Gene Johnson, Agile Transformation Coach

2. Gene Johnson, Agile Transformation Coach • Numerous Agile transformations. • Belief in Values over Practices. • Addicted to Agile, Lean and Systems Thinking - applies them in everyday life.

3. Today’s Goal • As Business Analysts we are continually discovering, inquiring, evaluating, clarifying and communicating in an attempt to identify and implement business solutions.   • Today we will increase our awareness of how perception affects your ability to succeed and discover techniques from the domains of Systems Thinking and Mental Models that may assist you.  • This will be an interactive session, there will be rewards for those that play well with others.

4. A simple question… WATER FLOW TILT OF PITCHER WATER LEVEL IN GLASS HAND MOVEMENT PERCEIVED GAP DESIRED WATER LEVEL

5. What is Systems Thinking? • A framework that helps you see • Interrelationshipsrather than things • Patterns of change rather than static snapshots • Feedback cycles rather than linear series of events • Structures within complexity rather than parts • High leverage opportunities rather than low leverage • People as active participants rather than helpless reactors • How to create the future rather than reacting to the present • Requires a different way of thinking

6. The prevailing system of management has destroyed our people. People are born with intrinsic motivation, self-esteem, dignity, curiosity to learn and a joy in learning. The forces of destruction begin with the toddlers. – W. Edwards Deming, 1990. So easy even a toddler gets it?

7. The prevailing system of management has destroyed our people. People are born with intrinsic motivation, self-esteem, dignity, curiosity to learn and a joy in learning. The forces of destruction begin with the toddlers. – W. Edwards Deming, 1990. But adults don’t…

8. Why is it so hard? My parent… My teacher… My boss… My spouse… My child… • sets the direction, I follow it. • has the right answer, I work to get the “right” answer. • informs me if I have succeeded. • informs me if I have failed. • informs me “I don’t know” is not a valid response.

9. Why is it so hard? • Several myths • “The world is created of separate, unrelated forces.” • “Life is a series of events, and each event has one obvious cause that recently happened and triggered the event.” • “We are at the center of activities.” • Our language is best suited for describing linear experiences. • Non-systemic solutions can be addictive. • Our own mental models blind us.

10. It’s getting even more challenging… • We are becoming overwhelmed by complexity. • We can create far more information than anyone can absorb. • We can foster far greater interdependency than anyone can manage. • We can accelerate change faster than anyone’s ability to keep pace. • The time for thinking and reflecting is scarce. • Luckily there are 5 items that can help us…

11. Water Logic • First a story… • The desire to “see past the obvious” influences “logic”. • The basic theme is simple. • The effects are powerful, important and complex. Rock LogicWater Logic Static; right or wrong Fit and flow

12. Balancing Feedback • Operates whenever there is a goal-oriented behavior. • Seeks stability. • If the goal is desired, you will be happy. • If it is not, you will be frustrated by your attempts at change. • Organizations typically have many, many active balancing processes. • The system may have its own hidden agenda. • Typically harder to see, since it looks like nothing is happening. ACTUAL HOURS WORKED THREAT OF BEING PERCEIVED AS UNCOMMITTED IMPLICIT GOAL: 70 HRS PER WEEK HEROISM GAP

13. Reinforcing Feedback • Generates accelerating growth, or decline. • Typically involve a delay, a time lag between the short term benefit and the long term disbenefit. • These processes may take us by surprise due to dynamic complexity and that is typically where the best leverage awaits. GET STRESSED TERRORIST ATTACKS FALL BEHIND AT WORK TERRORIST RECRUITS THREAT TO AMERICANS NEED PIZZA PERCEIVED AGGRESSIVENESS OF U.S. LACK OF ENERGY NEED TO RESPOND MILITARILY EAT PIZZA U.S. MILITARY ACTIVITY GAIN WEIGHT

14. Leverage • The most obvious solutions typically don't work. • They may work in the short term, only to make matters worse later. • High leverage solutions are those small, well-focused actions that produce significant, enduring results if they’re in the right place. • High leverage solutions are typically highly non-obvious. • Sometimes the knottiest dilemmas aren't problems at all, just artifacts from snapshots and disappear once you think of them in terms of change over time. • Don’t focus on events. • Typically the largest threats emerge over time. • Learning to see slow gradual changes requires us to slow down our frantic pace and pay attention to the subtle, not just the dramatic.

15. Let’s try an experiment… • Color • Furniture • Flower

16. Mental Models • Deeply held internal images of how the world works. • Familiar and comfortable ways of thinking and acting. • They are active, and powerful. • They shape how we act by affecting what we see. • Many were always flawed. • They can hide. • If so, they remain unchanged, the gap between them and reality widens, increasing their negative effect. • People in close knit communities are extremely vulnerable, since they look to each other for standards of best practices.

17. Let’s try an experiment… Slumber Bed Dream Quiet Nap Pillow Night Blanket Pajamas Snooze

18. Leaps of Abstraction • Our minds move at lightning speed, sometimes slowing our learning. • We immediately leap to generalizations without testing them. • Assumptions become facts implicitly. • Ask “what data is this generalization based?” • Ask “am I willing to consider that this generalization may be inaccurate or misleading?” • May lead to “people becoming your expectation”. • May lead to “viewing people in your image”.

19. Left Hand Column Why does she keep asking? I know Bob told her! Let me defer this, I’ve got a feeling Bob has set me up. Of course it’s important, if only I could be sure she will back me on this. Yes, it would help if you would send out a message backing me on this. Everyone says the meeting was a bomb. Does he really not know how bad it was? Or is he not willing to face up to it? He really is afraid to see the truth. If only he had more confidence, he could learn from a situation like this. I can’t believe how disastrous the meeting was to our moving ahead. I’ve got to find a way to light a fire under this guy. • Her: How did the meeting go? • Him: Well, I don’t know. It’s really too early to tell. Besides, we’re breaking new ground here. • Her: Well, what do you think we should do? I believe the issues you were raising are important. • Him: I’m not so sure. Let’s just wait and see what happens. • Her: You may be right, but I think we may need to do more than just wait.

20. Left Hand Column • A reflective technique. • Allows you to see how your mental models operate in specific situations to make matters worse. • Brings hidden assumptions to the surface and how they influence behavior. • It reveals how we manipulate situations to avoid dealing with how we actually think and feel, and thereby prevent a counterproductive situation from improving. • Can be remedied by balancing inquiry and advocacy.

21. Balance Inquiry and Advocacy • Dialog versus discussion • Agreement is not the goal, finding a great answer is. THREAT TO MY POSITION HER VEHEMENCE MY VEHEMENCE THREAT TO HER POSITION

22. Balance Inquiry and Advocacy • When advocating • Make your own reasoning explicit • Encourage others to explore your view • Inquire into others’ views that differ from your own • When inquiring into others’ views • State your assumptions about their views as assumptions • State the data on which your assumptions are based • Don’t ask if you really don’t care • If you arrive at an impasse • Ask what data or logic may change their views • Ask if you could design an experiment together • Encourage them to think out loud on what is making this difficult • Design other ways to jointly overcome this barrier

23. Don’t be Limited by Your Role • Focusing on tasks and position eliminates the focus on the purpose and influenceof outcomes. • When outcomes are bad it is “because someone screwed up”. • We tend to ignore how our decisions impact others. • Different people in the same structure act alike. • The cause of individual behavior does not lie in the individual, but in the game (environment) itself. • We typically do not become aware of our power to change the game and thus change our behavior.

24. Avoid Mechanistic Views • "We need to drive this process." • "Things need to be running smoothly, like a well-oiled machine." • "I want a factory approach for this." • "We need to find another resource to replace that programmer." • “This isn't rocket science.” (implying that the hardest, most prestigious pursuit is building machines) • “Let's get this motorrunning.” • "We need to achieve economies of scale here." • "The executives need to provide directives for this team to follow." • "I'm the person who is runningthis team." • "We need clean separation of these two groups." • "Individual (part) accountability is very important." • "I have everything under control." • "Our teams are not mature enough to tailor their process." • "Is seems that there is a gap in our process."

25. Questions? • gjohnson@letmethrow.com • 614.284.2437

26. Is Systems Thinking in the BABOK®? • Version 1.6 – 1 instance of “systems thinking” (8.3.10 Systems Thinking). • Version 2.0 – 3 instances of “systems thinking”.

27. References • The Fifth Discipline – The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization, by Peter M. Senge, 2006. • When a Butterfly Sneezes: A Guide for Helping Kids Explore Interconnections in Our World Through Favorite Stories (Systems Thinking for Kids, Big and Small, Volume 1) by Linda Booth Sweeney, 2001. • The Systems Thinking Playbook: Exercises to Stretch and Build Learning and Systems Thinking Capabilities by Linda Booth Sweeney and Dennis Meadows, 2010.

28. Key Takeaways • These practices are not limited to your business life. • Your perceptions and those of others limit your ability to influence change, and influence your relationships and communication. • All actions influence outcomes. • Outcomes may not be immediate. • Our training limits our thinking and learning. • Our mental models limit our learning by changing what we see. • There is hope…