©2016 James Shew

It’s always a people problem…

…even when it’s a people problem.

Presented at Much Ado About Agile 2016October 24th, 2016

Reach me at:• (email) jamesshew@Hot

mail.com• (twitter) @agileGroupT

©2016 James Shew

It’s always a people problem…

…even when it’s a people problem.

©2016 James Shew

A much too short list of giving credit where credit is due

Re-inventing organizations (A book)• I have 2 copies to give away

Brandi Shew (a person)

©2016 James Shew

Me, myself, and I • Developer turned coach, facilitator, scrum master• What drives me is helping people live better (work) lives

• It’s important to know what motivates people (gasp! Is this foreshadowing?)

©2016 James Shew

My goalHave you walk away with one thing you can use consciously:

• A saying• An idea• A technique you want to try

©2016 James Shew

Every organization

has the culture it deserves

Some of my previous takeaways

You can’t think outside the box!

But you can expand it

*scowl* We’re not getting the agile we need,

but the agile we deserve.

Niels Pflaeging

themoment.is

©2016 James Shew

1) Exercise: Expanding the boxInstructions

1. Acquire an index card and a pen

2. (2 mins) Write the following about yourself• Hobbies/interests that you have (or have had in the past)

• What inspires/motivates you

• Places you enjoy being

• Something you have greater than average knowledge about

3. (1 min) Find a partner, exchange cards, and choose one topic on the card that you know little or nothing about.

4. (5 mins) Each person will take a turn asking questions about that topic until you learn something new, something interesting, or something about the way that person thinks.

Hobbies/interests (volleyball, ice hockey, kayaking)Inspires me (Re-inventing organizations, Elon Musk)Places: (Italy, London, beach, Scandinave) Knowledge (Agile, board games)

You can’t think outside the box!

But you can expand it

The people problem

©2016 James Shew

©2016 James Shew

Agilemania! So much agile!What are we looking at?

Must be important!

Wow! Everyone’s doing it!

AGILE!

AGILE! AGILE!

AGILE!

No one wants to be here!

©2016 James Shew

The Agile Promise – the way “it should be”I’m empowered!

I’m engaged!

I love this product! And don’t forget about the company that makes it!They’re amazing!

CheaperBetter products

Just more of everything good!

©2016 James Shew

We have the balance wrong

Agility isn’t a checklist!

agile

Culture &Mindset

Process

BA

We use jira!

I’m called a POnow! Agile!

And I’m a scrum master… whatever that is. Sounds like I’m the boss?

PM

We meet everyday!And no one is allowed to sit or we stone them

It’s the first one!

1234

©2016 James Shew

The significant problems we face today cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.

-Albert Einstein

©2016 James Shew

People are the problemHere’s the people problem: Where there’s a will, there’s a way

Think about every late or “red” project ever – if it needs to go out:• all of a sudden you have war rooms • Approvals happen much faster• Any person or system you need is at your disposal

Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Suddenly, we have• Clear direction and goal• Unprecedented communication and collaboration• The autonomy to make decisions quickly

©2016 James Shew

Practical solutions caveat

Practical = easy

People need to know “Why?”Agility needs an understanding of context and purpose

©2016 James Shew

Why do you do what you do?

TeamWhy?

Company

Why?10 Tricks to

appear smart in meetings

Trick #1: Draw a Venn Diagram

thecooperreview.com

Does your team have an identity and purpose that you can rally around?

Do you have a personal motivation that drives you?

Does your company provide you with a compelling vision that motivates and overlaps with your personal Why?

©2016 James Shew

People need to know why they’re doing something or bad things happen“If employees have little emotional investment in the organization and in its purpose, when work is a burden to be minimized … then don’t be surprised if, when they are given freedom, they take the freedom but not the responsibility.”

-Frederic Laloux, Reinventing organizations

"If you want your people to think, don't give instructions, give intent."-David Marquet, Author of Turn the Ship Around! Go watch the

Inno-versity video of one of

David’s speeches – fantastic!

©2016 James Shew

2) SO if you don’t have a Why, develop oneHow?

• Try an OpenSpace (look it up) event with your teams and management to see if you can come up with an overall WHY?

• Everyone understands it better because they helped create it

CompanyWhy?

©2016 James Shew

Build Bubbles!Sometimes the best you can do is build a bubble of purpose for yourself and in your team …. that insulates you from the rest of the organization.

“If the conditions are wrong [for having a safe environment], we are forced to expend our own time and energy to protect ourselves from each other… and that inherently weakens the organization.” – Simon Sinek, TED 2014

TeamWhy?

Company

Why?

©2016 James Shew

Bubbles need (at least) 2 things1. An understanding of the team/individual “Whys”2. Trust within the team

©2016 James Shew

3) How to start a bubble – Team/Indiv. WhysUse your retros! Run this activity:1. (Silent writing)

2. Share, and asks if the team can support this and help their team member grow – this is a powerful agreement!

3. Use the values to come up with a team purpose.

What helps me be the best version of myself?

What do I need from others to be my best?

What values are important

to me at work?

TeamCompany

©2016 James Shew

4) How to start a bubble – Trust Use a trust metric: team members anonymously vote on whether they hold the following two beliefs about trust (1-5, 1 = I don’t believe that, 5 = I absolutely believe that).

During retrospectives, ask “How can we improve our trust metrics?” and let the team come up with ideas and actions to try.

#1) I believe everyone on the team is doing the best job they can,

with what they have, all the

time.

#2) I believe that everyone else on the team believes

#1 about me.

©2016 James Shew

Raffle time?

Autonomy & Complexity(this section was not presented at Much Ado About Agile 2016)

©2016 James Shew

©2016 James Shew

http://octavioaburto.com/cabo-pulmo

©2016 James Shew

Complex Systems• Often involves some sort of network of autonomous agents

• Animals herds• Your team, company, sales group, customers, etc…

Complex systems have the potential to handle complex and changing environments; they can be anti-fragile

©2016 James Shew

Some things we can try to enable good complexity in your teams (anti-fragile)• Don’t use best practices• Decentralize decision-making

• Delegation Poker

• Enable each agent in your complex system to be able to make think and make decisions• Lead with curiosity / give intent

©2016 James Shew

5) Stop using “best practice(s)”If you want your people to think, don't give instructions, give intent."

-David Marquet, Author of Turn the Ship Around!

If you don’t want them to think, give instructions/best practices

The focus instead becomes on• Practices that are generally good• Running experiments (sense + respond to the environment)

©2016 James Shew

6) Lead with curiosityThe next time you’re trying to get someone to do something or teach them something, try this:

1. Give them the intent of what we’re trying to do (The Why)2. Give no other instructions, only guide them by asking questions

This can be painful and difficult because it seems slower than telling someone, but they will learn better when they figure things out themselves.

©2016 James Shew

7) Delegation Poker Jurgen Appelo, Management 3.0

Use this game to help the team and manager where they differ on how much self-organization everyone is comfortable with.

If there are gaps between the team and manager, discuss what it would take to close the gap.

For example: Who approves vacations? Team or manager? What would the manager need to feel comfortable that the team can approve their own vacations?

We’re almost done!I promise

©2016 James Shew

©2016 James Shew

People are the solutionPeople can handle complexity if the environment allows it:

• decentralizing decisions • enable critical thinking• create alignment (vision and purpose)

©2016 James Shew

We’re not getting the agile we need…Remember:

There are no silver bullets!

This is significant journey for companies and people

Agile didn’t start the fire, it just installed the fire alarms!

- Me (feat. Billy Joel)

Or are we?

©2016 James Shew

Expand the box further• Check out people like:

• Margaret Heffernen

• Brene Brown

• Simon Sinek

• David Marquet

• Read • Re-inventing organizations

• Organize for complexity

• Watch • my “Heart of Agile” youtube playlist

(Google “youtube heart of agile james shew”)

If you want to connect with me, it’s not easy, but there are some

reasonably viable options:

Connect/Msg me on LinkedIn (I’m the James Shew labeled as “Agile Coach and trouble-maker”)

Emailjamesshew@hotmail.com

Twitter @agileGroupT

Watch my youtube playlist and comment

©2016 James Shew

Note to self……went too far