Accelerator list
…any endeavor.
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Getting better in getting better speeds everything up. Some day you will pass the tipping point…
Note that the list must be ordered since it affects a complex system. In a complex system, small changes can have unprecedented impact and massive changes can have little or no impact. In other words, implementing the top item from the accelerator list will change its order.
Therefore:
Build quality and continuous improvement (kaizen) in. Maintain an ordered list with items that will boost your velocity when implemented. When appropriate, put a manager's name on an item. Next, at your weekly's managers meeting headed by the CEO, talk about these accelerator (or impediments). Your name better not be on any item…
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Start the kaizen and evaluate it until you decide that either
- it proves to have increased the velocity (by 5% or more); or
- you targeted the wrong accelerator.
In either case, start the next kaizen from the top of the (probably changed) kaizen list.
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Jeff Sutherland's slide on moving from where you are now to where you want to go (slow scrum or speed scrum) has one state mentioning “Late, Upset, Pressure, Unhappy”. Martien's thought was “Never, Upset, Tension, and Sour” or ‘NUTS’ for short.
In Sutherland's experience, this has generated a ten percent average increase sprint to sprint for two years running.
When you are starting to plateau, do some root cause analysis with the a3 solver to solve the root cause of a tough and expensive problem on kaizen. Even after a 400% increase you still can do better, according to Sutherland.