I was recently asked to lead 2 training sessions of 3 hours for a group of 6-8 people, mainly made up of business consultants and a salesperson.
The objective stated by the client was to make its employees aware of “different agile methods”, especially practices related to the role of “Product Owner”, such as the management of agile documentation by writing “User Stories”.
Given the time granted to me and the particular format at the end of the day, I decided to do not respond directly to the request of the customer, but even better: why not bring out the fundamental concepts of the participants and make them live an agile experience?
People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it – Simon Sinek
Indeed, words have meaning and the term Agile has been overused since its popularization, like the term coach for that matter, which can make the task of an agile coach problematic!
Thus, it seemed relevant to me to establish good foundations, to explain the Why Agile so that practices flow more easily and make sense to them. After all, it's a state of mind, isn't it? 😉
I started with a workshop on the emergence of values recommended to me by Christophe Keromen whom I thank in passing (link of the original article here).
Description of the workshop
Stage 1: Emergence of problems
- After laying out pictures of photo-language on the table, I invited participants to choose one that echoed the main problem they were having at work. (2′)
Note: some participants may not be able to choose a problem among those they encounter, so they should be asked to prioritize. After all, isn't that one of the main tasks of a Product Owner? 😉
- To lead by example and lighten the mood, I started.
- Then I proposed to each (2′ max per person):
- to get up,
- to introduce oneself,
- to show his image by describing his problem,
- write it down on a yellow post-it,
- and post it on the wall, visible to all.
- to get up,
Step 2: Emergence of causes
After identifying the main problems, let's tackle the search for potential causes.
- I asked the participants to work out in pairs which
- Among all the causes found, prioritize and determine the most important cause according to them for their problem. (5')
- Then everyone writes it on a pink post-it and places it under the corresponding problem.
Step 3: Emergence of areas for improvement
After identifying the potential causes, let's go ahead and think about possible areas for improvement.
- I invited the participants to determine in pairs what could be the axes of improvement with regard to their problem. (5')
- Among all the areas for improvement found, to prioritize and determine the one that would be the most efficient for them. (5')
- Everyone writes it on a purple post-it and places it under the cause of the corresponding problem.
Step 4: Emergence of values
Now, the culmination of the workshop, after identifying problems, potential causes and possible areas for improvement, let's take a little height to see what values we can identify.
Definition of a value according to Wikipedia:
What is posed as true, beautiful, good, from a personal point of view or according to the criteria of a society and which is given as an ideal to be achieved, as something to be defended.
- I invited the participants to determ
- Then, everyone writes the 2 pairs of values – separated by a line – on the same green post-it and places it under the axis of improvement of the corresponding problem.
Result obtained at the end of the workshop
The values that emerged from this group were:
- Specialization more than Generalization
- do one thing well rather than scatter unnecessarily
- Communication more than silence
- Communicate rather than keep everything to yourself
- Communication more than Rigor
- Communicate rather than follow too strict rules
- Share, Transmission more than speed
- Take the time to share instead of wanting to go too fast
- Share more than selfishness
- Transparency more than privacy
- Organization more than emergency
- Organize rather than do everything in a hurry
Isn't this an excellent basis for discussion and introduction to the Agile Manifesto? 🙂
Conclusion
Instead of trying to push knowledge (especially at the end of the day), this experiential workshop is dynamic and allows participants to start from subjects that concern them to appropriate agile values - centered on people's behaviors. He allowed toengage people from the beginning of the training by demystifying a little bit what the term Agile can represent for many people. Indeed, this shows that the concepts, although a little idealistic at first glance, are based on pragmatic realities that are still relevant today.
In addition, through the framework of the workshop, it is possible to introduce Scrum concepts implicitly – a framework is good! – by strictly respecting the given timeboxes, by insisting on the prioritization of elements, collaborative work, repeated exchange and all this supported by visual management.
Test it, you will have nice surprises! 🙂
One Response
Excellent article which allowed the neophyte that I am to familiarize myself with the founding concepts of agility.
PS: Olivier, I undertake to read each article of your blog during the next weeks, since the time that I wanted to do it! 😉