Retrospectives and Continuous Improvement

Retrospectives give Time to Think Together, and reveal wicked systemic pain. Continuous Improvement gives time and method to analyze and solve the pain even in large fragmented organizations.

Retrospectives is the industry standard for organizational improvement in Agile, and A3 is that for Lean. They work great together.

A retrospective invites people to participate and influence in the meeting, where we study how the work works. It greatly satisfies the human needs of belonging and participation. Everyone gets first-hand clarity about what happens elsewhere in the organization. People can take responsibility for immediate improvement actions, but difficult systemic problems are often - too difficult.

A3 is a thorough problem analysis, where the problem owner (or team) works together with all relevant stakeholders, using a proven set of questions. Gradually all perspectives are incorporated, the root causes are analyzed, and actions selected. Now, because all important stakeholders have been involved in the process, the commitment to the improvement actions already exists. Standard A3 is meant for stable processes. It is usually modified for fuzzier product development organizations.

Who is it for

Leaders, coaches, and facilitators, who work with organizational improvement.

Content

Facilitating a basic organizational retrospective

  • Preparations
  • Planning the agenda
  • Facilitation techniques
  • Online techniques
  • Prioritizing the results
  • Recruiting volunteers for improvement

Applying A3 industry-standard method for improvement actions

  • A3 principles: good questions and participatory process
  • Using A3 for vague problems, differences from stable manufacturing context
  • Coaching the A3 owners
  • Way forward with the organizational improvement

The trainer

Ari Tikka has experience in developing both traditional and Agile organizations since the last millenium.

Practicalities

1 day, max 15 participants.

The training works best when the organization is arranging a larger retrospective, and the facilitators have this training accompanied by coaching.

Please inquire by email