There are many ways to describe what makes an organization Lean and Agile. I find that constantly focusing on the principles of; Value (for the end user), Flow (end-to-end) and Waste (…reduction) is highly effective, especially when working with improvements.
These principles can be translated to a series of questions you can ask about any improvement. The order of the questions is very important in order to not sub-optimize the organization.
- Does this contribute to us delivering value to the end user?
- Does this contribute to us creating a flow from requirements collection to realized end user value that is as quick as possible?
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Tip: If you want to sell the principle of reducing waste to higher management I recommend that you instead talk about reducing delays.
Does this contribute to us reducing the waste we have in the sub-processes, for example in
- The size of batches of changes
- Queues
- Parallel work
- Re-work
- Cycle-times
- Setup-times
If you use these guiding principles and questions daily I believe you will see that a lot will fall into place; the risk of sub-optimizing parts of the organization will decrease and the focus on improvement will increase.
My specialities are efficiency in IT, leadership, management innovation and people development
- “Big 5” dangers for your software company - March 10, 2015
- How to produce successful change - November 19, 2014
- Guest blog: Stepping Stones into the Future through Leadership Agility at Ericsson - September 1, 2014
Copyright © 2014 Emil Vikström. All Rights Reserved.
