Agnostic Agile

Posted on 31/07/2019 by slim

What is it?

Agnostic agility in information technology is the use of best practices and procedure for the efficient working of the business. It states that one framework never works best for every client, the practitioner has to address the problems of clients to achieve a higher level of agility.

What are the 12 principles?

The twelve agnostic agile principles are the following:

To care about the client interest first and empower them.
I will put my all efforts, knowledge, and practical experience that fulfils the customer’s needs at best.
I will focus on what the customer need is instead of pushing with is not needed.
I will work best to overcome all the hurdles that come in the way.
I will share my all experiences and knowledge to improve agile practices.
I will give respect to structure, work according to it, and will appreciate those who help in developing the framework.
If there will say something beyond my knowledge, I will accept it and seek help from other practitioners.
I never hide the choices that benefit the customers and mislead someone by saying I know when I do not know.
I will use traditional approaches as well when agility is not enough.
I will stay from become dogmatic because it is non-agile.
Sometimes the agility is not the end, so I will find the other ways that better the agility.
I will share my knowledge with the community and learn from it to give the benefit to the both.

Why is it useful?

Agnostic agility is useful because it helps the clients by providing them the best agility that will help to meet all the needs and fulfils all the requirements.

What is the difference with other agile methods?

You will find many other management frameworks like a waterfall, Kanban, scrum and all these have different methodologies. Scrum is a complex and rigid framework while the other two are easy to use and implement.

— Slimane Zouggari

The Toyota Way

Posted on 17/07/2019 by slim

Have you ever heard about the Toyota way or “the Toyota way 2001.” It is set of some principles and behaviors that Toyota introduces to underline the production system and managerial approach. These all principles are specially designed to ensure reliability and quality. Toyota is an excellent motor corporation that is manufacturing high-quality motors vehicles as compared to other competitors. The Toyota way explains the philosophy behind Toyota reputation due to management and business principles.

The Toyota way principles:

The Toyota way offers 14 principles categorize in four sections. The Toyota principles are the following:

Management policy should base on long-term philosophy to attract buyers.
Always use the right and continuous system to produce the right results and to solve the problems.

iii. Avoid over-production and over-use of material.

To Care about people and equipment and minimize the workload.
Anyone in Toyota can stop the working to address the problem and ensure the quality work.
Empowerment of employees for continuous improvement.

vii. A 5S program that includes sort, Straighten, Shine, Standardize, Sustain.

viii. Use reliable and tested technology.

Employees should understand the philosophy, work, and technology.
Hire those who can follow Toyota’s philosophy.
Keep a good attitude with suppliers as well.

xii. Check and balance on working

xiii. Do not make hurry in taking decisions

xiv. Be a learning organization, listen to critics, and improve yourself.

Toyota’s six rules:

Toyota prepares six rules for in time and effective manufacturing called “Kanban.” Kanban is a Japanese word means visual card.

Defected products will never pass further for the process.
The movement of material is made only with Kanban but not without it.
Just take those items, which are needed.
Stabilize the procedure to limit the pending requests.
Always mentioned that the specific item is requested.
The supplier should provide material that is required to prevent wastage.

— Slimane Zouggari

Agile Coach

Posted on 10/07/2019 by slim

People hire an agile coach outside the company to improve the organization working standards, but it is important to go for the right person who knows how to handle things and make progress.

What is the job of an agile coach?

The agile coach job is to bring change in the culture of an organization. This cultural change helps to ensure the visibility and transparency in all the projects. Agile coach finds out the ways for the company development and urges the organization to rethink and change its working ways. The addition of agile coach positively influence the individuals, groups or team, and the entire organization. One can hire an agile coach for temporary or permanently.

What does he do?

The agile coach has many responsibilities to fulfil:

He serves as a guiding person or mentor to the persons working on a task.
He is monitoring all the task completion process to make it better, efficient, and productive.
He facilities in improving and solving the matters and group dynamics.
He keeps an eye on all interactions happening between different employees in the company.
They sometimes introduce the old or new ways to solving up things while playing a teacher role.
The agile coach also masters in handling technical issues so if there is some technical problems occur in the company, and he could give the best advice.

What does not belong to the agile coach job description?

Agile coach is not responsible at all for some other tasks as he is not responsible for the delivery of projects or reporting progress reports to the task manager. It has to focus on company growth through completing projects instead of ensuring the personal growth of each employee working on the project. He did not have to teach the employees how to work and take steps.

— Slimane Zouggari

LS – Wicked questions

Posted on 03/07/2019 by slim

Liberating structures: Wicked questions

What is meant by it?

Asking wicked questions during presentations, meetings and conferences is another great way used by the agile community for making sure that everyone engages in the discussion. It helps to sharpen everyone’s ability to think more strategically. Therefore, when you ask wicked questions, the participants will have to open their minds and think strategically to answer your question.

How is it done?

Begin the session by asking everyone which complementary strategies do we need to follow to be accomplish our goals. You can make a group of 4-6 people. Everyone should be equally involved in the discussion. Participants can either participate individually or they can form small groups or work as a whole. Once the groups are made you will explain them what wicked questions are. For 5 minutes each pair will be discussing about the wicked question format. In the next 5 minutes, each group will select their most strong wicked question. Then, everyone as a whole shall pick out the most powerful wicked questions within 10 minutes.

Why are wicked questions important?

It will help you to develop your innovative strategies so that you can move forward and evaluate your decisions. You will be able to use your creative skills and engage with other people.

Tips and Traps

Following are some tips and traps that may help you:

Every participant should answer both sides of the paradox.
A variety of examples should be used.
Try to work in circles.
Don’t use nasty question.
Don’t ask questions related to data.
Let everyone participate equally and give in their ideas.

Examples

Wicked questions can be used in the following circumstances:

They can be used for parental advice.
For helping leaders to keep the public involved plans.
To manage huge global operations.
In functional departments including HR, legal, etc.

— Slimane Zouggari

LS – Nine Whys

Posted on 27/06/2019 by slim

Liberating structures: Nine Whys

What is meant by it?

In the world of the agile community, the ‘Nine Whys’ play a great role as these liberating structures can help in making everything more clear and simple. Whenever you are discussing something with a group, always make sure to explain your point with clarity. Once the point is clarified only then you should move onto the next question.

How is it done?

Firstly, you will ask everyone what would they do if they were working on a specific matter and then ask them to make a short list of tasks. After that, you will have to keep asking them ‘Why’ related questions nine times so that the participants can get understand their work in a deeper way. There should be chairs for people to sit on without any tables and the number of groups can be unlimited. Everyone will be participating equally. First pairs will come, then groups of four people will come and then everyone will come as a whole. Every person will be interviewed by his partner for 5 minutes. Each pair will then share their experience with another pair for five minutes.

What is its purpose?

This technique will help you in knowing the importance of group members and it will also help you in organizing a momentum through your stories. Therefore, you will have to provide clear answers so that everyone can move forward.

Tips and Traps

You will need to focus on the following tips and traps:

Always try to avoid judging other people and make sure that everyone feels welcomed and comfortable to work with you.
Have fun with your partner and keep on asking them ‘why’.
Keep digging in for more information by using the ‘why?’ questions as much as you can.
Keep the stories shared between you and your pair confidential.

Examples

Following are some of the circumstances where you may have to use this liberating structure:

To clarify the purpose of launching a new product.
In the start of any coaching session.
To clarify your person purpose as an individual.
To clarify why you are launching a collaborative research work.

— Slimane Zouggari

LS – Impromptu networking

Posted on 20/06/2019 by slim

Liberating structures: impromptu networking

What is impromptu networking and what is made possible?

Impromptu networking is another kind of liberating structure, which is very beneficial for the agile community. It can be used to grasp the attention of a group of people on a particular problem so that they can solve it. It helps in problem-solving. People tend to lose their focus on things, which is why they can solve a particular problem, however with the help of impromptu networking you will be asking questions in 20 minutes to address a specific problem. You will make sure that everyone is attentive and you all will work together to figure out how to solve the problem.

How is it done?

First of all, you will invite the audience into the discussion by asking them questions related to their main aim to be a part of this group. Make sure that the participants are allowed to sit in an open space without any obstruction. Everyone should be given an equal opportunity and time to speak. You can either make pairs by yourself or allow them to form their own group with strangers or people they know. Three rounds are held in each round every person is given 2 minutes to answer the questions.

What is its purpose?

The purpose of liberating structures is to make sure that everyone engages in solving the problem by answering thee question. It will also help shy people to be a bit more confident. Sometimes little suggestions can make a significant change.

Tips and Traps

Here are some of the tips and traps that may help you.

Ask one challenge question.
Ask one give and take question.
Ask engaging questions from the participants.
Before you being a meeting you can use impromptu networking.
You can use bells to enter the other round.
Ask open-ended questions.

Examples

You can take help from this kind of liberating structure in the following circumstances:

To make a deeper connection with the class, the professors tend to ask questions like, “Why do you want to attend this class?” or “What do you think you will learn from this class?”.
People can use impromptu networking to start a cross-functional or interdisciplinary learning session such as with judges and lawyers.

— Slimane Zouggari

LS – 1-2-4-all

Posted on 13/06/2019 by slim

What is meant by it?

When using liberating structures 1-2-4-all, you will be able to engage everyone regardless of the fact how big the group or audience is. In this way, by involving everyone you will produce better ideas and get the work done faster. People will not be hesitant to put forward their ideas, therefore solutions would be found easily. In this kind of liberating structure, an open conversation will be held between the participants which will help them in being more creative and the solution will be found easily.

How is it done?

Firstly, you will have to put forward a question to all the participants regarding to the presentation of the issue such as ‘How would you solve this problem?” or “How would you progress in such a situation?”. There can be unlimited number of groups and it is optional if you want to provide them with chairs and tables. The participants will be working in pairs and then in groups a of four. A paper shall be given to all the participants so that they can note down their observations. Every participant will be participating equally. First, the participant would start alone for silent self-reflection for 1 minute, then a pair would be formed to build ideas for 2 minutes and then a group of four people would be formed so that they can share their ideas for 4 minutes. Finally, everyone would discuss their ideas with each other for 5 minutes.

Why are they used?

There are various reasons why these liberating structures 1-2-4-all are used. They will help in making everyone engage more to search for answers, it will reduce the dependency of the vicious cycle, it will also diminish the power differentials, quiet conversations will be improved, and people would become good at observing before expressing their insights.

What are the Tips & Traps?

Before getting into a paired conversation, make sure to do self-reflection and then ask everyone to note down their point of views during that. You can use bells for different announcements. Make sure to complete your presentation in the allotted time. Ask each group to put forward their insights. It is also very important that one person speaks at a time. If you think that you have more to say, then you can go for another round.

Examples – Where can you use it?

Now you must be wondering, where you can use these liberating structures 1-2-4-all, right? Well there are several times when you can use them that are listed below.

After giving a speech or presentation, it is always important to get feedback to know how did you do. So, instead of asking, ‘any further questions?’ you can use the liberating structures.
Managers can also use 1-2-4-All to plan how they will conduct their meetings.
You can use them to chat about meetings.
For starting a discussion which is stuck on some other matter.
If you are a leader, then you can use them for conveying a message to your followers.

— Slimane Zouggari

Bikablo

Posted on 07/06/2019 by slim

A German company named Kommunikationslotsen was first who came up with the visual facilitation and created their first product which is like picture card’s pad. The word Bikablo is a German word, Bi-ka-bla means picture cards pads in English. This product was like a visual dictionary with a collection of some picture cards on the block. Based upon the first product the company created, bikablo then came as a brand. And now, Bikablo is a training center, pioneer, and laboratory for visualization of hand-drawn.

In the world of Agile, Bikablo is a well-known organization. Diagrams and PowerPoint have always been used for securing knowledge, developing some of the smarter products, explaining processes and strategies in the past. But a smarter way to secure the knowledge is drawing more than any kind of diagram and PowerPoint figures. With bikablo, one can put up giant layout techniques, dramatic visual compositions, and emotions figures and convey your point and message in a superior way than any kind of diagrams and PowerPoint clip. It can benefit your team, project and the strategy.

In other drawing methods you have to learn how to hold the ruler to draw lines and shapes but in bikablo training, you would be taught how to really hold the pen and without using a ruler how one can draw a straight line and just get everything out straight from the pen. Through bikablo, you would be able to transform your presentations into dramatic compositions. You can make Sketchnotes in a far easy way by learning visualization technique that will help a lot in the facilitation of your workshops and office meetings. Visual storytelling, Graphic recording, Visual meeting facilitation, and visual consulting all by bikablo, would change the outlook of understanding things in a different and exciting way. You would not require any other drawing skills after getting this training.

Sources

— Slimane Zouggari

Kanban Maturity Model

Posted on 31/05/2019 by slim

The Kanban Maturity Model (KMM) is basically a very powerful tool for the businesses, organizations, consultants, and coaches. The KMM is a well-known name in the Agile world and is consists of seven maturity levels for implementation. These seven maturity levels are as follows: Oblivious, Emerging, Defined, Managed, Managed Quantitatively, Optimizing, and Congruent. Different tasks are performed in different stages through ensuring high quality. Such high quality practices lead the organization towards the highest degree of maturity. On the other hand, improper application leads towards the lower degree of maturity. This Kanban model is very helpful and useful in showing the current skills of an organizations along with assisting how these skills can be assessed and improved. Most of the people consider this model as a reference model but in reality, it is actually more than just a simple reference model. It offers a roadmap to the organization through which they can enhance their evolutionary capacity in an effective way. This model is highly effective in creating good governance, alignment, unity, and a sense of purpose. This model can be used for a number of purposes such as the following.

Kanban Maturity Model is used in gaining a better knowledge and sense of achievement for the organization. This KMM model is used by various organizations to access and improve their current skills and performance.

This model is widely being used all over the world for the purpose of providing a number of amazing products. It is also being used for ensuring the delivery of high-end and quality-oriented services.

On top of all of its uses, this model is one of the best and top recommended model because of a very important reason. The reason is that the use of this model ensures the superior and desired business results and greater progress.

Sources

— Slimane Zouggari

Sketchnoting

Posted on 24/05/2019 by slim

Sketchnoting is a well-known term in the agile world. Sketchnotes are visual notes but rich which are created through a mix of drawings, handwriting, shapes, hand-drawn typography and some visual elements like boxes, arrows, and lines. Do you really like to know how to make your own sketchnotes? Well, if yes then keep reading.

First, keep it in mind you do not have to be an artist when it comes to sketchnote. See the examples of sketchnote of others on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter etc. Practice it to interpret and read sketchnote of others in order to take meaning from doodles. Practice how to take visual notes. Skectchnotes can be taken from anywhere like articles, lectures, books, birthday card etc. So take note from anything you would like to make sketchnote on. Try to share your notes with other sketchnote makers in order to communicate through this technique Try to use a variety of tools. For example, use pencil for the first time then switch on to tablet or computers. Find out which technique works best for you. Take a paper and pencil and follow these steps to make a sketchnote.

Decide a layout, like radials, paths, columns etc.
Write a title on the top of the page
As you listen, read or see something, write down the most important idea that you get.
Add drawings to each idea
Use colors to highlights
Then use lines and connect ideas to the drawings

Sketchnote is really helpful in taking notes but visually. It is very helpful in order to remember what you have listened to or seen. Sketchnoting is helpful in organizing your ideas precisely. Sketchnotes make you creative. It increases your concentration, listening and observing ability. Sketchnotes are good to deliver some unspoken messages visually.

Sources

— Slimane Zouggari