Are you looking to go Lean and want to make sure you are taking the right approach? Are you already doing some form of Agile/Lean but feel it’s not delivering on its promises? Based on dozens of organizations which we've been helping adopt Lean and Agile, we learned that the journey needs to start with a focused look at the needs/goals as well as the context, in order to outline the right solution for each organization. While some patterns/solutions can and should be reused, there is no boilerplate/recipe that can be adopted as is.
AgileSparks' Assessment and Management Focusing (AMF) Workshop
Aimed at technology organizations looking to improve their delivery processes and outcomes, the workshop is a Lean/Agile-driven solution that combines field-proven best practices, applied in an interactive and expertly-facilitated manner, to provide the organization’s management with a context-specific road map to improvement, as well as with an understanding of key Lean/Agile principles and main frameworks for improvement. The workshop is suitable in various contexts including:
* Introducing/Kicking off Lean and Agile
* Trying to improve a struggling implementation
* Time to Scale Lean/Agile beyond a single project/team to the Program/Organization
* Evolve from practices-driven Agile to real understanding and application of Lean/Agile at the organizational level
Download the syllabus
Even if you are already implementing Lean/Agile methodologies, Gartner finds that "Organizations that do not make use of key agile practices and do not invest in training and supportive tools’ infrastructure will find that a shift to pseudo agile, while potentially delivering a short-term productivity bump, will end in long-term declines in quality and productivity".
Some example Scenarios addressed at the Workshop
While the scenarios addressed will be specific to the client, here are some examples:
* Late, impossible to predict, expensive releases
* How do we go Agile and maintain/improve Quality?
* Agile feels like a mechanic overhead – what are we missing?
* We need to dramatically accelerate our time to market.
* We feel something is not effective in the way we work, but we are not sure what exactly.
* How do we commit and deliver on our promises?
* What agile framework should we choose? Scrum? Kanban? A combination?
Workshop Structure
- * Mapping the current reality and challenges; frame them in Lean/Agile/System Thinking terms.
- * Establishing Improvement focus/goals at the System level.
- * Helping the organization get to the root cause of challenges in the product development approach.
- * Introduction, discussion and exercise/simulation of key Lean/Agile approaches that are potential solutions for the identified challenges.
- * Facilitating an Agile-based planning session in which a high-level Improvement Strategy/Roadmap is identified and prioritized.
Workshop Approach
The workshop is highly interactive. We insist on a small intimate forum where everyone participates and affects the outcome. Innovation Games, Gamestorming and other techniques are used, and as an important side effect, the participants also learn how to effectively think and collaborate to solve tough System-level problems in the future.
As the purpose of the workshop is to outline high-level improvement strategy, the bulk of the thinking is done together with management in real-time, with us helping you apply relevant thinking approaches and tools. In order to have an effective workshop, we spend some time getting acquainted with your context and expectations, using a few focused assessment interviews.
In a true agile fashion, we aim to deliver value rather than follow a predefined plan/syllabus. While a backlog is prepared based on initial preparation/interviews to learn the general context and aims, we continuously seek feedback and adjust direction driving at maximum impact and return on the time of participants based on the discussions and directions that emerge.
Key Agile tools such as Kanban Boards, Burnups, Estimation/Prioritization games and frequent Retrospectives are used throughout the Workshop, leading to hands on learning of how Agile works.
Actually, we recommend these techniques be adopted for the ongoing routine of Management Teams.
Duration
Our workshops are facilitated by our Lead Consultants. Before the workshop, we learn about the organization, to make our facilitation and guidance more effective (typically 1-2 days).
The main Workshop is typically 3-5 days, depending on the organization size and complexity, preferably held in an offsite location.
NOTE: While this might seem a considerable time investment for managers, we find that it is a key step towards setting up a successful improvement initiative. We believe managers need to be in the "driver's seat" of any major initiative in their organizations.
Testimonials
"A very good workshop to understand Agile approach and build a concept of work procedures."
"One has to go through a physiological change process to truly grasp the methodology. The workshop is a good way of internalizing the needed change as a team"
"During the workshop I have gained many insights on how to make the process work and even more important - make it work for me with all my special requirements and the project situation. "
"A practical way to think about how Agile methodologies can assist your organization to go agile."
Even more at our testimonials page
