Apply inspection and adaptation regardless of the outcome.
Transparency is key to continuous improvement. However, it is difficult to embrace due to the uncomfortable nature of inspection. Additionally, in the absence of a safe environment, inspection and adaptation are avoided and transparency is severely crippled. This could lead to continuous improvement slowing to a crawl or even stopping completely.
Continuous Improvement and Agile
Toyota refers to continuous improvement as Kaizen. They see it as a way of life. In Kaizen: The Key to Japan’s Competitive Success1 by organizational theorist and management consultant Masaaki Imai, he shares:
The essence of Kaizen is simple and straightforward: Kaizen means improvement. Moreover, Kaizen means ongoing improvement involving everyone, including both managers and workers. The Kaizen philosophy assumes that our way of life—be it our working life, our social life, or our home life—deserves to be constantly improved.
The fourth value in the Agile Manifesto2 supports Kaizen:
Responding to change over following a plan
The twelfth principle in the Agile Manifesto2 supports Kaizen:
At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.
Continuous improvement is key to Agile. The Kaizen mentality is crucial. As such, we must combat any tendencies that reduce improvement.
A Common Scenario
There is often a culture of celebrating results without inspecting how the results were achieved. Unfortunately, the achievement of a goal is sometimes all that gets attention. For instance, I often hear statements such as:
- “We delivered on time!”
- “Our team improved our agile maturity to the next level!”
- “We reduced the time to deliver to the customer by 3 days!”
- “Our velocity improved this sprint!”
- “We now have monthly deploys to production!”
There is no doubt that these are worthy achievements. However, if there is no follow-on analysis as to why these results were achieved, a critical moment of inspection and adaptation has been missed.
Applying a Focus of Continuous Improvement for Successes
While it is important to celebrate successes, the journey to get to the result is seldom analyzed. To continuously improve, we must inspect successful results as well as unsuccessful ones. For instance, we could ask:
- “What can we learn about why we achieved this result?”
- “Can we do more of what we did right to get even better in the future?”
- “Why did we deliver on time?”
- “Did we cut corners to deliver faster?”
- “Are we working overtime to meet deadlines?”
- “Did we remove waste in our process to deliver in less time?”
- “Can we further remove waste so we can deliver even faster next time?”
- “Are we measuring the right metrics?”
- “Even though we are delivering faster, are our users using what we deliver?”
Concluding Thoughts to Embrace Transparency and Change
Often, when we see improvement results, we tend to relax and slow down improvement. This mentality leads to apathy and stagnation. In this scenario, good is the enemy of great.
The continuous improvement mindset can sometimes feel like a “glass half-empty” mentality to those not used to the behavior pattern of never being satisfied. The unending inspect and adapt loop can feel exhausting to those not used to its relentless pursuit of greatness through consistent incremental improvement.
When starting on the continuous improvement journey, you will have to break through patterns of only looking at results to start a new pattern of inspection and adaptation that is part of everything you try. This will be uncomfortable at first and may seem negative due to its insatiable nature. It will take courage to inspect when it is not commonplace and may not feel safe to do so. However, pushing through these barriers will lead you to unparalleled success through an incremental, unwavering focus on improvement.
Continuous improvement is an ongoing and unending journey. It is not only about improving when we fail but also when we succeed. We can always improve. What will you improve today?
References
- Kaizen: The Key To Japan’s Competitive Success, Imai, M., 1986.
- The Agile Manifesto, 2001 Ward Cunningham et al.
Todd Lankford unlocks Lean Leverage in organizations to cultivate powerful, engaged product teams who maximize outcomes and impact.
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A good analogy might be the military after-action report (AAR). Officers write these analyses after every mission, successful or not. In the case of a successful mission, it’s important to understand what went right, to see if the success is repeatable. Dumb luck is always a possibility. So, too, is the realization that something that seemed like a success at first actually wasn’t one. (Ditto for perceived failures, sometimes.)
The act of writing an AAR is an important part of the discipline of being an officer. It forces deep reflection that otherwise might not occur, as people feel the pressure to move on to the next task. The AAR also adds to institutional memory, so that others can benefit from that experience.
People need some structure, like the AAR, to improve continuously. Otherwise, people do get tired out, or self-satisfied (“victor’s disease”).
Damn, now I’ll have to write a blog post on this topic. Curse you, Lankford!