Lean and Agile - Lean and Agile

Intro

Part 3 - The return of the improvement

We are back for the third week and lots of great stuff in here. Bit of a storytelling theme in this one as well as exciting news for a new event for the public sector. Have a look.

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.

To continue the theme from last week in honour of lockdown 2 I broke out the image above as my background for Thursday meetings. 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.

Events

Improvement and Innovation Network - Digital December

I am so pleased to be able to launch our Digital December public sector events. The website is brand new and beta and more content will be added. We have built an event we would like to attend. The event will be focussed on value add content from people with lived experience. There will be networking and collaboration at the event and no sales pitches. Why not join our free event have a look now.

Lean

Improving children's care at a Chinese hospital - Planet Lean

This story from a Chinese children's hospital reminds us that the lean healthcare improvements we make can have remarkable results on both patients and staff.

Value Confusion: The Problem of Lean in Public Services - Lean Competency System - Lean Thinking

Have a look at this great article by the Lean Competency System on Lean and Public Services. Understand some of the challenges that are faced and how to address them.

Applying lean production to the public sector | McKinsey

As I say Mckinsey are always good value for articles and research this one is no different.

'A lean system is designed to eliminate waste, variability, and inflexibility (see sidebar, "Three sources of loss"), though given the variety and complexity of many processes there can be no one-size-fits-all lean template. The needs of customers and the organization's goals and values drive the design. But some important themes and principles of the lean approach do pose specific challenges for public-sector organizations.'

Read the article for more

Agile

How to Apply Definition of Done Across the Entire Software Development Process - Blog - Hris Koleva

It's often discussed the definition of done. Have a look at this article exploring it in more depth. 'Definition of Done is an underestimated mechanism to guide the development team not only towards completing a user story but from the very beginning of the idea through the actual delivery and acceptance by the customer. '

Design Thinking

Designing for Public Services: a practical guide | Nesta

Great resource from the Nesta and the IDEO. Plenty of value in this detailed guide. Help yourself to a valuable free download.

Ideas

Telling the story of your project… using The Tiger Who Came to Tea. | by Sam Villis | Medium

I was lucky to attend a session with Sam Villis from MHCLG at the recent Digital Dorset event where we also spoke on remote process workshops. This is a great technique to help you write the story of your project, program, or anything really. Have a look now.

If you want innovation, start with the right breakfast? Cris Beswick - Guest blog - We are Lean and Agile

Have a look at our guest blog and watch the video with Cris Beswick. If you want innovation, start with the right breakfast? Does culture still eat strategy for breakfast? That’s the question which I posted in a webinar which I was invited to present by ‘We are lean and agile’,

Changing Company Culture Requires a Movement, Not a Mandate

What can culture change look like in action?

'After we introduced the idea of “good health can’t wait,” one of the scientists told me he developed a product in 15 days and broke every rule there was in the company. He was proudly stating that! Normally, just getting the raw materials would take him months, not to mention the rest of the process for making the medication. But he was acting on that urgency. And now he’s taking this lesson of being lean and applying it to all our procedures.'

Find out more in the article

Video

How to tell stories so the world listens - Futurefest - YouTube

Why not watch the video and try the technique yourself. It is well worth the time. Useful tool for many reasons.

"Ever sat in a show and tell that’s fallen flat? Had trouble selling the value of your work within your organisation, or struggled to sell yourself at interview?

The stories that resonate, that travel, and build connections with others are those which are memorable and compelling. As Bobette Buster says in Do: Story, How to Tell Your Story so the World Listens, the stories that we tell need to “pass on the spark” – to leave the listener with something memorable that they can take forward in their work or tell others.

As agile and digital professionals we sometimes struggle to communicate the complexities and nuance of our work, and in our detail leave our listeners cold.