LEAN + AGILE = AGILEAN or we collect the whole in parts

1. Incorrect flight of the wrong bumblebee. (Introduction)

Where did the sciences of mathematics and physics come from?

Mankind was looking for answers to how the world was created. Partly out of curiosity, to a much greater extent, out of a desire to rule this world, to predict events on the basis of open laws and to adapt to them.

In today's state, mathematics and physics are not perfect - they are just systems of our interpretation of the world around us, and they are intertwined and complemented in things that are simple and understandable to us and begin to diverge and contradict each other and ourselves where forces, phenomena and laws are incomprehensible to us or not fully understood. In order to explain this additional complexity manifesting in the world, it is necessary to introduce new concepts and interpretation systems (example: quantum physics and Lobachevsky mathematics). And the deeper our understanding of the structure of the Universe extends, the more edits we have to make to what was previously considered an unshakable law.

There is a known case when at the dawn of aerodynamics, scientists tried to calculate the flight of a bumblebee according to its laws, it turned out that it flies against the laws of physics. The reason, of course, was not the “irregularity” of the bumblebee, but the imperfect scientific interpretation of the laws of nature, which was later corrected, and the happy bumblebee flew again, but now in strict accordance with aerodynamics.

Probably the most useful conclusion from this will sound as follows: behind any regularity or a separate phenomenon there is a system where everything is harmonious and interconnected. This statement applies to both science and business.

2. Business as an elephant

Business organizations, too, are harmonious systems that operate according to strict laws, a representation of humanity, about which is far from complete.

Everyone knows the parable about how the blind felt the elephant for different places and tried to describe the animal. The idea of ​​the one holding onto the trunk was very different from the one holding the foot or tusk.

In this sense, Agile and Lean are different systems for interpreting one large complex “elephant” or living world of human organization.

The manufacturers grabbed this “elephant” for the processes and turned out to be Lean, IT-workers grabbed the long-suffering animal for human interaction around these processes, and turned out to be Agile.

And, despite the fact that in the process of Lean development, its adherents began to realize that without the right involvement and organization of human interaction, even the most advanced processes will not work, and Agile supporters gradually come to the conclusion that Lean practices have a very organic application in Agile systems, anyway, there are still people who confidently claim that “Agile's place is only in IT” or who believe that they “implemented lean manufacturing” by hanging 5C signs and conducting several trainings for their employees.

3. Lean and Agile - is there a difference?

At first glance, it certainly is. Lean - focused on building ideal lossless processes and continuously improving them. Agile focuses on the quick and effective interaction of people around these processes, on the creation of human structures that can flexibly and creatively respond to any changes and business needs.

But if you think about it, is it not obvious that these two systems are not just organically complementary, but are literally two halves of one whole?

An effective, enthusiastic and involved, flexible response to changes, a self-organized team around ideal processes based on the principles of continuous improvement - is this not an ideal form of business?

Moreover, you just have to try to start mixing these two approaches in practice, and you will very organically pour into the realm of Agilean. What about DMAIC in Scrum format? Or kaizen sessions instead of retrospectives? Or maybe you want to post continuous improvement events on a Kanban board and track their progress, gathering around it with the entire department, moving cards from the backlog to Done?

Any such practice shows excellent results and suggests that here only sky is the limit.

Try, experiment, mix, adapt, create your own unique frameworks, tools and methodologies, and achieve with them unprecedented results. If you know how to do it right, then build an organization with high efficiency, high resistance to market changes, an organization where it will work not only profitably, but also pleasantly, simply.

“An effective, enthusiastic and involved, flexible response to changes, a self-organized team around ideal processes based on the principles of continuous improvement” is not just an organization, it is in some way a social phenomenon. Legends are circulating about such companies in the world of business, and involvement in them fills the hearts of employees with pride.

How, then, to start building it and what is hidden behind the phrase “if you know how to do it right”?

4. Values ​​and objectives vs frameworks and instructions

Both an attempt to build a mechanism without knowledge of the laws of physics, and an attempt to implement a business tool without knowing what values ​​it personifies and enforces, is doomed to failure.

Probably, many were faced with the phenomenon of cargo cult when introducing various new business methodologies, when, for example, 5C posters hang over heaps of garbage or the “self-organizing” team is under tight control of the micromanagement of the leadership. The result of such cargo-cult implementations always becomes the failure to achieve the set objectives and the planned effects of changes. Worse still, the organization instills in itself a strong aversion to any improvement.

"We tried - it does not work." “This is not for our industry, we have our own specifics.”

The reason for all such failures is simple - a lack of understanding of what an organizational culture is, what values ​​its type is based on, and how different business tools are associated with a particular level or type of culture.

The famous saying “culture is a strategy for breakfast” implies that the implementation of the methodology without taking into account the cultural characteristics of the organization will be unsuccessful.

Very often, organizational culture is mistakenly interpreted as the quality of people.

“These are hard workers, all this is difficult for them. They just need a clear order to dig from here until the evening and a salary at the end of the month. And, of course, control, control, control. ”

Well-known psychologist and organizational development specialist John Seddon said: “Attempts to change organizational culture are naive and always doomed to failure. The behavior of people (culture) is always a product of the system. A change in the system entails a change in human behavior. ”

The fact is that the same people will behave differently when they get into organizations with different cultures. Man is a social being, one of the main abilities of which is the ability to adapt to the existing environment or system.

And, despite the fact that, of course, for different people this adaptation will require different efforts and time, the fact remains that the system will always determine the culture. Except, perhaps, for those unique cases when a certain number of people of certain views gathered in an organization and design a system based on their cultural characteristics.

How to form the desired culture through systemic changes? And what does it mean to introduce an instrument taking into account the cultural characteristics that it represents?

Very often, when I talk about Agile, Scrum and their ceremony for the first time to clients, I hear: “Yes, we have it all. How is this different from our production meetings? We are also discussing work issues in a team and how can we improve them? ”

OK. Let's get a look. After all, formally, between the Agile retrospective and the meeting on the analysis of the results of the working week there is no. The team gathers in one office and discusses working issues. However, in practice, the tense, psychologically overwhelming (“how not to blurt out something”) atmosphere of a regular meeting of a hierarchical organization with the on-demand answers “everything is in order” turns out to be much less effective than a properly conducted relaxed democratic Agile retrospective, where people can sit or stand as and where they want. Where any "blatant" stupidity is not only not punished, but encouraged. Where there are no “forbidden” questions, and where, in general, is interesting and “safe” for the participants.

Not once from my experience, I could not truly explain the difference between these two such similar in format and such different in spirit events in words. The difference between the same tool with different cultural and value filling: Loyalty, Order, Subordination - in the first case, and Transparency, Flexibility, Psychological safety - in the second.

“We are serious people,” they told me. - “We have a serious organization and we are solving serious issues here. We have no time to play toys. ”

And each time when these same people held an ordinary meeting in Agile (or, probably, more precisely in the “Agilean”) format as an experiment, it was joyful to watch later how their eyes opened and their opinions changed.

“It really works, damn it!”

Yes, it really works, damn it, and it starts to work as soon as you stop looking at tools through the prism of instructions and formal signs, and begin to see them through the prism of values.

Simply put, you will stop “implementing Lean Manufacturing” or “introducing Agile”, and learn to interpret your private business challenges as a manifestation of systemic or, in the case of business, cultural problems.

5. Agilean instead of Lean or Agile

What is the difference between this new Agilean approach and the existing Lean and Agile, or why produce entities? Where Lean is needed - use Lean tools, where Agile is needed, use Agile! Is it logical? Not really.

The combination of components can sometimes be greater than its sum or 1 + 1 = 3

In our case, the combination of Lean and Agile results in Agilean - a philosophy, transformational model and a set of tools based on the following values:

- FREE COMMUNICATION

- PSYCHOLOGICAL SECURITY

- CONTINUOUS DEVELOPMENT

- FLEXIBILITY

FREE COMMUNICATION is the absolute transparency of processes and decisions, the general availability of information, the ability for anyone to discuss anything with anyone inside the company, if it comes to improving and developing the company. Without ceremonies, bureaucracy and hierarchical nods.

PSYCHOLOGICAL SECURITY is a culture of democracy, a culture of the absence of "silly questions." This value intersects with the previous one and supplements it, because only in a culture of psychological safety can ideas for improvement be born, freely discussed and implemented.

CONTINUOUS DEVELOPMENT is not only continuous improvement of the processes and tools of the company, it is self-development, development of colleagues around you, constant search and elimination of losses, increasing personal and team effectiveness, as well as the level of happiness of all participants!

FLEXIBILITY - there are no unshakable dogmas and rules for all occasions for the realization of values ​​above, so flexibility is the prerequisite for developing the right standards and constantly adapting them to a constantly changing world. Constant experiments, finding a solution using trial and error, prototyping and design thinking are flexibility. Constant work in a team, the ability to listen and respect the opinions of others is flexibility.

Given that, using the Agilean approach, everyone can build and develop their own unique tools depending on their tasks, context and cultural characteristics, we can call Agilean - ultra-flexible technologies or a universal approach to building a startup culture, where everything is subordinated to one - the goals of all employees of the company.

The task is to create an effective, enthusiastic and involved, responsive to changes, self-organized team around ideal processes on the principles of continuous improvement.

Tool kits are constantly changing and adapting. There are no best practices, there are good practices for a given place and time, and the main meaning of frameworks is only one - to form, implement and maintain the chosen values.