Presented by Arlen Bankston (2013)

1. Making Improvement
Standard
Dynamic Agile Practices through Lean Standard Work

2. Meet your Presenters
Arlen Bankston
• Co-Founder of LitheSpeed, LLC
• User experience & product
development background
• 14 years of Agile experience
• Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt
• Lately 40% training, 20% each of
coaching, product development &
management
2

3. Meet your Presenters
Vice President of Enterprise Consulting
bob.payne@lithespeed.com
What I do:
• Agile Enablement that’s pragmatic, not prescriptive
• Host of “Agile Toolkit Podcast”
• Chair AgileDC conference
• Speaker all over
How long I’ve been doing it: 14+ years
Bob Payne
3

4. Agenda
• The What & Why of “Standard Work”
• Examples of Standard Work
• A3 Planning Continuous Improvement
• Applying A3 Planning & Standard Work to
Agile
• Learn More about Standard Work
4

5. The What & Why of
“Standard Work”

6. What is “Lean?”
• Just-in-Time – Supply what is
needed, when needed, in the
amount needed.
• Jidoka – Halt production and
address quality issues as
encountered.
• Heijunka – Respond smoothly and
efficiently to varying demand.
• Standardized Work – Organize a
job or task in an efficient activity
sequence while minimizing waste.
• Kaizen – “Change for the better.” A
philosophy of continuous
improvement.
6Image Source: http://www.mtu.edu/improvement/continuous-improvement/lean-overview/

7. PDCA Thinking
Fire fighting Hero Culture
Plan
Do
Check
Act
Problem solving is a defined method
rooted in the scientific approach –
Slow evolutionary Continuous
Improvement
What We do
Problem
Solution
??
Assumptions,
Unknown Causes,
No Facts
What We Need to Do
Problem
Solution
7

8. Standard Work Template
Simply describe how you
do a job today:
• Who needs to do what?
• What information, tools
or other inputs are needed?
• How will the work be performed?
• What are the expected outputs?
• How long should it take (if appropriate)?
* Standardized work training example from Toyota.
Thanks to http://artoflean.com/index.php/2011/01/21/standardized-work/
*
88

9. Benefits of Standardized Work
• Process improvement
Evolving standards in and across teams
• Expectation management & reliable delivery
Definition of done, working agreements, coding
standards
• Audit & Regulatory support
Well-defined & documented standards
• Organizational learning & training
Rapid bootstrapping of new team members
• Self-organization
Personal ownership & accountability for processes
“Without standards, there can be no Kaizen.”
– Taiichi Ohno
9

10. Examples of
Standard Work

11. Standard Work in a Hospital
Images from http://leanhealthcarewest.com/Page/A3-Problem-Solving
1. Plan
3. Check
4. Act
2. Do
1111

12. Getting “Ready” to Plan a Sprint
Definition of “Ready”
• Choose the few items that your team finds most useful in Sprint Planning.
• Confident and quick Sprint Planning and smooth Sprints that produce
polished results are your goals.
 Interaction Diagrams
 Prototypes
 Wireframes
 Sample Data
 Testable Examples
 Acceptance Criteria
 State Diagrams
 Small Enough
 Agreement from other teams
 RITE / Wizard of Oz / UX Test
 Approvals (Compliance, Security,
Brand Mgmt, etc.)
 Dependency List
 Stakeholder signoff
12

13. When is a Story “Done?”
Definition of “Done”
• A shared definition and compact between Teams and Stakeholders
• Denotes what stories require to be accepted
• Ideally represents “potentially releasable” or even released state
 Acceptance Criteria are met
 Cleared by QA
 Accepted by Tactical PO
 Accepted by Strategic PO
 Live for A/B Testing
 Final Deployment
 Training Script
 Pair reviewed
 Peer Reviewed
 Integrated
 Lightweight usability tested
 Automated testing in place
 User documentation created
 Ops documentation created
13

14. Standard Work for Card Type & Core Values
You can use Standard Work to
define how your current
visual management systems
work, and to evolve them
when better ways are found.
Standard work can also be
applied to illustrate current
working agreements among
teams.
14

15. Today’s Standard Work
Background
Three teams working on a single product have stakeholders
that need to attend their respective demos.
Current State (Today’s Standard Work)
These teams have staggered their sprints so that stakeholders
can attend all demos.
The Problem
The staggering has created other issues, in that integration of
the teams’ codebases is now more complex, and demos don’t
represent integrated work.
15

16. A3 Planning
Continuous Improvement

17. Defining “A3 Planning”
A3 Planning is a way to suggest and implement
improvements to Standard Work.
• Teams highlight problems with current
processes
• Find root causes of issues
• Suggest “countermeasures” to
improve things
• Test these new ways of working
• Adopt them if they’re better
Plan
Check
Act Do
17

18. A3 Improvement Process Template
Plan
• What’s the problem?
• Who’s involved in fixing it?
• What’s the targeted goal?
• What are the root causes of the problem?
Do
• How will we try to solve the problem?
Check
• How will we know the problem is solved?
Act
• What’s next?
• How will we document and share the results?
Plan
Check
Act Do
18

19. A3 Example Format
19

20. A3 for New Associate Integration Process
You can use A3s
to improve how
new team
members are
on-boarded.
20

21. A3s for Storage & Estimation Process
You can use A3s to
improve estimation
practices or artifact
storage processes.
21

22. The Personal A3 – Developing People
22

23. The Personal A3 – Collaborative Learning
23

24. Validation Board for Product Experimentation
24

25. A3 Simulation
Background:
Three teams working on a single
product have stakeholders that need
to attend their respective demos.
Current State:
These teams have staggered their
sprints so that stakeholders can
attend all demos.
Analysis:
The staggering has created another
issue, in that integration of the
teams’ codebases is now more
complex, and demos don’t represent
integrated work.
Proposed Solution:
Describe a new process that might
address the conflicting goals.
Plan:
What: Describe the steps you would
take to implement your solution.
Who: Our Team
When: 12/15/13
Expected Results:
1. What do you think is likely to
happen once this solution has
been implemented?
2. How will you measure the
results?
25

26. Applying A3 Planning and
Standard Work to Agile

27. Agile PDCA Processes
Determine
Standards
Standard Work &
Experimentation
Adjust Standard
Work
Assessment
Learning
Teaching
Leading Doing
Process People
Visual Management Systems
Lean Management
Agile Delivery
• Process – Assessing current practices, comparing to Standard Work, and team experimentation to
continuously improve practices and processes.
• People – Role development and equipping teams with the skills to successfully implement Agile practices.
• Product – Product discovery, execution, measurement and learning.
RoleDevelopment
ProductDelivery
StandardWorkAssessment&Evolution
Discover
Measure
Learn Build
Product
27

28. Sprint Retrospective at a Glance
Description
• SM guides team to
inspect Sprint & adapt for
future:
• Inspect people,
relationship, process, tools,
etc.
• Identify “pluses” and
“deltas”
• Refactor approach for
upcoming Sprints
Duration
30-60 minutes
Attendees
ScrumMaster (leader), team,
optionally Product Owner
Outputs:
 Process revisions
 Project or team structure revisions
 Quick hit action items
 Long term improvement items
 Understanding of team member perspectives
A retro relies on
double loop learning
28

29. Where Does Standard Work Live?
Standard Work is ideally used as a physical
visual management system.
• On the Wall
Team norms, daily stand-up rules
…but can also be captured digitally for
cross-team improvement.
• In a Wiki
Coding standards, audit repository
29

30. Standard Work in Organizational Metrics
Product
(Led by Product Owners &
Managers)
Process
(Led by ScrumMasters &
Coaches)
People
(Led by Functional Managers)
External Stakeholder Satisfaction
• Quarterly survey
• Assessment score
Quality:
• % Code Coverage
• % Scenario Coverage
• % Delivered features with
zero critical post iteration
defect count
Delivery Cadence:
• Time from concept to cash
• Velocity stability
Standard Work Assessment
Process Adoption
• # of Agile teams
• # of certifications
Process Improvement
• Change in Assessment scores
• Updates to standard work
• Retrospective actions &
impacts
Associate Engagement
/Happiness
• Assessment Score
Learning Organization
• # of Agile Practitioners at
various levels
Collaboration
* Standard Work-related metrics
30

31. Team Standard Work Self-Assessment
31

32. A Simple Standard Work Process
Drive continuous improvement by establishing
standards, then tasking teams to continuously
improve upon them and share their learnings.
Determine
Standards
• Identify baseline Agile
practices used by teams
or recommended
• Capture current
practices as “Standard
Work” on wall or wiki
Adjust Standard Work
• Quality Circles
reconvene to review
results of A3
experiments
• Adopt or reject process
based on results:
adoption results in
updates to Standard
Work
Standard Work
Experimentation
• Teams experiment with
selected A3(s)
• Teams document
outcomes of
experimentation
A3 Planning
• Hold Quality Circles
comprised of team
members and managers
• Review suggestions for
improvements in the
forms of A3s
• Team members iterate
on suggested A3s
• Vote on A3 suggestions
to implement
32

33. A3 Simulation
Background:
Three teams working on a single
product have stakeholders that need
to attend their respective demos.
Current State:
These teams have staggered their
sprints so that stakeholders can
attend all demos.
Analysis:
The staggering has created another
issue, in that integration of the
teams’ codebases is now more
complex, and demos don’t represent
integrated work.
Proposed Solution:
Synchronize the sprints, but have an
integrated demo across all three
teams.
Plan:
What: Ask ScrumMasters to drive
selection of a day when an
integrated demo could occur, and to
update invites.
Who: Bob & Arlen
When: 12/15/13
Results:
9 of 10 Stakeholders have attended
the past two demos, and teams
report that code integration is easier.
33

34. Accountable Adoption Teams
Executive Steering Group for Organizational
Improvement
• Set broad, organizational goals
• Define measures of success
• Communicate to middle management and staff frequently
• Review progress regularly
• Address organizational barriers to adoption
Quality Circles for Team Process Improvement
• A cross-functional problem solving group
• SW Dev, QA, Production, BA, PMO, Resource Managers
• Anticipate, uncover, address tactical issues
• Make recommendations to executive team
34

35. How typical Agile roles might take part in Standard Work:
• ScrumMasters & Team Leads – Own Assessment and Standard Work
practices for their teams, lead adaptation through retrospectives
• Functional Managers – Drive Standard Work improvements through
direct assistance and provision of coaching, training & tools
• Agile Working Group – Review Standard Work patterns across
departments and drive common support like training and presentations
• Agile Teams – Identify improvement areas in working agreements and
coding standards, experiment to advance standard work over time
• Product Owners – Look for ways to enhance feedback loops and
interfaces with agile teams, external stakeholders, customers and users
Process Improvement Roles & Responsibilities
35

36. Learning More about
Standard Work

37. Tips for Effective Standard Work
• Workers define and improve
their own day-to-day work
• Managers review and support
improvements to big-picture processes
• Make standards visible and obvious
• Incent & celebrate improvements
• Share learning across teams
37

38. Reading List – Lean Standard Work
• Managing to Learn – Shook
• Lean Thinking – Womack & Jones
• Understanding A3 Thinking – Sobek
• The Checklist Manifesto – Gawande
• The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership –
Liker & Convis
38

39. Contact Us for Further Information
Arlen Bankston
Vice President
Arlen.Bankston@lithespeed.co
m
Bob Payne
Vice President
Bob.Payne@lithespeed.com
www.lithespeed.com
39
How we can help:
• Training – Agile
Developer, Executive,
Kanban, Coaching Agile
Teams, and more!
• Coaching – Process &
engineering help
• Organizational
Consulting - Create a
robust agile delivery &
support capability

40. Process Descriptions by Role
(Reference)

41. Determine Standards
• Help construct
Team Self-
Assessments
• Observe and help
Describe Current
State Practices
Assessment
• Rationalize
Variations to
Standard Work as
Described during
Assessment
Adjust Standard Work
• Highlight Changes
to Standard Work
• Describe Results of
New Process
Experiments
Standard Work &
Experimentation
• Lead Team
Retrospectives
• Develop Plan to
Implement
Retrospective
Suggestions
• Guide
Implementation of
Suggestions
Own Assessment and associated Standard Work practices for their
teams, lead introspection and adaptation through retrospectives.
ScrumMasters & Coaches

42. Determine standards
• Work with
managers to
schedule
assessments
• Provide
assessments to
managers and SMs
Assessment
• Conduct
assessments
• Take detailed notes
on current state
practices and
rationales
• Gather
improvement ideas
and denote if team
needs AWG
assistance
Adjust standard work
• Determine if
assessor is needed
• Conduct
assessment as
required
• Adjust standard
work for specific
teams or the
enterprise at large
Standard work &
experimentation
• Provide assistance
to teams as
requested
• Analyze trends
across standard
work items
• Determine needs
for cross-team
assistance (training,
brown bags, etc.)
• Update assessment
and scorecard as
needed
Review Standard Work patterns across departments and drive large
group support activities such as training and presentations.
Agile Working Group

43. Determine standards
• Self assess and
provide detailed
information on
current state
practices
Assessment
• Participate in
assessment
• Find practices, tools
and principles that
need attention
Adjust standard work
• Update standard
work based upon
experimental
results
Standard work &
experimentation
• Implement
improvement
actions
• Experiment and
document
deviations from
standard work
Identify improvement areas in working agreements and coding
standards, experiment to advance standard work over time.
Agile Teams

44. Determine standards
• Schedule
assessments with
teams
• Provide assessment
results to AWG
Assessment
• Provide feedback
from managerial
perspective
Adjust standard work
• Provide feedback
on process
improvements
• Share results with
peers and executive
steering group
Standard work &
experimentation
• Support
implementation of
retrospective
suggestions
• Daily standups with
SMs to discuss
operational issues
and process
improvements
• Daily standups with
peers to discuss
operational and
process trends
Own Standard Work deviations and drive improvement through
direct assistance and provision of coaching, training & tools.
Functional Managers

45. Determine standards
• Gather internal and
external
stakeholder
satisfaction ratings
from real users and
customers
• Determine tool
usage standards
Assessment
• Provide insight to
team relationship
and interactions
with stakeholders
• Assess how well
product-related
tools and processes
are working
Adjust standard work
• Update interfaces
between team and
PO, team and
stakeholders, PO &
stakeholders as
needed
• Update tools
Standard work &
experimentation
• Assist
implementation of
improvement items
as appropriate
• Provide updates on
stakeholder
satisfaction and
team interface
impacts
Look for ways to enhance feedback loops and interfaces with
agile teams, external stakeholders, customers and users.
Product Owners