.g. internship at
customer
@wwiedenroth

13. transforming tacit to explicit knowledge
socialization
tacit
tacit
externalisation
tacit
explicit
e.g. building a
prototype
@wwiedenroth

14. transforming explicit to explicit knowledge
socialization
tacit
tacit
externalisation
tacit
explicit
combination
explicit
explicit
e.g. creating a
business model
@wwiedenroth

15. transforming explicit to tacit knowledge
socialization
tacit
tacit
externalisation
tacit
explicit
combination
explicit
explicit
explicit
tacit
e.g. using the
product
internalisation
@wwiedenroth

16. product-related learning in Scrum
explicit
tacit
internalisation
socialization
tacit
tacit
externalisation
tacit
explicit
combination
explicit
explicit
Working with
customers
developing the
product
Sprint Review
Sprint Review
Sprint Planning
Working in the
team
@wwiedenroth

17. process-related learning in Scrum
explicit
tacit
internalisation
socialization
tacit
tacit
externalisation
tacit
explicit
combination
explicit
explicit
Working in the
teams
Sprint
Retrospective
Sprint Retrospective
Sprint Planning
Working in the
team
@wwiedenroth

18. Knowledge spiral in Companies
explicit
tacit
tacit
tacit tacit
explicit
explicit
explicit
internalization
socialization externalization
combination
see Nonaka, Takeuchi: „The Knowledge-Creating Company“
@wwiedenroth

19. tacitexplicit
Individual
Group /
Team
Company
Scrum-
Framework
Knowledge
???
@wwiedenroth

20. tacitexplicit
Individual Group /
Team
Company
Scrum-
Framework
Knowledge
???
linking business- und
innovationsystem
Knowledge transfer
between teams
Knowledge transfer
„bottom-up“
Knowledge transfer
“top-down”
…
@wwiedenroth

21. optimize flow
efficiency maximize
learning
Business and Innovation System
@wwiedenroth
Innovation
system
Business
system

22. optimize flow efficiency
maximize learning
stable
unstable
@wwiedenroth
Innovation
system
Business
system

23. knowledge transfer by rotating employees
isolated system but
still linked
Innovation
system
Business
system@wwiedenroth

24. Business and innovation system are
mixed; one-size fits all mentality
employees aren’t rotating between
business- and innovationsystems
Agile development is seen as
“execution” focussing on higher
throughput (absolutely valid for the
business system, but nonsense for the
innovation system)
Most Scrum-Teams are minimal
cross-functional (Programmers,
Testers).
reality in software development
deficits in
developing relevant
innovations
@wwiedenroth

25. internships at customers, customer service, or sales.
attending communities of practice outside your specialization
cross-departmental open spaces
Support Party (Jimdo)
Customer Service employees as part of dev teams (Jimdo).
…
Path to employee rotation
@wwiedenroth

26. Spreading knowledge
employee rotation,
internships,…
Story Telling,
Open Space,
Communities of
Practice, …
trainings,
coaching, …
Communities of
Practice,
Workshops, …
explicit
tacit
tacit
tacit tacit
explicit
explicit
explicit
@wwiedenroth

27. Do we practice all forms of knowledge transfer?
What’s your business system?
What is our innovation system?
How do we ensure learning (tacit and explicit) takes place
throughout the company incl. the business and innovation
system?
What is our strategy regarding employee rotation?
ask yourself
@wwiedenroth

28. Thanks for listening!
Wolfgang Wiedenroth
wolfgang.wiedenroth@it-agile.de
@wwiedenroth
www.agilemanic.com