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It is all about system: How Scrum helps in the bigger picture
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Two systems colliding
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Topics• What is System and what are System
Conditions• How Systems impact Scrum• How Scrum helps in the bigger picture
• A confession to make..
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A system is not the sum of its parts but the product of their interactions
- Russell Ackoff
What is System• Collection of parts that
are interdependent.• The parts interact in a
such a way that it affects the capabilities and qualities of the entire system
• System has a purpose
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System
System
Boundaries
System Syst
em
All systems interact at some level
We can choose boundaries and decide what system we study and improve
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Cause-effect
IssueCause Cause Impact Impact
Cause-effect relations are cyclic, not linear
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Companies and organizations are SystemsCu
stom
er)Care)
Legal)Logis/cs)Sales)
CTO$
Dept$1$ Dept$2$ Dept$3$
HR$
New$Technologies$
Research$and$Development$
Product$management$
Department$1$$
Sec;on$A$
Group$I$ Group$II$
Sec;on$B$
Group$III$
Embedded&SW&
Drivers& HW&adapta2on& Tes2ng&
3rd&party&SW&
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W Edwards Deming
Organization as a system
A bad system beats a good person every time
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An example of a system
Joe
Team
Product Owner
HelpDesk
Customers
Logistics DepartmentSuppliers
MAIN MENU1. Catalogue2. myInvoicesSelect: ___
webshop.comIT System
What could possibly go wrong in Joe’s work?
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What impacts Joe’s work• Clarity of the customer request
• Communication channels between departments
• Quality of backlog
• Other items in the backlog
• Team’s working practices
• Tools (compilers, editors, TA, CI, ...)
• Pressure
• Dependencies with other departments
• Processes and working practices
• Interrupts
• Bonuses (Joe, team members, PO, other people in the company)
• Responsibility sharing between the people
• Priority of work
• Non-work-related issues (e.g. mother hospitalized)
• Code base
• Joe’s Competency (domain knowledge, technical skills, “interpersonal skills”)
• Product Owner’s competence (e.g. ability to prioritize
• etc.
System
System
System
System
System
System
System
System
System
System
Joe
JoeSys
tem
System
System
System
Another Syste
m
System
System
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System
Thinking
Performance
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London, 1854
Actions
Consequences
Assumptions about cause-effect relationships
Change this?
Or this?
System
Thinking
Performance
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System
Thinking
Performance
How do we make resource planning in Scrum
What are project manager tasks in Scrum
Who assigns tasks in Scrum
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System conditions are direct of indirect results of the design and
management of work.
System conditions
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Some system conditionsProcesses Training
Existing source code
Stage gates
Tools
Organizational structures
Policies
Governance
BonusesExisting source code
IT systems
Physical working environment
Quality of requirements
Project model
Relationship with customers
Culture of high utilization rate Technologies
Approval chainsMissing feedback
Metrics
Roles and responsibilities
Meetings
Outsourcing and off-shoring
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System conditions
System conditions drive the performance of organization
Improving the work requires at least some system conditions are
changed
System conditions tell us about management thinking
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John Seddon
People issues are not the point of intervention.
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Why do harmful system conditions exist?
Because people responsible for system conditions lack
knowledge about the nature of work being done within a system
They do not know how the work works
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Changing system conditions?• When thinking does not change, the
programs of change often fail• We need to change thinking. By what
method?• Scrum is not a method to change thinking
• Scrum is an agile framework for completing complex projects.
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Change strategies• Power-Coercive
• Obliges compliance and punishes failure• Standards, best practices, process roll-outs
• Empirical-Rational• “I explain and you follow”• Works if thinking has already changed• Can lead to argument or conflict
• Normative-Reeducative• Change thinking through action and observation• Get knowledge before planning actions
Chin and Benne: General strategies for affecting change in human systems (1969)
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Systems Thinking and Scrum?
Scrum changes some system conditions
Scrum has mechanisms that help to make Normative
change
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Scrum changes system conditions
Team
Product Owner
Sprint Planning Sprint Review
and Retro
Potentially Shippable Product
Increment
Product Backlog
From
compe
ting p
rojec
ts to
one b
acklo
g of w
ork
From
proje
ct man
agem
ent t
o
prod
uct o
wnersh
ip
From
hand
over
s to
colla
bora
tive p
lannin
g
From
func
tiona
l silo
s to
cross-
functi
onal
teams
From
long
feed
back
cycle
s to
daily
and w
eekly
feed
back
From
prob
lem hi
ding t
o
cultu
re o
f lear
ning
From
proje
ct mod
el to
cont
inuou
s deli
very
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Scrum changes system conditions
Team
Product Owner
Sprint Planning Sprint Review
and Retro
Potentially Shippable Product
Increment
Product Backlog
Coerci
ve?
Ration
al?
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Scrum and seeing System conditions• Understanding Purpose and Demand• Transparency and visibility• Experiments
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Understanding Purpose and Demand“System has a Purpose”
Customers
Organization
Demand
New$Technologies$
Research$and$Development$
Product$management$
Department$1$$
Sec;on$A$
Group$I$ Group$II$
Sec;on$B$
Group$III$
1. Understand the Demand from customers2. Define a purpose for organization in customer terms3. Have freedom to organize against the demand4. Measure how well the organization fulfills the Purpose
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How do I know if I am doing Scrum right?At the end of each iteration, if you know exactly where you are; then you are doing it right
Transparency and Visibility
Freedom to make an informed choice
Valid information
Constant monitoring of actions
Purpose
- Chris Argyris
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Experiments
Team
Product Owner
Sprint Planning Sprint Review
and Retro
Potentially Shippable Product
Increment
Product Backlog
Every
Sprint
is an
experi
ment!
Learning and adapting requires moving from fail-safe design to safe-to-fail experiments
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Summary• Organizations are systems, created by thinking
• Thinking -> System -> Performance
• System dictates the sustainable performance of an organization
• System conditions help to see a system• To improve a system we must change thinking
• Change can be Coercive, Rational or Normative
• Scrum helps to see. Scrum helps with new thinking
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A confession
It is not about Scrum.
It is about the System.
Turning eyes away from Scrum and looking at the system might help a lot.
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Thank you!
Twitter: @samililja
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