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@NickOostvogels
Using the
improvement kata for
retrospectives
Who? Nick Oostvogels Agile & Kanban coach
Retrospective syndrome
• Lots of actions stay untouched • Only minor improvements
h"p://www.flickr.com/photos/photojonny/2268845904/
Blindly implementing each idea will lead to:
h"p://www.flickr.com/photos/ciana13/1987634535/
Some actions cannot be finished because:
- We took a wrong assumption - It is a long term change - It is out of control of the team
h"p://www.flickr.com/photos/kaibara/1449448184/
Kata : a pattern you practice to learn a skill and mindset. Improvement kata : a pattern for improving, adapting and innovating. It helps to improve continuously towards a goal instead of random hunting for improvements.
Improvement Kata
Current condition
Vision
Target Condition
PDCA PDCA
PDCA
1. Formalize the vision
“What is important for us? How do we want to deliver software?
Current condition
Vision
Target Condition
PDCA PDCA
PDCA
2. Use the vision to agree on the next target condition
“What is the next step we can take to get closer to the vision?”
3. Use the vision as a cross-check
Does this improvement suggestion help us to get closer to the vision?
Results • Better focus • Long term thinking • Systems thinking • The vision is used as a referee
during discussions • It may take several
sprints to get to the next target condition
Inspired by
Toyota kata • How to make improvement part
of our everyday work? • Use everyone's capabilities • Create a routine to work
through obstacles
Toyota kata • Using cost/benefit analysis in a
different way • Avoiding sub optimization • Longer term target condition • Experiment to test hypotheses • Coaching by team leaders
Exercise 1 Create a vision: “How would your group of people look like in an ideal world?”
Behavior, values, interaction, rules,
…
Exercise 2 Use the vision as inspiration “Brainstorm actions to improve as a group towards the vision”
From all the ideas, define a 1ste
target condition
Exercise 3 Vision poker “Score all branches of the vision”
Summary How to use in retrospectives • Create vision and define next
step • Use vision as inspiration • Use vision as cross check in a
regular retrospective • Vision poker
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