Drowning in Documentation: When Do We Actually Get to Work?

Everyone sees the waste and makes team members cynical about the Agile improvements when the PMO thinks it’s immune to change.

Yesterday we saw how to use Systems Thinking and Empathy to understand why the PMO, values this documentation.

From my own experience coaching, I’ve found a few common causes:

• Burned by Past Failures: Reports become a safety net to avoid future mishaps.
• Tracking and Control: The reports are a way to “understand” what is going on. In our example, the real burden came from the volume of reports expected every week by the PMO.

Pro tip: Take an interest in the PMO’s needs and understand their challenges. Trust me, this goes a long way toward building a working relationship.

1. Gather Data - Ask the PMO for help documenting the cost of the current approach of reporting. By doing this, we’re turning them into allies in the change process. Measure how the current reporting affects both Cycle Time and Throughput (more on Cycle Time here: https://agilepainrelief.com/glossary/cycle-time).

2. Highlight the Gap - The organization is undergoing change, yet our reporting methods are still traditional. Point out that the current approach is out of sync with the organization wide changes.

3. Create Options - People need autonomy, when your collaborators in the PMO feel that they’re part of the decision making process they will be more engaged in making the change.

4. Status Quo Bias and Loss Aversion - You’ll find these working in tandem to keep us anchored to the current state. Ever heard the phrase, “Better the devil you know”? That’s Status Quo Bias in action. To risk making a change, people need to see that the new option is significantly better. Studies show that, for investments, the new option typically needs to be almost three times better than the status quo for people to consider changing.

5. Zone of Rejection vs Acceptance - When a change is too far off our current thinking, it can land in our zone of rejection. We decide the new option is so out there, that it reinforces our attachment to the current approach. Building on the rapport and empathy we’ve established, consider making the first change something they can easily accept. In the example we concluded that asking them to abandon the existing reports, without proof that something else was better, was likely in their zone of rejection.

6. Experiments - It’s easier to say yes to a change when it’s framed as an Experiment. Try running the new approach in parallel with the existing approach. In our case, we offered to show how measuring cycle time and probabilistic forecasting allowed you to find problems sooner, than traditional RYAG reports.

#YourTurn: When have you used your understanding of Influence, to make change, easier to digest? Share your experiences!

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