Kundenmagazin 2016-05 EN

Interview partner Torsten Scheller Expert, researcher, blogger, author for Agile and Lean With his enterprise >>agil werden<<, Torsten Scheller supports organisations at developing their in- dividual agility. He uses methods like Lean Change, pregame®, Management 3.0 or Culture Hack- ing. Previously he worked as a Product and Project Manager in different companies. His book “Auf dem Weg zur agilen Organisation” (English: On the road to agile organisations) will be published this summer by Vahlen Verlag. needs to be consulted when it comes to ideas and manufacturing concepts. The “processor” is the one who uses the product and has to live with the re- sult … Editor: …but businesses are already involving employees a lot! Scheller: Yes, this is correct. Howev- er, it is also about doing the right things right. Unfortunately, I do not know of any studies that prove that increased productivity and more innovative prod- ucts are connected to table football. For me, there is no evidence for the effec- tiveness of “feel good management” in dysfunctional organisations. I see another correlation: Organisations that are functioning properly are also gen- erating a healthy internal working envi- ronment and motivate their employees. Of course, the two factors can influence each other, but – I’m sorry – you cannot save a dysfunctional organisation with football tables. We need to address the way in which things are done in the en- terprise. At the moment, Agile is a suit- able solution for this. Editor: What can companies actually do? Scheller: Two things: implement agile values and principles and support them with actual agile practices – but only one after another. For instance, I would start with daily stand-ups and when this is working properly, I would organise a retrospective every 14 days … Editor: What are “daily stand-ups”? Scheller: Daily stand-ups are very short daily meetings with a strict du- ration of 15 minutes where the partic- ipants do not sit down. During these meetings, the whole team gets togeth- er and each member gives a status report, answering the following three questions: “What did I do yesterday? What am I doing today? Where do I need help?” It is important not to start any discussions and not to exceed the 15 minutes time limit. If someone has to discuss something with another team member, they can do this after the stand-up. In general, everyone will complain about “another meeting…” at first. After a short while, most people will see the benefit and would not want to miss a daily stand-up. Many teams already hold this type of meetings and just name them otherwise. It is a tried and proven practice. Editor: And what do you mean by “retrospectives”? Scheller: To improve themselves and to grow, people have to reflect upon their way of working and answer the questions “What am I already doing good and can go on doing? And what can I do better?” In a retrospective, the team will reflect upon these questions every 14 days for instance. It is essen- tial that the team members are among themselves at these retrospectives, without any observers or guests, with no HR or manager, not even their own team manager. They must have the possibility to talk frankly and straight- forwardly to each other without being disturbed. In many cases, this will be more helpful than feedback from a superior. To make this work, the team needs a safe environment, which can only be provided if they are amongst themselves. Editor: And when these two work, will the business already have become more agile? Scheller: Yes! Originally, Agile was developed for software development but it applies to everyone. Every indi- vidual function and therefore the entire enterprise benefits from it. This makes agility a management issue. The man- agement at the top has to initiate agil- ity and strongly support it with definite actions. Middle management has to support agile activity in the teams. The results of the actions are all that mat- ters. And even this can be made agile by retrospectively examining one’s ac- tions: “Were we effective? How can we be even more effective the next time?” Editor: Therefore, everyone is respon- sible for his own agility. Scheller: Exactly, everyone has to be agile. Agile organisations are based on agile teams, and agile teams are based on agile employees and agile management. Everyone needs to start with himself or herself: “Who is my cus- tomer? What does he think about my performance? How can I permanently improve my performance?” Therefore, agility is a state of mind! Editor: Thank you very much for the interview!

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