I got Trapped! Systems thinking traps of IT Teams and how to battle them

Donella Meadows book, Thinking in Systems, is a concise and crucial book offering insight on how to think about systems, how to control systems and how systems change and control themselves. A system is a group of interacting, interrelated or interdependent parts unified to have a purpose. Examples can be a heating system, a tree, a human, a social system, an IT system, and IT Teams working as a part in a company which is also again a system.

For me, the most interesting part of the book is about system traps. They are traps in where systems can go wrong without noticing. Since reading the book I started observing these traps in my day to day work. Traps like seeking the wrong goal with a code coverage threshold, shifting the burden to an intervener by letting a separate QA team be responsible for quality. Join me in this talk where I will go into more of these system traps I observed in IT teams, and what I did to get out of these traps.

Transcript

1. I got Trapped! Systems thinking traps of IT Teams and how to battle them
2. 2 @kenny_baas
3. 3 @kenny_baas The hands that manipulate it suppress or release some behaviour that is latent within the structure of the spring
4. 4 @kenny_baas A system is an interconnected set of elements that is coherently organized in a way that achieves something. (Function or Purpose)
5. 5 @kenny_baas Some systems examples
6. 6 @kenny_baas Element Interconnections Function/Purpose Most easy to observe and change Changes greatly alters the system Least obvious and changes can be drastic
8. 8 @kenny_baas Inflow Outflow Water in tub (Stock)
9. 9 @kenny_baas
10. 10 @kenny_baas Inflow Outflow Water in tub (Stock) desired temperature Discrepancy B B
11. 11 @kenny_baas
14. https://medium.com/@Smrimell/it-s-a-trap-systems-traps-in-software-development-dc6341022795
15. 15 Strategic technology consultants - Agile technical coaches - Domain-driven design - Continuous delivery - EventStorming - Example Mapping - System Thinker - Stoic @kenny_baas baasie.com
16. 16 @kenny_baas
17. 17 @kenny_baas
19. Shifting the burden to the intervener
20. 20 @kenny_baas Other examples “Temporary code or fix” Hire more manual testers Hire more developers Security Operations Consultants
21. 21 @kenny_baas The way out Take the focus off short-term relief and put it on long-term restructuring.
22. A group of people is not a team, focus on collaboration as a team.
23. 23 @kenny_baas Guiding heuristic Focus on team collaboration
26. 26 @kenny_baas Drift to low performance
27. 27 @kenny_baas Other observations Sprint forecasting
28. 28 @kenny_baas The way out Keep performance standard absolute. Let standards be enhanced by the best actual performance.
29. 29 @kenny_baas Guiding heuristics Make agreements on team standards, improve collaboration by mobbing and pairing. Keep repeating and reiterating on made agreements.
31. 31 @kenny_baas
32. Success to Successful
33. 33 @kenny_baas Other observations Maturity models and job hierarchy with promotions can lead to: Peter principle Social darwinism
34. 34 @kenny_baas The way out Diversification
35. 35 @kenny_baas Guiding heuristics Pair up with new team members
36. 36 @kenny_baas guiding heuristics Focus on (neuro)diversity, everyone is an individual and different. Focus on equality, equal access to opportunities Focus on inclusion, create a sense of belonging.
37. 37 @kenny_baas
38. 38 @kenny_baas guiding heuristics Create collective autocracy within teams.
39. 39 @kenny_baas
40. Policy Resistance
41. 41 @kenny_baas Other observations Technical debt vs quick delivery
42. 42 @kenny_baas The way out Bring in all the actors and seek out mutually satisfactory ways for all goals to be realised
43. 43 @kenny_baas Guiding heuristic Create a shared mindset of how software is delivered. Use visualisation and measure the delivery.
45. 45 @kenny_baas https://baasie.com/2019/04/30/a-quest-in-finding-the-perfect-eventstorming-backpack/
46. 46 @kenny_baas http://thepaulrayner.com/eventstorming-team-flow
47. 47 @kenny_baas https://leanpub.com/measuringcontinuousdelivery
48. 48 @kenny_baas http://verraes.net/2013/07/managed-technical-debt/
50. Seeking the wrong goal
51. 51 @kenny_baas Other observation unrealistic deadlines KPI Ops solving incidents
52. 52 @kenny_baas The way out Reflect the real welfare of the system. Don’t confuse effort with result.
53. 53 @kenny_baas Guiding heuristics The team should be autonomous, focus on result rather than effort.
54. 54 @kenny_baas
55. 55 @kenny_baas
56. 56 @kenny_baas Escalation
57. 57 @kenny_baas Other observations Gamification between teams, like who has the best quality software, who writes the most LOC, or has the most code coverage -> Can lead to seeking the wrong goal
58. 58 @kenny_baas The way out Refuse to compete, disarm. Negotiate a new system with balancing loops.
59. 59 @kenny_baas Guiding heuristics Reform teams when needed to balance.
60. 60 @kenny_baas
61. 61 @kenny_baas Guiding heuristics Remove toxic people from the team when all else fails.
63. Rule beating
64. 64 @kenny_baas Other observation User story templates Giving user story points to fixed time work The under the shelve build station Code review
65. 65 @kenny_baas The way out Design, or redesign, rules to release creativity not in the direction of beating the rules, but in the direction of achieving the purpose of the rule.
66. 66 @kenny_baas Guiding heuristics The team should be autonomous, focus on purpose rather than rules.
68. Tragedy of the commons
69. 69 @kenny_baas Other observations Shared data to reports Shared database end to end (chain) testing
70. 70 @kenny_baas The way out Educate, exhort and create awareness, so people understand the consequences of abusing the resource. Restore or strengthen the feedback loop by privatizing or giving direct consequences.
71. 71 @kenny_baas Guiding heuristics Make a team owner of the shared library.
72. 72 @kenny_baas Guiding heuristics Put in place proper CI/CD Only change the software when other team(s) collectively reviewed it.
74. 74 @kenny_baas If we have a system of improvement that is directed at improving the parts taken separately. You can be absolutely sure that the improvement of the whole will not be improved. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqEeIG8aPPk Russ Ackoff
75. 75 @kenny_baas
76. 76 @kenny_baas Order Payment Packaging
78. @kenny_baas Big Picture EventStorming https://leanpub.com/ddd_first_15_years
79. @kenny_baas credits: Ruth Malan
80. @kenny_baas #CatTax @kenny_baas Baasie.com xebia.com/blog/author/kbaas/ https://speakerdeck.com/baasie