Do you feel that little has changed since the introduction of Agile? That it is primarily a show for the stage? That there is more to be gained? Then you can probably take a big step forward by making the meetings within your organization Lean and Agile.
About Lean and Agile
Lean is a way of working in which everyone in the company focuses on creating customer value throughout all processes. Waste is eliminated. Customer focus is also central when it comes to agile working. Only here the emphasis is on the ability to adjust if new insights give cause for this.
It is therefore a way of collaborating in which employees continuously check whether new insights give cause to make processes more efficient or to adjust goals and priorities. Both in the light of the added value for the customer.
Beyond the hype
With the introduction of Agile there is always a lot of attention for the way in which you organize this way of working. That is immediately visible and easy to arrange. But unfortunately the underlying principles often remain underexposed.
Rob Kobussen (Senior Consultant Lean and Agile) writes in a recent (Dutch) blog: “The popularity of agile is very much like a hype at the moment. But hypes are superficial and agile is often only seen as a collection of routines that automatically lead to improvement.” He rightly states that it is not a trick that always works. It’s not that simple. In fact, if it stays limited to external appearances, your organization is not going to benefit from it.
Make your Lean and Agile meetings
Can you expect employees to think of Lean and Agile if they have just come out of yet another unproductive sprint planning, standup, retrospective or other meeting? Of course not. But that is usually how it works in practice.
It sounds obvious, but that is why it makes so much sense to apply the principles of Lean and Agile to meetings themselves. This way you prevent standard routines from getting the upper hand. And that the underlying goals are lost sight of.
Why Yabbu is Lean and Agile
Yabbu prevents wastage by creating ownership and handling most, often trivial, issues in the run-up. This creates space for topics that really matter. This makes the meeting itself Lean and Agile. But even more important is the fact that waste elsewhere is tackled early. And that intended adjustments are made way earlier and better.
What our customers say about that
Jeroen (National Police): “Since Yabbu we no longer use meetings to inform each other.” In other words, meetings become Lean. Ben (Chamber of Commerce): “With Yabbu we are at the beginning of the meeting where we would otherwise have been at the end of the meeting.” Hence, the lead time to reach decisions is halved. Say for yourself, isn’t that extremely Agile?
Do you want to know what Yabbu can do for your organization? Send an email to willem@yabbu.com.
