Lean and Agile - Lean and Agile

Intro

That tough second album

So this is week 2 and we have come back. Some really exciting events in the pipeline, but none quite ready for me to announce. Do watch out for some really exciting news in next week's edition. (It's exciting to me anyway!) Just to reiterate the purpose of this newsletter or those that are new to it. First of all welcome and the aims is to share interesting and useful content from the world of improvement and change. Please do sign up and share we will be doing this weekly and hopefully you find some useful content.

The image on this is my favourite used zoom background of the week. It might become a new thing but if it is I wonder how fast my backgrounds will get dangerously out of hand. This week was busy as ever but had some great catch-ups with Sam Villis and Neil Lawrence that were long overdue. Note - do feel free to try this at home but do consider the right meetings/settings to try it in we take no responsibility for any future disciplinary action! Do what I say not what I do! If you want to share yours on twitter please include #leanandagile #zoomglee would love to see them.

So please sign up and share and watch this space for some news next week.

News

Software bungle meant NHS Covid app failed to warn users to self-isolate | News | The Sunday Times

Ok, this is behind a paywall(but you can see the intro) but an interesting story just broken by the Sunday Times. Continuing on from Excelgate and the wonderfully comical Government Jobs site do give it a go and find out what you could do. The test and trace system continues to get huge scrutiny and criticism. I feel for the people on this project with that level of pressure and no control over strategic decisions.

Events

What we learned by running #OTGSP | by Sam Villis | OneTeamGov | Oct, 2020 | Medium

It was really great to catch up the Sam Villis this week as it seems like a long time ago that we both helped to organize this event along with an amazing small team. We learned lots through this process and I love how OTG events commit to working in the open and this blog is a testament to that.

If you are organizing online events at all have a look at the lessons we learned and some feedback we received to help you avoid having to learn some of the same lessons.

Lean

Are you known for saving the day, or for keeping the day from needing saving? > Business Analyst Community & Resources | Modern Analyst

This article reminds me greatly of a discussion I regularly have and that came up again on Twitter this week. The stuff you avoid hardly ever gets any credit yet the firefighting problems that have happened often carry more kudos. My view always is that we should be avoiding lots more problems than we do and the triggers are there we just need to listen and learn.

Massive thanks to David Heath who contributed this excellent article on the subject on twitter discussion this week.

Agile

Lean management or agile? The right answer may be both | McKinsey

Lean or Agile the perennial question. Most of you that know me will have heard me talk about why I think it is Lean and Agile and and and. I do love the fact that McKinsey release lots of good research and articles they provide some great resources for research. Have a look at their take on lean vs agile.

Design Thinking

15 principles of good service design – Lou Downe

I couldn't do anything about service design without highlighting this book it is well worth a read. Handily Lou has done a great blog about the 15 principles of good service design. Have a read now.

Ideas

Practical Tools To Improve Mental Health In Lockdown

We all need some tips like this during lockdown 2 - the revenge of the virus. Have a look at this article about tips to improve mental health during lockdown. Some great tips for you and your colleagues.

The Future of Work: Five Priorities For Businesses to Consider

Have a look at this great infographic you can download about the future of work from PWC. Say what you like about large consultants but they do produce some excellent research documents.

COVID-19 is ushering in an entirely different future in terms of working life. However, forces such as digitalization have been altering the workforce long before the pandemic.

OECD research suggests that 31% of jobs could be radically transformed as a result of automation. At the same time, specialized jobs are being created elsewhere. These big picture trends mean that many organizations are already preparing for a now-accelerated future.

Dispersed Team Leadership Report

A great free report to download giving help on how to deliver dispersed leadership. Download for free now.

Video

Why Use Engage Process-What can you achieve? | We are Lean and Agile

If you are thinking of rolling out Engage Process wider and even across the whole enterprise then have a look at this blog/video. Here from Martyn Thompson of City of Edinburgh Council about what they have achieved.

Tom Wujec: Got a wicked problem? First, tell me how you make toast | TED Talk

I love this TedX video which shows Tom Wujec talking about visualizing processes. Why it helps and how you can do a simple exercise to demonstrate it. A great way to introduce process mapping and how you can do it even better with tools like Engage Process. Have a look