Hendrik Esser

Director, Portfolio & Technology Management

@HendrikEsser Supporting Agile Adoption

Hendrik Esser | © Ericsson AB 2014 | 2014-10-22 | Page 2

Hendrik Esser | © Ericsson AB 2014 | 2014-10-22 | Page 4

Why did our agile transition succeed?

Hendrik Esser | © Ericsson AB 2014 | 2014-10-22 | Page 5

Our transition

People Practices Processes Structures

1 2 3 “Our process is

not good enough” “No Silos + Our structures

need to support the way we work”

“Oops! Almost forgot something!”

Hendrik Esser | © Ericsson AB 2014 | 2014-10-22 | Page 6

Our transition: changes

People Practices Processes Structures

1 2 3 Scrum

Kanban

Uncertainty Management

New Organization

New roles

New Governance

Wanted culture

Leadership mindset

Recruitment of leaders

Hendrik Esser | © Ericsson AB 2014 | 2014-10-22 | Page 7

Insight: We have addressed the (whole?) “System”

Hendrik Esser | © Ericsson AB 2014 | 2014-10-22 | Page 8

Manage / Lead The company as a System?

From Systems Thinking to Complex Adaptive Systems

Hendrik Esser | © Ericsson AB 2014 | 2014-10-22 | Page 10

The Learning Organization

Peter Senge, The fifth discipline

Systems Thinking

Team Learning Shared Vision Mental Models

Personal Mastery

Real World

Decision Results

Decision Rules

Mental Model

Hendrik Esser | © Ericsson AB 2014 | 2014-10-22 | Page 11

Cynefin

Dave Snowden, HBR Article, Nov 2007

SIMPLE

COMPLICATED COMPLEX

CHAOTIC sense-categorize-respond

sense-analyze-respond probe-sense-respond

act-sense-respond

DISORDER

best practice

good practice emergent practice

novel practice

Hendrik Esser | © Ericsson AB 2014 | 2014-10-22 | Page 12

How could we (Leaders) make use of this, practically

Hendrik Esser | © Ericsson AB 2014 | 2014-10-22 | Page 13

How could we identify our next experiment?

respond

Hendrik Esser | © Ericsson AB 2014 | 2014-10-22 | Page 14

Understand the organization as a complex adaptive system

Lead by vision + setting/managing constraints (continuously)

Need to (continuously) align mental models

to achieve a shared vision

Evolving an organization

Hendrik Esser | © Ericsson AB 2014 | 2014-10-22 | Page 16

Constraints

People Practices Processes Structures

1 2 3

Hendrik Esser | © Ericsson AB 2014 | 2014-10-22 | Page 17

Constraints

People

Processes

Structures

Behavior

Capabilities

Inte

rdep

ende

ncie

s

Hendrik Esser | © Ericsson AB 2014 | 2014-10-22 | Page 18

Basic procedure Develop a hypothesis on how the System works, explaining the observed phenomena (Discussion mental model alignment)

Decide what changes you want to trigger towards constraints (next experiment) (Discussion shared vision)

Observe the emerging system outcomes/response. (narratives, observations, …)

Hendrik Esser | © Ericsson AB 2014 | 2014-10-22 | Page 19

The tool

Processes Structures

Behavior Capabilities

Vision/ desired state

Hendrik Esser | © Ericsson AB 2014 | 2014-10-22 | Page 20

The tool

Processes Structures

Behavior Capabilities

Vision/ desired state

Behavior

Mindset/attitude Values

Competence Skills # people

Hidden talent

Processes Practices Tools

Habits

Organization Governance Remuneration Roles

(Informal) networks

Hendrik Esser | © Ericsson AB 2014 | 2014-10-22 | Page 22

Development Project

MS MS

Observation: Classic Projects

Product Management

MS MS MS

Test

Study Implement Study Implement

Study Implement Study Implement Study Implement

Study Implement

Hendrik Esser | © Ericsson AB 2014 | 2014-10-22 | Page 23

Things, that are impossible:

Key Insight

The Problem of

Planning and Committing

Correctly predict what the customers need

Correctly predict how long it will take to develop it

Hendrik Esser | © Ericsson AB 2014 | 2014-10-22 | Page 24

(Many clever people)

Mindset shift To

Accept uncertainty

Embrace Change

Hendrik Esser | © Ericsson AB 2014 | 2014-10-22 | Page 26

Processes Structures

Behavior Capabilities

Deal with uncertainty

Behavior

Mindset/attitude Values

Competence Skills # people

Hidden talent

Processes Practices Tools

Habits

Organization Governance Remuneration Roles

(Informal) networks

Hendrik Esser | © Ericsson AB 2014 | 2014-10-22 | Page 27

To embrace change and deal with uncertainty: › What desired behaviors do people in your organization need to show?

› What are undesired behaviors?

15 Minutes in teams of 5-7 people

Workshop 1: Behavior and attitude

Hendrik Esser | © Ericsson AB 2014 | 2014-10-22 | Page 29

Workshop 2: Capabilities, Processes, Structures

To embrace change and deal with uncertainty: Which processes/practices support the desired behaviors? Which structures support the desired behaviors and processes? What capabilities need to be developed? 20 Minutes in teams

Hendrik Esser | © Ericsson AB 2014 | 2014-10-22 | Page 32 Processes Structures

Behavior Capabilities

Manage Uncertainty

Communicate

Make uncertainty visible

Accept, that uncertainty is always there Share views and insights

Speak up when you see something unexpected

React constructively on surprises

Show and discuss uncertainty in governance meetings

Frequent meetings to digest updates/new insights

Distributed planning on different levels

Iterative development feedback loop

Communication structure

Manage expectations anticipate expectations and address them Translate uncertainty into realistic

expectations (customers, internal stakeholders)

Hendrik Esser | © Ericsson AB 2014 | 2014-10-22 | Page 33

›Analyze/understand issues/problems/impediments ›Propose system solutions to issues/problems/impediments ›Propose system changes to achieve a goal/target/vision ›Follow-up on made implemented system changes ›Adapt to a changed goal/target/vision ›…

use cases

Hendrik Esser | © Ericsson AB 2014 | 2014-10-22 | Page 34