Thomas Henson

4 Steps to Increasing Team Productivity by 400%

by Leave a Comment

The idea of getting a team to increase performance by 400% sounds crazy but it’s exactly what is happening at software startups. It is no secret that the key ingredient is using agile project management. The real secret is that those same agile principles can be applied to any startup.

team-rowing
Photo by bplanet at freedigitalphotos.net

 

Myth: Agile is only for software

Agile management practices are being implemented in all kinds of businesses. Jeff Sutherland, a founding member of agile methodology and fighter pilot, in his recent book provides an example of a condo developer using agile principles to build high rise condos. If agile principles can work for the construction of high rise condos, with a little customization they will work in your company.

When switch to an agile project management can increase your team’s productivity by 400% why are you not using it today? Maybe you have thought agile can’t work in your organization. Begin implementing these 4 steps today to jump start your team’s productivity.

  1.  Laser Like Focus – In Agile development, teams go through what is called a sprint, this is a period of 1-2 weeks where the team only works on specific tasks. These tasks are agreed upon before the sprint starts by both the team and leadership. During a sprint the team only works on tasks that will help them accomplish the goals of the sprint. By eliminating distractions the company is allowing the team to accomplish the goals of the sprint. Try it out today by instituting a no meeting day or no emails before lunch. This will give your team a distraction free time to focus on accomplishing the single most important task.
  2.  Continuous improvement – Agile teams believe in continuous improvement. One way they accomplish this is by having a meeting at the end of each sprint called a retrospective. In a retrospective the teams talks about what worked well and what did not. This meeting is a judgment free zone with the single goal of helping the team perform more efficiently. Try it out today by having meetings at the end of each week. In this meeting you act as the facilitator and allow the team to give feedback about what is working and what is not. At the end of the meeting let the team decide on the most important item. Once your team has decided on an improvement to make, set a metric to track that improvement and follow up next week.
  3. Constant Customer feedback – Agile teams take customer feedback to a new level. At the end of each sprint agile teams show what they have accomplished to the customers. So every 1-2 weeks customers are getting a prototype to play with and give immediate feedback to the developers. Try it out today by bring your customers into your own design process. Give customer early access to the project you are working on and soak in all the feedback they give you. The earlier you get feedback from your customers the less costly it is to change down the road.
  4. Information Radiator – In agile project management information about the project is placed in a common area on a whiteboard with 100’s of post-its/notecards detailing everything about the project. This board is commonly referred to as the information radiator. Anyone is allowed to look at the board because this ensures the entire company is on the same page, from accounting to the sales staff. Try it out today by setting up a whiteboard in an area where everyone will see. Write down the entire task for your project. On the white board create 3 columns with the following headers TODO, WORK IN PROGRESS, and DONE. Now place all the task in the TODO column, as the task are being worked on move them into the WORK IN PROGRESS column and then finally move them to DONE when the task is complete.
climbing mtn together
Photo by ratch0013 at freedigitalphotos.net

 

Use these steps today

Don’t let the name Agile scare you into thinking the agile principles can’t be implemented in your company just because you don’t develop software. Embrace the 4 principles in your company today and experience the increase in productivity the software industry has for the last 10 years.

Book Review – Nuts

by Leave a Comment

Back a couple of years ago while working on my MBA, I had to read  Nuts: Southwest Airlines Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success. At first I looked at it as an assignment I just needed to get done, but what I found was an amazing story about a start-up.

airplane taking off
Photo by khunaspix,
http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

Southwest Airlines was a renegade airline back in the 80’s and 90’s. The company  started out as a regional airline in Texas but has became one of the biggest airlines in the US.  Many people attribute Southwest’s success to their low fares but over the years Southwest wasn’t the only company with low fares. So if low fares weren’t the cause of Southwest’s success, what was? Below are some of the reasons I attribute to  Southwest’s success.

Motivation

  • Celebrations help Southwest motivate team members to achieve their mission. Southwest’s team members work together to achieve goals then celebrate achieving those goals with a party.
  • Giving back to charities keeps employees motivated by letting them know they have a purpose other than just a great career at a great company. Together they are helping the Ronald McDonald House all around their hubs.
  • Maintaining a company newsletter that is interesting and keeps the employees engaged.
  • Painting the Planes builds morale and a sense of pride (and is just fun).

Communication

  • Southwest creates an internal news letter that allows for company wide communications.
  • Southwest has a innovative marketing campaign that includes using front line team members for their ad pieces.
  • Southwest celebrates win and losses with all team members which allows for more communication between team members.

Management of Change

  • Southwest is known for creating an environment that allows for a culture of change.
  • The Southwest “Walk a Mile in My Shoes” program encourages change management.
  • Southwest hires personnel who might not have the industry bias toward their area of expertise.

Ethics & Integrity

  • Charitable contributions and giving back to the community.
  • Honoring all contracts even when legally Southwest could back out.
  • Herb is able to work closely with unions on contracts in good faith.
  • Southwest puts employees first, even over profit.

Time Management

  • Southwest team members take an ownership role in their jobs.
  • Southwest team members regularly do jobs outside of their scope. Herb can be seen working with the ground crew around Thanksgiving.
  • Southwest team members are encouraged to show their unique personalities throughout their work. Herb arm wrestles for charity and publicity.

Power & Politics

  • Southwest keeps a policy of giving all levels of team members too much information. This allows for all team members to know what is going on with the company at all times
  • Southwest has a policy of “being serious about work, but not taking yourself serious.”
  • Southwest has an open door policy meaning that all levels of employees can talk wit the CEO or any manager.

Decision Making

  • Southwest’s motto for decision making is “do the right thing”.
  • Southwest uses the “do the right thing” attitude for all team members, not just leaders.
  • Southwest givse their employees as much information as possible, which improves their decision making ability.
  • Simplicity is one way Southwest speeds up decision making, this prevents paralysis analysis.
crazy face
Image courtesy of artur84 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

While this book has never been listed as the top 10 business books to read, I think it’s a must read. A lot of the things Southwest did in the early years has been copied many times over now. Southwest was one of the first companies to embrace the weirdness factor and only hire weird employees.  If you are looking for a book on how to run a successful start-up, start with this book.

Book Review – When Pride Still Mattered

by Leave a Comment

When Pride Still Mattered is a book about the life of the legendary Green Bay Packers Coach Vince Lombardi. David Maraniss wrote this book in 1999 to capture the myth that was Vince Lombardi. Even though Coach Lombardi is an iconic sports figure the book is more about leadership than sports.

When I was first recommended this book by an executive at my company I was skeptical. How could a book about the famous Green Bay Packers coach from the 60’s be relevant to me today? I knew the legend of Vince Lombardi and had watched a HBO special on his life but come on I’m a software developer not a football coach. After a few chapters I started to realize what an awesome book this was and began to see how to apply to my own career. Lombardi was not just a football coach but one of the greatest leaders in modern history. If I had to choose 3 keys to Lombardi’s success they would be his management style, routine, and value of for teamwork.

Management

Coach Lombardi was a hard driving coach, that really pushed his players to get the absolute most out of them. The in your face style was really effective for most of his players but for others it did not suit them. Lombardi had to adapt his management to each players needs. For example, Bart Starr did not want to be criticized in front of the other players because as quarterback he was the leader on the field. For Starr being belittled in front of the team jeopardized his leadership ability. When Coach Lombardi had criticism for the quarterback it was handled in the office. Other players responded well to criticism so Lombardi dished it out. A few players got too up tight about it so Lombardi would give them praise a couple days before a game to counter balance the criticism from earlier in the week. On the bus ride to the stadium for Super Bowl I Lombardi asked the bus driver to stop before they took off, then Lombardi rose up and start dancing in the aisle. After he sat down one of his assistant coaches asked him what that was all about Lombardi said “they were too tight”. What was lost on that moment was the fact that Lombardi all week had made them too tight.

Routine

How did Lombardi become so successful? He had a routine and followed that routine with laser like focus. During his early years Coach Lombardi spent some time pursuing the priesthood and it was from those studies where he learned about order and routine. For all his life Lombardi kept some of those routines. Lombardi was an early riser and would attend the earliest mass every morning then eat at the same diner for breakfast before heading into the office. Order and routine served him well as a football coach because football was about controlled chaos. Winning team had player who had great fundamentals which were made that way through routine. For Lombardi practice was all about routine, the offense was simple and revolved around one play the Packer Sweep. The players would practice the sweep over and over until they could run it in their sleep, this was part of the routine Lombardi wanted to instill in his players.

Team Work

What can I do today to help my team?
Coach Lombardi challenged his to players to think about what they could do today to help their teammates. During the championship years in Green Bay, Coach Lombardi was able to create culture of teamwork. In the summer before the start of the football season players went off to summer camp, where they would be secluded away from all distractions . Team mates would stay in dorms, practice for hours, sit through meetings, and eat all meals as a team. After summer camp the players would return to Green Bay to begin the season but Lombardi helped to keep this routine instilled in his players. Many Packer players were not from Green Bay so Coach Lombardi would help find them houses to rent and most of the time the players would roommates/neighbors with each other.
During the season many team meals were planned and mandatory for the players to attend.On the road the team would travel together and players would room up normally with their summer camp roommate. Player spouses or girlfriends were not allowed on the bus or hotels this was all by design to create a cohesive team.

Opinion

I’m not sure I can express how much I really learned from this book. Reading about the early struggles and failures of the great Vince Lombardi was very helpful for anyone trying to make it the top of their chosen field. In the early career days of Coach Lombardi it was not known that he would one day be come one of the greatest coaches ever. Think about that for a second even the great Vince Lombardi doubted himself.

When Pride Still Mattered has so many lessons on life, business, and sports. No matter what your goals are in life you would definitely benefit from reading this book.