23 Ways to Fail an (Agile) Transformation

The Ultimate Guide to Eliminating Self-Organization and Employee Motivation

Laura Sophie Aichroth, ST Kambor-Wiesenberg

• Publisher: Books on Demand
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9783752620160
• eBook ISBN: 9783752603323
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Management
• Index: Business

Laura & ST have been supporting individuals, teams and companies in (agile) change projects for many years. Sometimes this has been very disappointing and frustrating. As a self-therapeutic measure, they began to write short messages in which they satirized or simply quoted their environment. Comments like: "You can do that any way you like, but not like that" or "Testing? We don't do that, it's far too expensive. We implement changes live" or "This is a very good method, but unfortunately it doesn't work for us" or "In the time planning takes, I can also work on something for real" brightened the depressed mood. In the course of time, small drawings were added and the idea for this book was born. To make sure the content is not only negatively connotated, they have described improvement suggestions with each anti-tip.

CHAPTER I

Management and General Demotivation

A company could be such a great thing if only it didn't have those annoying employees. Simply throwing out uncomfortable colleagues is no longer up to date, it tends to go down badly on social networks. But there is one way to separate the wheat from the chaff, the 4V method® (derived from the German words: Verunsichern, Verschwenden, Verärgern, Vergraulen): unsettle, waste, annoy, drive away. Either the employees stay and become part of the system or they leave voluntarily.

Don't practice what you preach!

What applies to general employees does not necessarily apply to managers. Being late for a meeting? Having the assistant book private holidays? Answering e-mails during a meeting? Cutting in line at the cafeteria? Exclusive parking spaces? No problem at all. You are important and your time is more valuable than that of others.

It sounds simple and in theory (hopefully) everyone agrees that you should practice the kind of behavior you preach to your fellow human beings, employees and colleagues. Nevertheless, people like to fall back into old habits and allow themselves the right to behave in a way that would bother them in others - telling themselves they have a valid justification for their behavior.

If you are able to implement decisions, make sure that visibly different classes in companies (e.g. separate canteen for the management, parking spaces for executives or senior management, different equipment than that for the "average" employee, etc.) are abolished. You can start by not using these perks. Only when you yourself feel the pain of impractical or even obstructive infrastructure you will understand the problem and be motivated to implement changes and be serious about carrying them forward. People with "power" should use the same things as people without power, e.g. restrooms, technology, IT infrastructure, office equipment or parking lots.

A negative example for this is a customer where management had roofed parking spaces in front of their offices. There were too few parking spaces for the remaining employees. Instead of thinking about a usable concept, parking attendants were asked to stick notes on cars that had not been parked in accordance with the regulations and the cars would be towed away by towing companies in the event of a repeat. Their proposed solution: indicating an alternate parking space 20 minutes away. There was no parking problem for the management. No matter whether it was raining, snowing or scorching hot - their cars stood covered and dry right in front of the door. They didn't care that 30% of their staff were already fed up with the company by the time they walked through the entrance door. Especially as a modern company, technical solutions would be appropriate here: parking guidance systems, parking lot occupancy displays via app or mobile website, Segways, electric scooters or electric golf carts to get to the alternate parking lot, loan umbrellas, a token system that employees could park x times a month in front parking lots if something has to be transported, or they have specific plans - the tokens could be exchanged so that employees using public transport or bicycles have advantages - just to name a few.

Avoiding a discrepancy between practicing and preaching begins with a few simple but very effective steps that require no rocket science, but only discipline and will. And the good thing is that you can start immediately and improvement is just one decision away:

1. Be punctual - Plan appointments in your calendar and make them end five before and begin five after, so that you are prepared in any case, can prepare yourself mentally for the next appointment, arrive on time and have already fetched a coffee.
2. Always come prepared for appointments - Block times in your calendar to prepare for appointments and always invite to appointments with goal and agenda. We stubbornly ask for goals and agendas for all appointments, help shaping them and clarifying in advance what should be worked on or discussed in the appointment. In case of doubt, we consistently cancel appointments without goals and agenda if the inviting parties don't want goals and an agenda.
3. Document properly. Knowledge is power - That is a religious but very common doctrine. People in organizations get sick, go on vacation or change jobs. Document for yourself and others to a degree that the work could continue without you. Allow others to find information in familiar, unambiguous places without having to ask you. You will find that it will save you a lot of time and nerves if those who are interested can meet their - somewhat overworked term - debt to be collected (in German Holschuld).
4. Stick to time boxes - Decisions that are not made within 55 minutes will not be made in 65 minutes. Always keep an eye on the time for a task or appointment and actively drive decisions and the agenda forward, even if you don't lead the appointment. Once the goal has been achieved and the agenda has been completed, everyone is happy to have time left and to devote themselves to new tasks. If there is not enough time to reach the planned goal, arrange a follow-up appointment. It is important to take an active part and to notice in time when there is not enough time. If 50 minutes and 10 agenda items are planned for the meeting and point 2 is still being discussed after 30 minutes, something has to be changed, e.g. five minutes of discussion per item. If there is no decision on the point, it must be decided whether to adjourn this point or another.
5. Be focused - On all tasks. Don't eat, turn off your smartphone /mute it, put away anything that might distract you. We humans are not made for simultaneous activities. We are better if we concentrate on one task, complete it and tackle the next. Interruptions always result in the sum of the individual attempts to complete a task taking longer than to complete the task in one go. Furthermore, the probability of errors increases. It's better to take more conscious breaks and then focus again.
6. Be honest - In lectures, at trade fairs, at recruiting events or in marketing campaigns. Not telling the truth is just a very expensive loan with uncertain side effects. If you have lost the trust of your employees, it is very difficult to get it back. And what applies to your employees also applies to customers. Don't promise anything that doesn't exist (yet). Even if you don't tell an untruth directly, but only give the impression of something that doesn't correspond to the truth, this will eventually lead to disappointed expectations.

Make it harder to spend money!

Build slow, expensive and above all non-transparent processes as the only procurement option for your workforce. If the purchasing process is as complicated as possible, employees will think twice whether they need something or not. This way you can save money!

Employees build houses in their private lives, have children and take responsibility for investments. In the context of their employee existence, they are often not even expected to be able to decide when they need tools, office supplies or further training for their work. Create clear, simple processes and give your employees responsibility. Figuratively speaking, the sport, the playing field and the rules must be known to everyone in order to determine very clearly when there is a warning, a yellow card and a red card. It is extremely helpful to settle the following points for everyone:

• Transparent cost centers and budgets (easiest per team) for office supplies, software licenses, etc.
• Clear criteria for the use of further training with the agreement to pass on the acquired knowledge to other colleagues. Define the format of transferring the knowledge before the booking of the training. Then the conditions are transparent for everyone.
• Processes that are accessible to everyone. If a central procurement has been placed, the person placing the order must b...

Table of contents

• About the book
• About the author
• Table of Contents
• Prologue
• Chapter I: Management and General Demotivation
• Chapter II: Agile Washing
• Chapter III: Human Resources and Attitude
• Chapter IV: Software Developers and IT
• Chapterl V: Product Development and Customer Contact
• Copyright