PITA 053
Icebreaker: Summer movie (or event) that you’re looking forward to.
Topic 1: What approaches have you seen work for scaling product transformation for large teams?
Can you divide the problem space into areas that are self-contained and mapped to the org structure, so that you can work in those bundles?
Ensure you have the org ownership of the squads and initiatives
Deliberate public check-ins - not show & tells, not ‘look how green our RAG status is’, but focus on the problems currently being faced, feedback and ad-hoc governance - using the squad ceremonies as governance
Start small is best, then scale up; Big bang never seems to work well
Let teams opt-in if they want - if they feel they’re ready and don’t need that much support, they should be able to adopt some of the principles and practices
And more coaches means you can ‘adopt’/support more teams from the day one. It’ll still take time to see success, but you can cover more of the org with a bugger force.
It’s all about principles - spread these wide, early. Not a book of rules.
Is there a middle ground between few teams and many teams at the same time? Focus teams + some teams engaging in a community of practice where they can learn from each other. And already get “a taste”
Topic 2: New Delivery Manager likes Gantt charts & flowcharts. Team is scared. What do YOU do?
Use scenario planning - options instead of a master Gantt, with pivot points
Use the waterfall if we’re in damage control mode, but not if the goal is culture change
What else can we use to help communicate certainty and uncertainty? In the UK Gov space - Service Manual, Service Standard, etc might be helpful
False certainty, confusion and excess work being created
Milestones in Gantt Chart, then work backwards in steps
Topic 3: Product Leader doesn’t manage to define problem statements and product strategy for the portfolio - how do I derive goals for my product?
Be bold - make up your own and present it to your Product leader or key stakeholders. If they don’t agree, fine - use it as a prompt to have a decent conversation or get a decision.
Or do the above, but with a humble approach - ‘i think this is wrong, can you help me fix this?’
Is there a strategy that exists, but has not been effectively communicated?
How do you get clarity of the business goals? Can those be articulated from the leadership level?
When outcome & strategy thinking hasn’t been embraced at the divisional level, do what you can
KPI Trees might also be an interesting approach, if you have big Business Goals and on the other side Ideas. Connect them by the ‘middle layer’ - KPI Trees / Impact Map Combination
Perform internal discovery about people who consume your dashboards - use it to tell business impact stories