Agile Managers Workshop – Some topics

Basics

We have an Agile Managers workshop, to help managers become better agile managers.

The next is:

Date: Dec 2nd, 2021 – Thursday

Time: 2:00 – 5:30 p.m. EST

Via: Zoom

Topics

We want to work on three topics per session.

Here are some sample topics and then proposed topics.

Proposed topics are the ones we currently want to use in the December 2nd workshop.  They are subject to change.

We are very much interested in topics you would suggest.  We think there are many more topics to be covered.

Some sample topics:

1. How do we define the role of the Agile Manager?  How is it different than just “Manager”?
2. How to start an Agile Transformation effort (better).  Whether your organization is starting the first time or the third time.
3. If the teams are self-managing, what does a manager do?  How do we define the boundaries between the Team and the manager? (Similar to one selected.)
4. How do you let people volunteer?  Where do we invite the volunteers?  What if they don’t volunteer?  Is it useful to have conscripts?
5. What are some organizational patterns regarding managers?  We wanted to share a few common patterns and discuss the pros and cons of each.  What’s an IRT?  How many Teams should a manager manage?  Why?
6. Let’s discuss our problems with scaling? (e.g., 3+ teams working together on one project)  How do we identify the top problems?  How do we make incremental improvements?
7. How do we engage the business (more)?  If business does not see “agile” as partly “theirs” – what have we accomplished?  How do we get closer to value?  BUT: are we also asking the business side to change?
8. Looking at broader organizational patterns, how do we “structure” Agile in the organization?  HR, Legal – Reg – Compliance?  Operations (if you have that)?  Is there more to it than “yeah, they can have agile teams too”?  Where do we start / go to next?
9. How do we increase the focus on “more value / less work”?  Would this help?  What tools can we use?  Cf. Lean.
10. Encouraging Self-Organization and greater Collaboration:  The Workshop Leaders will share our ideas.  How to assess how your teams are doing (in this area).  What problems you have met.  What concerns do managers have.  Why don’t team members self-organize better or collaborate better.   How to encourage a higher level of self-organization and collaboration.  Are people helping each other.  Asking for help.
11. Chris Argyris’ Model 1 vs. Model 2.  Single and Double Loop Learning.
12. Motivation via “Drive” by Daniel Pink.
13. “The Servant as Leader” by Robert Greenleaf.  And: Leadership as a Service.
14. “The New New Product Development Game” by Takeuchi and Nonaka.
15. Systems of Mutual Benefit.  Includes some Systems Thinking.   And (probably) modifying the system to enable more mutual benefit.

On several of these we make a reference.  We do NOT mean just reading the reference material.

Topics will vary each session.

Here are 3 topics we propose for this specific session.  You may propose a topic and my co-leader may propose a different topic.  So, the actual topics may change.  If you really want a specific topic (eg, listed here), please tell us and we will not change it.

Proposed:

• Impediments:  Discuss impediments for the Team and the Organization.  Select one impediment to work on in a break-out group.  And make a proposal (as best you can in the time box) to fix or mitigate it.
• The Agile Manager’s Job:  Let’s put together a “job description” of what the job is (and isn’t).  Let’s also see how the job might vary in different situations or at different levels.
• Self-Managing Teams:  What does a manager do?  How does this change the job?

Please send your ideas to us.

You can also contact us at info@leanagiletraining.com.

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