The art of creative deconstruction: an animation in TRIZ mode

The month of January is often a pretext for new resolutions, for those who still do so. This is true on an individual basis but also on a collective level.

During a visit to one of my teams, I was asked to host a retrospective in order to give them a second wind for the next 6 months. Indeed, the project has great stakes, the team will be strengthened and it seemed important that everyone becomes aware of their role to play.

I offered them a TRIZ of the liberating structures as I had done before here. But to a context, its adaptation! Here is what happened in this case! 😉

Why choose TRIZ?

Apart from my very particular taste for this structure, the choice of TRIZ was all the more suitable for:

• To create a different frame usual retrospectives generally oriented on what more can be done to improve: here the objective is above all to find what we can stop doing which is counter-productive which for me is much more in line with the logic of simplicity and frugality that we advocate in Agile
• Create a friendly atmosphere, serious but without taking oneself seriously (ah well that reminds me of something :-P) starting by destroying to rebuild
• Take stock of where you stand personally and collectively in a factual way through the sequence ofself-denunciation
• To allow to everyone to express themselves – whether he/she likes it or not – at least once during the session: this is one of the great strengths of Liberating Structures for once

animation structure

In my idea, the animation could consist of 3 parts:

As usual, the minimum information I need is:

• The intention : Give impetus to the team by focusing it on a common goal
• The number of people : here number 10
• The time allotted : here from 1h30 (from 9h30 to 11h)

With this information, I will be able to adapt the structure to the needs of the participants.

PART 1: Introduction

For this introduction, I obviously asked that it be short but that it highlight the issues, the findings and the desire to move forward together.

If we could fit in 5 short minutes, that would be great! 🙂

PART 2: Collective work

This is where our TRIZ structure will come into play.

If we start from the theoretical animation of the structure, we obtain:

1. Define the worst imaginable outcome vis-à-vis the team's objectives and/or strategy (5 min)
2. List what she can do to ensure that she achieves this result (10 min)
3. List what she is doing today that closely or remotely resembles her (10 min)
4. Determine actions or first steps for them to stop those things they know are counterproductive (10 min)

We then obtain here a timing of 35 minutes.

By adding a little margin with some latency, I counted between 45 and 50 minutes for the whole process.

PART 3: Crystallization

The objective here is to allow the team to maintain momentum over the longer term than simply an iteration of a few weeks.

To do this, we will reuse the results of the previous sequence to formulate the main operating principles of the team.

I count here about 20 minutes, knowing that the formulation exercises are generally quite difficult for the teams (from what I could see). 

We then theoretically arrive at a content for 1h30 while being a little tight. We'll see how things will evolve as the workshop progresses!

Now that the design has been described, let's see what happened in the field! 

Preparation

As we can never repeat enough, the success of a workshop depends essentially on its preparation.

I therefore set about initiating the posters that will serve as visual aids throughout the workshop.

Unrolled

Like any self-respecting weekend workshop, we are starting a little late following an arrival of pastries and a concentration of participants not yet there! 😛

Part 1: Introduction

I start by asking the group if everyone knows why we are here today, the answer turns out to be rather mixed for part of the group.

I then take this opportunity to give the floor to the members of the group to give a little context and then we launch into the heart of the workshop! 😛

Part 2: Collective work

First, I reveal the description of the TRIZ structure to the participants. I can already see a few smiles on their faces when reading about the various stages to come, so it looks rather interesting! 

As a precaution, I also share with them the operation of the 1-2-5-All structure that they will have to use many times throughout the workshop.

I tell them that whatever happens I will accompany them throughout the process to help them and remind them of the instructions.

The worst outcome imaginable

The question asked is:

What would be the worst imaginable outcome vis-à-vis your goals and/or your team's strategy?

This step could be done in brainstorming but to get everyone used to the 1-2-5-All structure, I directly suggest that they use it. I then asked them at each turn to keep the main idea that would emerge from the discussions, even if it meant reformulating it to make it more suitable.

This gives them the opportunity to align themselves with what could be understood by “worst result” in relation to what may have been shared at the start of the session.

The result is then ultimately rather simple but at least focuses everyone on the same thing:

Nothing works, nothing is delivered as of 06/10

How to reach it?

The question asked is: 

What could you do to ensure you reach it?

As the page describing TRIZ suggests, I made it clear to the participants not to set themselves limits, to let go! Anything that may seem silly is welcome!

Unlike the previous step, I don't ask them to keep only one idea at each step of the 1-2-5-all but to eliminate duplicates and add new ideas. Indeed, my intention is to have content to prepare the next steps.

We then debrief by passing a group who will present their ideas, then the second who will complete with their differential.

We have numbered each item for easy reference later. We still come up with nearly thirty ideas! 

How are we doing today?

The question asked is:

What are you doing today that closely or remotely resembles items from the previous list?

For once, I was very surprised to see that everyone really made the effort to look at each element. This obviously meant that the 1-2-5-All took much longer but it was worth it: everyone was looking for acts of sabotage! 

I'm always amazed at what can happen at this stage or at least in this kind of exercise. To see that people succeed in denouncing themselves in public, with a certain distance and without mutual judgments, it's nice to see!

How to stop?

The question asked is:

What would be the actions and/or first steps that could help you stop what you know is counterproductive?

Same experience as for the previous step, the 1-2-5-all takes time but the exchanges that are generated are really interesting. I then create the space for these discussions to take place even if it may be necessary to sacrifice the last part to stay on schedule.

Indeed, 2 people are expected in a meeting at 11am so I am in the grip of a dilemma:

• Either I overflow to unfold until the end what I had planned
  • Interests : the ideas are still hot to be crystallized in group, it is the stage which in my opinion makes it possible to give an impulse in the longer term even if the whole of the group is not present
  • Disadvantages : I who am the first to say that the framework is important, the timing therefore being part of it, I tell myself that this will not help to change the way in which we always overflow meetings! 

• Either I stop now to respect the timing and I will postpone this sequence
  • Interests : I respect the pre-defined framework, the whole group can contribute to this sequence
  • Disadvantages : losing the momentum that the stages of creative destruction of the TRIZ could have brought within the group, seeing only short-term actions and losing the sustainability of the impact of the session

Rather than deciding alone, I allow myself to ask the group what they prefer to do regarding the last planned sequence. I explain to them again the intention of this phase of crystallization and the group decides to do it, despite the fact that the group will be incomplete.

Part 3: Crystallization

For this last phase, we then recover the different actions defined in the last step of the TRIZ.

I gather the actions corresponding globally to the same subject and ask the group if they have any objections to this subject: the idea being to know if everyone is comfortable with the proposed actions or not. 

When this is not the case, we keep the "problematic" action on the TRIZ poster and only keep what works for everyone on the Crystallization poster.

An example of a “problematic” action: 

Reject a meeting.

Indeed, while the subject around meetings is something shared within the group, the action of refusing a meeting did not make everyone feel comfortable for various reasons. It was important to materialize the fact that it was ok, to continue to build bonds of trust and transparency within the team.

On the crystallization poster, represented in the form of a parchment, we arrange the actions according to 2 groups: the actions corresponding to principles applied to inside of the team and those applied vis-à-vis outside of the team.

The reformulation will be done afterwards but the final result seems to be appreciated by the team members who validate the fact that this step was worth it! 🙂

Conclusion

Despite the fact that we have well exceeded the initial time frame, the objective seems to have been achieved.

TRIZ as an animation structure is both a simple and original framework that allows the whole group to become aware of their counter-productive attitudes and to remedy them together.

I invite you to test it (if you haven't already) and share with me how you have, in turn, adapted it to your context! 🙂