This session looked at how a small team used Agile-Lean in a large company to deliver sustained acceleration of the system of work.
Combining Agile and Lean enabled faster flow and a paradigm shift from optimising the flow of projects to optimising the flow of the system. This included value stream mapping, rapid value delivery, teamwork, customer focus and adaptability, as well as greater collaboration and reduced waste .
Originally, the project division had seven separate frameworks. In seeking to address this, the solution needed alignment and consistency, but still had to be simple enough for a small project and robust enough for a complex project.
There were also some common perceptions that needed to be managed; namely that currently, some projects:
- went around existing governance
- straight to solutions
- were not aligned to strategy/goals (lack of value)
The seven frameworks were analysed and distilled down to a single overarching Value Delivery Framework (VDF) that included four key phases:
- Opportunity
- Discovery
- Validation
- Delivery
The VDF was underpinned by some key principles:
- Problem and outcome before solution
- Keeping the customer at the centre
- Cross-functional collaboration
- Allows fit for purpose application
- Break work down
- Focus on value
- De-risk investment through learning
- Just enough in each stage to deliver value
- E2E visibility of framework for stakeholders
- One size fits all: MVP + optional extras
Visibility of each phase helped to:
- Agree on the problem statement
- Align on SMART success criteria
- Identify early/lead indicators of improvement of the status quo (and proof points)
The approach also enabled a ‘goldilocks’ amount of detail and support:
- Jobs to be done vs roles and responsibilities
- Alignment on why and what, flexibility on how
- Agile coach supporting new VDF users, to ensure a ‘just right’ amount of detail provided
Critical to the success was:
- Communicating a LOT across a range of channels, including:
- Large ‘all hands’ virtual sessions
- Leadership team meetings
- Online channels (eg yammer)
- Online drop in sessions: Q&A on hot topics
- Leveraging relationships for change champions to support and adopt the VDF
- Measuring success through results from pilots, e-learning, surveys etc
- Providing introductory VDF e-learning
- Once somewhat established, a mandatory VDF standard was introduced (this helped with projects that were/perceived to be going around governance)
- An opportunity assessment forum to uplift quality
- Cross functional SME input on early opportunities
- Agile coaching ‘just in time’ for newbies
- Retros (VDF user group)/continuous improvement
- Limiting WIP and accelerating flow of work
- Fortnightly cadence for Stage 1 governance ceremony
- Aligned and consistent WOWs/eliminating duplication
- Eliminating non-viable projects (eg funding, strategy)
- Bonus benefit for demand and capacity team:
- Early visibility of upcoming demand peaks/additional capability needs
Overall this approach sped up all phases of projects significantly for 200+ projects)
What would they do differently next time?
- Launch pilot/s as early as possible
- Run a spike on metrics as early as possible
- Recognise how much communication is needed to build trust and support
Questions still unanswered
- What is the ‘right’ amount of WIP per phase?
- Does accelerating an earlier phase of the VDF cause congestion later on?
- Can we use these Agile-lean principles to enable even faster delivery of projects?
Written: Agile Change Manager Ruth Davidson.
