Since then though, been reflecting on that a bit. Why is it that I have such a distaste for movies like that?! My 12 year old still finds them fun... I used to like them. Lots of other people still like these movies...
Tonight, it dawned on me. My work life sometimes feels that way! It's like we're stuck in a time loop, repeating the same conversations OVER and OVER, and not making as much progress as we want to!
We have a challenge in our team. We have been engineering a solution through various names and versions now for about 15 years. The solution has grown VERY big - including hundreds of documents and automation components, all to be maintained at regular, increasingly frequent, intervals. At the same time, we're still being asked to add more to our solution, while we've lost staff.
"Bigger, faster, cheaper!" as I read and enjoyed reflecting on during this read today: https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2017/10/15/what-is-agile-the-four-essential-elements/#6901e7486e85
Repeatedly over recent years, the message to our team seems to be the same with each release. Reassess and reconsider... Is EVERYTHING in your huge release still of value? Are you really using our resources to best purpose or should you perhaps make a big CHANGE? Inevitably, we've decided yes, our solution does all still have value... and we've made little real change... I think mostly because we've been pushed so hard to add more quickly that we've not felt we had time to assess properly... See - stuck in a time loop. Frustrating!
Some have told us "You are stuck in a bubble, in your own world" or told us "Change is needed and we do not feel like we're being heard."... Can really understand their point, as we also have felt for a long time now that change is needed and we're not being heard! We need more time and resources to sort this out, we'd respond!
A few years ago, we embarked on a journey. We started to learn about and apply Agile methodologies. We started having daily Scrum calls to discuss what we did yesterday, what we plan to do in the next day, and anything that might be getting in our way. We discuss more with our customers now, as we make plans for each Sprint, for our next releases. We have gradually made lots of simple changes using Agile methods, and this has proven quite powerful. The downside? We added to our frustration, too, as we now have a BACKLOG of over 200 change requests - ideas to improve our solution, with a VERY small team to act on the ideas. Worse, we're being asked to join other teams now as well, yet still keep our solution going and improve it!
Some have told us "You are stuck in a bubble, in your own world" or told us "Change is needed and we do not feel like we're being heard."... Can really understand their point, as we also have felt for a long time now that change is needed and we're not being heard! We need more time and resources to sort this out, we'd respond!
A few years ago, we embarked on a journey. We started to learn about and apply Agile methodologies. We started having daily Scrum calls to discuss what we did yesterday, what we plan to do in the next day, and anything that might be getting in our way. We discuss more with our customers now, as we make plans for each Sprint, for our next releases. We have gradually made lots of simple changes using Agile methods, and this has proven quite powerful. The downside? We added to our frustration, too, as we now have a BACKLOG of over 200 change requests - ideas to improve our solution, with a VERY small team to act on the ideas. Worse, we're being asked to join other teams now as well, yet still keep our solution going and improve it!
Great questions in that article mentioned earlier.. "How does a firm preserve the magic of an Agile team when it goes from a handful of Agile teams to hundreds of Agile teams? What is the role of leadership in an Agile organization on a large scale? How does strategic Agility and market-creating innovation fit into the Agile way of getting things done?" Even after becoming a certified Scaled Agilist, I do not find I have wonderful answers to those questions, but I do feel like I'm getting closer.
A big change happened recently where we work - A VERY positive change! We used to be in a company called CSC, but we merged with HPE, and now we are DXC Technology! What does this mean for our small team? Suddenly, we have access to another team of people who did similar to what we've been doing. They UNDERSTAND what our solution is meant to achieve, AND they are available to talk out the situation and help us find ways to improve! We have more resources!
FINALLY our time in "Groundhog Day" seems like it may be ending. Wow, am I energized and excited about this!
A big change happened recently where we work - A VERY positive change! We used to be in a company called CSC, but we merged with HPE, and now we are DXC Technology! What does this mean for our small team? Suddenly, we have access to another team of people who did similar to what we've been doing. They UNDERSTAND what our solution is meant to achieve, AND they are available to talk out the situation and help us find ways to improve! We have more resources!
FINALLY our time in "Groundhog Day" seems like it may be ending. Wow, am I energized and excited about this!
"Happy Death Day" to our team's time loop, soon I think!
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