LEAN + AGILE = AGILEAN or assemble the whole in parts

1. The wrong flight of the wrong bumblebee. (Introduction)

Where did the sciences of mathematics and physics come from?

Humanity was looking for answers to how the world was created. Partly out of curiosity, to a much greater degree, from the desire to control this world, to predict events based on open patterns and to adapt to them.

In today's state, mathematics and physics are not perfect - it’s just the systems of our interpretation of the surrounding world, and they intertwine and complement each other in things that are simple and understandable to us and begin to diverge and contradict each other and ourselves where there are forces, phenomena and laws that are incomprehensible to us or not fully known. In order to explain this additional complexity, which manifests itself in the world, it is necessary to introduce new concepts and systems of interpretation (example: quantum physics and mathematics of Lobachevsky). And the deeper our understanding of the structure of the Universe extends, the more changes we have to make to what was previously considered an unshakable law.
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There is a famous case when at the dawn of aerodynamics, scientists tried to calculate the flight of a bumblebee according to its laws, it turned out that it flies against the laws of physics. The reason, of course, was not the “incorrectness” of the bumblebee, but an imperfect scientific interpretation of the laws of nature, which was later corrected, and the happy bumblebee flew again, but now in strict accordance with aerodynamics.

Probably the most useful conclusion from this will sound as follows: behind any pattern or individual phenomenon stands a system where everything is harmonious and interconnected. This statement applies to both science and business.

2. Business as an elephant

Business organizations are also harmonious systems that operate under strict laws, a representation of humanity, which is far from complete.

Everyone knows the parable about how the blind felt the elephant for different places and tried to describe the animal. The idea of ​​one holding onto the trunk was very different from the one holding the leg or tusk.

In this sense, Agile and Lean are different systems for interpreting one large complex "elephant" or the living world of human organization.

The production workers grabbed this “elephant” for the processes and it turned out to be Lean, the IT people caught the long-suffering animal for human interaction around these processes, and it turned out to be Agile.

And, despite the fact that in the Lean development process, its adherents began to realize that without proper involvement and organization of people’s interaction, even the most perfect processes would not work, and Agile supporters gradually come to the conclusion that Lean practices have a very organic use in Agile systems, still, there are still people who confidently assert that “Agile is only in IT” or who consider that they “have introduced lean manufacturing” by hanging 5C tablets and conducting several trainings for their employees.

3. Lean and Agile - is there a difference?

At first glance, it certainly is. Lean - focused on building perfect lossless processes and their continuous improvement. Agile focuses on the rapid and effective interaction of people around these processes, on the creation of human structures that are able to respond flexibly and creatively to any changes and business needs.

But if you think about it, isn't it obvious that the two given systems do not just organically complement each other, but literally are two halves of one whole?

An effective, enthusiastic and involved, responsive to change, a team self-organized around ideal processes on the principles of continuous improvement - is this not an ideal form of business?

Moreover, one has only to try to begin to mix these two approaches in practice, and you will very organically join the kingdom of Agilean. How about DMAIC in Scrum format? Or kaizen sessions instead of retrospectives? Or maybe you want to post events on continuous improvements to the Kanban-board and track their implementation, gathering around it with the whole department, moving cards from backlog to “Done”?

Any such practice shows excellent results and suggests that here only sky is the limit.

Try, experiment, mix, adapt, create your own unique frameworks, tools and methodologies and achieve with their help unprecedented results. If you know how to do it correctly, then building an organization with high efficiency, high resistance to market changes, an organization where work will not only be profitable, but also pleasant, simple.

“An effective, enthusiastic and involved, flexible response to changes, the team is self-organized around ideal processes based on the principles of continuous improvement” is not just an organization, it is already a kind of social phenomenon. About such companies are legends in the business world, and the very involvement in them fills the hearts of employees with pride.

How can we start building it and what is behind the phrase “if you know how to do it right”?

4. Values ​​and objectives vs Framework and instructions

Both an attempt to build a mechanism without knowledge of the laws of physics, and an attempt to introduce a business tool without knowing what values ​​it personifies and imposes, is doomed to failure.

Probably, many were faced with the phenomenon of cargo-cult when introducing various new business methodologies, when, for example, 5C posters are hanging over piles of garbage or the “self-organizing” team is under the tight control of micromanagement of the leadership. The result of such a cargo-cult implementation always becomes a failure to achieve the objectives and planned effects of changes. Worse, the organization instills in itself a stubborn aversion to any improvements.

"We tried - it doesn't work." "This is not for our industry, we have our own specifics."

The reason for all such failures is simple - lack of understanding of what an organizational culture is, what values ​​a particular type of culture relies on, and how different business tools relate to a particular level or type of culture.

The famous saying “culture is a strategy for breakfast” implies that the implementation of the methodology without taking into account the cultural characteristics of the organization will be unsuccessful.

Very often, an organizational culture is mistakenly interpreted as the quality of people.

“These are hard workers, it’s all difficult for them. They just need a clear order to dig from here to evening and salary at the end of the month. And, of course, control, control, control. ”

The famous psychologist and organizational development specialist, John Seddon, said: “Attempts to change organizational culture are naive and always doomed to failure. The behavior of people (culture) is always a product of the system. Changing the system entails a change in people's behavior. ”

The fact is that the same people will behave differently, getting into organizations with different cultures. Man is a social being, one of the main abilities of which is the ability to adapt to the existing environment or system.

And, despite the fact that, of course, for different people such an adaptation will require different efforts and time, the fact remains that the system will always determine culture. Except, perhaps, for those unique cases when a certain number of people of certain views have gathered in an organization and design a system based on their cultural characteristics.

How to properly form the desired culture through systemic changes? And what does it mean to introduce a tool taking into account the cultural characteristics that it represents?

Very often, when I talk about Agile, Scrum and their ceremonies to clients for the first time, I hear: “Yes, we already have it all. How is this different from our production meetings? We also discuss working problems in a team and how we can improve them? ”

OK. Let's get a look. After all, formally, there is no working week between Agile-retrospective and the meeting on the analysis of the results of the week. The team gathers in one office and discusses work issues. However, in practice, the tense, psychologically overwhelming (“as if something does not blurt out”) atmosphere of a regular meeting of a hierarchical organization with on-duty answers “everything is in working order” turns out to be several times less effective than a properly conducted relaxed democratic Agile retrospective, where people can sit or stand, how and where they want. Where any “blurred” nonsense is not only not punished, but encouraged. Where there are no "forbidden" questions, and where, in general, participants are interested and "safe".

Not once from my experience, I could not really explain the difference between these two such similar in format and such different in spirit events in words. The difference between the same instrument with different cultural and value content: Loyalty, Order, Subordination - in the first case, and Transparency, Flexibility, Psychological security - in the second.

“We are serious people,” they told me. - “We have a serious organization and we are solving serious issues here. We have no time to play toys.

And every time when these same people, as an experiment, held a regular meeting in Agile (or, probably, more precisely, in the “Agilean”) format, it was joyful to watch later how their eyes opened wide and their opinions changed.

“It really works, damn it!”

Yes, it really works, damn it, and it starts working as soon as you stop looking at the tools through the prism of instructions and formal signs, and you begin to see them through the prism of values.

Simply put, you will stop “implement Lean Manufacturing” or “implement Agile”, and learn to interpret your private business challenges as a manifestation of systemic or, in the case of business, cultural problems.

5. Agilean instead of Lean or Agile

What is the difference between this new Agilean approach and the existing Lean and Agile, or why produce entities? Where Lean is needed - use Lean tools, where Agile is needed, apply Agile! Is it logical Not really.

The combination of components can sometimes be greater than its sum or 1 + 1 = 3

In our case, the combination of Lean and Agile yields Agilean, a philosophy, transformational model, and toolbox, based on the following values:

- FREE COMMUNICATION

- PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY

- CONTINUOUS DEVELOPMENT

- FLEXIBILITY

FREE COMMUNICATION is the absolute transparency of processes and decisions, the general availability of information, the opportunity for anyone to discuss anything with anyone within the company if it comes to improving and developing the company. Without ceremonies, bureaucracy and hierarchical bows.

PSYCHOLOGICAL SECURITY is a culture of democracy, a culture of the absence of "stupid questions." This value overlaps with the previous one and complements it, because only in a culture of psychological security can ideas be born, freely discussed and implemented.

CONTINUOUS DEVELOPMENT is not only continuous improvement of the company's processes and tools, it is self-development, the development of colleagues around you, the constant search and elimination of losses, the increase in personal and team efficiency, and the level of happiness of all participants!

FLEXIBILITY - unshakable dogmas and rules for all occasions for the realization of the values ​​above do not exist, therefore flexibility is a prerequisite for developing the right standards and their constant adaptation to a constantly changing world. Constant experiments, finding a solution using trial and error, prototyping and design thinking are flexibility. Constant work in a team, the ability to listen and respect the opinions of others is flexibility.

Considering that, using the Agilean approach, everyone can build and develop their own unique tools depending on their tasks, context and cultural characteristics, we can call Agilean - super-flexible technologies or a universal approach to building a startup culture, where everything is subordinate to one - the goals of all employees.

The task is to create an effective, enthusiastic and involved, flexible, responsive to changes, self-organized team around ideal processes based on the principles of continuous improvement.

Toolboxes are constantly changing and adapting. There are no best practices, there are good practices for this place and time, and the main point of the frameworks is only one - to form, implement and maintain the chosen values.