How we used Lean thinking to pivot a project away from uncertainty and towards success

Lean Enterprise, Principles in Practice Marc Esher @marcesher June, 2015

@marcesher 2 h*p://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920030355.do

@marcesher Standard operating procedure 3

@marcesher 4 h*p://giphy.com/gifs/happy-‐excited-‐M7gtacN7aPNsc

@marcesher 5 h*p://giphy.com/gifs/happy-‐excited-‐M7gtacN7aPNsc

@marcesher 6 h*p://rebloggy.com/post/disney-‐the-‐lion-‐king-‐disney-‐gif-‐1000-‐simba-‐emma-‐nala-‐disneyedit/78136810417

@marcesher 7 h*p://rebloggy.com/post/disney-‐the-‐lion-‐king-‐disney-‐gif-‐1000-‐simba-‐emma-‐nala-‐disneyedit/78136810417

@marcesher Uncertainties 8 •  InstallaKon and conﬁguraKon • 
Security requirements •  AuthenKcaKon and authorizaKon •  CustomizaKon

@marcesher Confronting Ignoring Uncertainty 9 •  Repeatable installaKon of
uncustomized soSware in produc*on •  Implement all security controls •  Auth… No Promises •  CustomizaKon Maybe later

@marcesher “When can we get more people?” 10

@marcesher “When can we start the customizations?” 11

@marcesher “… isn’t all that valuable” 12

@marcesher “… Valuable” 13

@marcesher 14 h*p://wiﬄegif.com/tags/69297-‐sarcasKc-‐clapping-‐gifs

@marcesher 15 h*p://wiﬄegif.com/tags/69297-‐sarcasKc-‐clapping-‐gifs

@marcesher 16 h*p://itrevoluKon.com/books/phoenix-‐project-‐devops-‐book/

@marcesher 17 h*ps://markmeynell.ﬁles.wordpress.com/2007/04/big-‐brother.jpg

@marcesher 18 h*p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Kim GENE KIM

@marcesher 19 h*p://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920030355.do

@marcesher 20 h*p://media3.giphy.com/media/feqkVgjJpYtjy/giphy.gif

@marcesher 21 h*p://media3.giphy.com/media/feqkVgjJpYtjy/giphy.gif

@marcesher 22 h*p://www.roysivan.com/best-‐way-‐develop-‐mvp/

@marcesher Key Principle: Focus on Learning 23

@marcesher 1. Are we building the right thing? 24

@marcesher 2. How do we know that? 25

@marcesher 3. We need to use the software 26

@marcesher 4. What’s the least we can do to
enable that? 27

@marcesher Pivot proposal 28

@marcesher Pivot proposal: Development Approach 29 •  4-‐6 week
discovery phase w/ small team •  No producKon… yet •  Focus on uncertainKes •  Leave parts of each requirement undone •  Build “Just enough to use and learn” •  Real users, ASAP

@marcesher Pivot proposal: Delivery 30 •  Deliver a mix
of soSware and documentaKon •  Staﬃng proposal based on discovery phase •  TransiKon responsibility to customer team

@marcesher Key Principle: Reduce waste 31

@marcesher 1. Small, X-functional Explore Team 32

@marcesher 2. Runway = hypotheses, not requirements 33

@marcesher 3. “Principle of Optionality” 34

@marcesher Enabling the transformation 35

@marcesher Enabling this transformation 36 •  Customer was a
fantasKc partner •  Real users early •  Frequent project check-‐ins •  Unit tests and conKnuous integraKon early •  Eye toward future staﬀ

@marcesher What didn’t go well 37

@marcesher What didn’t go well 38 •  Took a
while for customer to use the app •  Not everyone on board with “OpKonality” •  Bo*lenecks

@marcesher “Whenever you hear of a new IT project
starting up with a large budget, teams of tens or hundreds of people, and a timeline of many months before something actually gets shipped, you can expect the project will go over time and budget and not deliver the expected value.” - Lean Enterprise 39 My plea: enable experimentation

Thanks! Marc Esher @marcesher June, 2015

How we used Lean thinking to pivot a project aw...

How we used Lean thinking to pivot a project away from uncertainty and towards success

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