agile beyond software

Eduardo Nofuentes - The Agile Contact Centre

AGILE BEYOND SOFTWAREH O W T O A C H I E V E O R G A N I S AT I O N A L A G I L I T Y

: @edumelbourne www.theagilecontactcentre.com.au

WHAT WILL WE TALK ABOUT TODAY

• WHAT IS AGILE, WHERE IT STARTED AND HOW CAN IT BE APPLIED TO NON SOFTWARE TEAMS


• THE KEY THREE INGREDIENTS TO ACHIEVE ORGANISATIONAL AGILITY

• A REAL EXAMPLE OF AGILITY IN A NON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT TEAM

“The ability to move quickly and easily”

WHAT IS AGILE?


“We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value:

THE AGILE MANIFESTO (2001)

That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.”

Individual and interactions over processes and toolsWorking software over comprehensive documentation

Customer collaboration over contract negotiationResponding to change over following a plan


“We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value:

THE AGILE MANIFESTO (2001)

That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.”

Individual and interactions over processes and toolsWorking software over comprehensive documentation

Customer collaboration over contract negotiationResponding to change over following a plan

working

Outcomes


THE MINDSETS BEHIND AGILE

• Respect for the worth of every person

• Truth in every communication

• Transparency of all data, actions, and decisions

• Trust that each person will support the team

• Commitment to the team and to the team’s goals

MINDSETS


Agile Principles and Values by Jeff Sutherland

THE MINDSETS BEHIND AGILE

• Respect for the worth of every person

• Truth in every communication

• Transparency of all data, actions, and decisions

• Trust that each person will support the team

• Commitment to the team and to the team’s goals - Collaboration

MINDSETS


Agile Principles and Values by Jeff Sutherland

THE PRINCIPLES BEHIND AGILEPRINCIPLES

: @edumelbourne

• Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer. • Deliver outcomes frequently.• Business people must work together daily throughout the project.• Build projects around motivated individuals. • The most efficient and effective method of communication is face-to-face.• Outcomes are the primary measure of progress.• Agile processes promote sustainable development. • Simplicity is essential. • The best outcomes emerge from self-organizing teams.• At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective,

then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.

www.theagilecontactcentre.com.au

THE PRINCIPLES BEHIND AGILEPRINCIPLES

• Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer. • Deliver outcomes frequently.• Business people must work together daily throughout the project.• Build projects around motivated individuals. • The most efficient and effective method of communication is face-to-face.• Outcomes are the primary measure of progress.• Agile processes promote sustainable development. • Simplicity is essential. • The best outcomes emerge from self-organizing teams.• At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective,

then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.


THE GOOD NEWS…

If you are already applying these mindsets and principles to your team or organisation, you are already

doing Agile…

…even if you don’t stick cards on the walls or stand up every morning for 15 minutes.

www.theagilecontactcentre.com.au : @edumelbourne www.theagilecontactcentre.com.au

THEN USE AGILE PRACTICES…

..to fit your business needs.


4 AGILE PRACTICES YOU COULD START WITH YOUR TEAM TOMORROW1. START DAILY STAND UPS


4 AGILE PRACTICES YOU COULD START WITH YOUR TEAM TOMORROW2. BUILD A KANBAN WALL


4 AGILE PRACTICES YOU COULD START WITH YOUR TEAM TOMORROW3. VISUALISE IT


4 AGILE PRACTICES YOU COULD START WITH YOUR TEAM TOMORROW4. HOLD RETROS


THE THREE WAVES OF AGILE


The three Waves of Agile by Charlie Rudd – Solutions IQ

True Customer Focus Keep it LEAN Brave Leadership

THREE KEY INGREDIENTS TO ACHIEVE ORGANISATIONAL AGILITY


We must shift the focus of companies back to the

customer and away from shareholder value.

Companies should place customers at the center of

the firm and focus on delighting them, while

earning an acceptable return for shareholders.

“the only valid purpose of a firm is to create a customer ” Peter Drucker

TRUE CUSTOMER FOCUS: THE SHAREHOLDER VALUE TRAP


Use a Systems Thinking or a Design Thinking approach to

the way you structure your teams

and organisations starting with the

customer first

“To manage an organisation as a system means understanding how work flows from and to the organisation’s customers.” John Seddon

TRUE CUSTOMER FOCUS: DEPARTMENTAL SILOS


Build a culture in your organisation or

team where the focus of everyone is

on: eliminating waste, adding value

for the customer and improving the flow

of work.

“Value is always defined by the customer”…”Any activity that is unproductive or does not add to the value of product is waste” The Toyota System

KEEP IT LEAN: WASTE, FLOW AND VALUE


of how to remove waste, add value or improve the flow in your team or organisation?

CAN YOU THINK OF ANY EXAMPLES…


Build a culture where SIMPLICITY is well regarded

and seen as a key competitive advantage. Not only on the way products or services are designed, but

also the way internal processes, meetings, and

collaboration tools are designed and run.

“Everything should be made as simple as possible. But not simpler” Albert Einstein

KEEP IT LEAN: SIMPLICITY


Brave Leaders believe everyone is already doing their best and are willing to do things that are

unexpected or against the norm

“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit” Henry Truman

BRAVE LEADERSHIP: THE SERVANT MINDSET


Brave Leaders cultivate a culture of

trust and develop other leaders. Adopt

and institute leadership aimed at helping people to do

a better job

"The primary function of leadership is to nurture culture through values” Jurgen Appelo

BRAVE LEADERSHIP: THE COACH MINDSET


Brave leaders take imperfect action and

are not afraid of admitting they don’t

know the answer.

“Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren't always comfortable, but they're never weakness.” Brene Brown

BRAVE LEADERSHIP: THE VULNERABILITY MINDSET


An Agile and Lean Contact Centre???

A REAL LIFE EXAMPLE


Yes. It can happen…

Unlimited IVRoptions

Endless Internaltransfers

Long waiting periods

WE ALL HAVE SUFFERED FROM POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE


Low CustomerSatisfaction

Isolated fromOrganisation

Low EmployeeEngagement

USUALLY THOSE CUSTOMER SERVICE TEAMS SUFFER FROM…


Team not meetingbasic service levels

Complaining about changeDisengaged Team

WHAT WE FOUND AT REA…


Agile alone will not solve all the problems

Systems ThinkingApproach

Agile Mindset & Practices Lean Principles

THE THREE STRATEGIES WE USED


Systems ThinkingApproach

STRATEGY ONE – A SYSTEMS THINKING APPROACH


The Vanguard Guide to Transforming Contact Centres

A VANGUARD VIEW OF CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE


Is your customer demand Value Demand – What the call centre exists to do for customers, or Failure Demand – Demand caused by a failure within the organisation?

Are customers contacting us

because we failed to do something

right?

UNDERSTANDING CUSTOMER DEMAND & PREDICTABILITY


Some failure is created by the contact centre, some by other parts of the organisation, none is created by the customer.

Understanding the system is the prerequisite to improving the

system

UNDERSTANDING WHY IT WENT WRONG


Embed a culture of continuous improvement based on eliminating failure demand.

Use empirical data

to remove waste and

affect change

ELIMINATING THE WRONGNESS


The leader nurtures an environment that enables the people in the team make decisions from a customers perspective.

Let the people who do the work

take control of the work

DESIGN A HUMAN SYSTEM THAT WORKS


Agile Mindset & Practices

STRATEGY TWO – AGILE MINDSET & PRACTICES


“At the end of the day, stuff gets done when people care to do it. I know of no plan, method, incantation that changes that equation.” H. Owen

A shared purpose drives collaboration

AGILE PRACTICES: START WITH THE PURPOSE


Taking people off the phones to attend stand ups was a short term risk that we took for the long term success of the team.

Encourage face to face communication

and collaboration

AGILE PRACTICES: DAILY STAND UPS


The team worked on fortnightly sprint cycles on projects chosen every 90 days.

Promote transparency and accountability by having all projects

on the wall

AGILE PRACTICES: SPRINT WALL


We used to keep endless spreadsheets and internal documents with information that now is visible and easily accessible to everyone.

Try to find ways to visualise the work

and data that is important to the

team

AGILE PRACTICES: VISUALISATION OF WORK


Using retrospectives we uncovered the main problems for our customers and staff and it helped us with the prioritisation of work

Listen to the people that do the work. They know your customers’

problems and usually the answers

AGILE PRACTICES: RETROSPRECTIVES

: @edumelbourne www.theagilecontactcentre.com.auwww.theagilecontactcentre.com.au

Lean Principles

STRATEGY THREE – LEAN PRINCIPLES


We launched a new channel without having to go through

our internal IT department and spending $300 in

licences.

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Thomas Edison

LEAN PRINCIPLES: RAPID EXPERIMENTATION


Remove IVR’s when they don’t add value to customers

Understanding customer demand and predictability will show that you don’t need specialised teams

LEAN PRINCIPLES: REMOVE BARRIERS FOR CUSTOMERS


Measure what matters to customers and let the team set their own goals and

targets

“If you give a manager a numerical target, he'll make it even if he has to destroy the company in the process." - Deming

LEAN PRINCIPLES: REMOVE METRICS THAT DON’T MATTER


Improved customersatisfaction - 8.9

Customer led - 18% failure

demand

Engagedteam - 88%

THE RESULTS


Eduardo NofuentesThe Agile Contact Centrewww.theagilecontactcentre.com.aueduardo@theagilecontactcentre.com.au+61407 450 640


THANK YOU