cultivating capability - amazon web services

Cultivating CapabilitySurviving and sustaining with fewer people

Hello!

Joey Spooneru 18+ years in management and

technology

u Product design and development

u Service design and management

u Kanban Trainer & Coach

Accredited Kanban Coach and Trainer

Company Backgroundu We’re a small business based in Maryland

u Did you file your taxes and (maybe) get a refund via e-file? That’s us.

u In business since 2002 (17 years and counting)

u Government - 60%

u State Government - 35%

u Commercial – 5%

u Surviving through some tough times

u 2008 recession

u 2013 shutdown

u 2019 shutdown

Company Backgroundu IT Consulting

u Program & Project Management

u Network Infrastructure

u Data Management

u System Integration & Testing

u Information Assurance

u Kanban Coaching and Training

u Cutting edge federal data API portal technology used to support OMB-15-15

u Basically make government data free and easily accessible by the developer community

u SAP implementations

Appraised at ML3 while using the Kanban Method.

Commitment Is In Our DNA

“Committed to increasing the competitive advantage of our clients by providing cutting edge solutions through innovation, research, and the application of emerging

technologies.”

Capabilities

External

u IT Consulting

u Program & Project Management

u Network Infrastructure

u Data Management

u System Integration & Testing

u Information Assurance

u Kanban Coaching and Training

Internalu Proposals and Sales Delivery

u Finance, Contract Operations, Recruitment, and Human Resources

u Kanban Coaching and Training Delivery

How We Discovered Kanban

We used it on a 30m contract and it delivered

Watch the full story at: bit.ly/TriTech-DOL

What We Discoveredu 80% improvement without changing

the way a government contract works for software development.

u 90% improvement without changing the way a government contract works for a governance service.

u A rather quick CMMI ML3 DEV appraisal for software development project work.

u Maybe we should do this for the corporate services TriTech?

9Randy Williams, Jr., PresidentTriTech Enterprise Systems, Inc.

Hmm… Maybe this Kanban stuff can do more for us?

Our First YearLate 2016 through 2017

Analog Kanban

Developing initial policies

Education was a priority

u Everyone became a Kanban Management Professional

u Manage their systems and also their work

u Understand the design and management aspects of the method for future proposal related efforts

Analog Kanban

Options Selected 0% - 100% QA Done

Recruitment

Business Dev

Proc. Imp.

Finance & Ops

Analog Kanban

Options Selected (4) 0% - 100% (16) QA (2) Done

Expedite (1)

Fixed Date (16)

Standard (4)

Intangible (1)

Ready for QA (2)

Class of Service

RecruitmentBusiness Dev Proc. Imp. Finance

& OpsHR

Analog Kanban

Isolating and expanding work types into multiple systems with multiple work types

Analog Kanban

Options Selected (4) 0% - 100% (16) QA (2) Done

Expedite (1)

Fixed Date (16)

Standard (4)

Intangible (1)

Ready for QA (2)

Class of Service

RecruitmentBusiness Dev Proc. Imp. Finance

& OpsHR

Analog Kanban - Recruitment

Options Selected (1)

Source (2)

Onboarding(2)

Expedite (1)

Urgent (5)<= 15 days

Standard (10)30 > days > 15

Offer (2)

Class of Service

Proposal Contract 2 Contract 3

Contract 4 Contract 5 Contract 6

Strategize (1)Start /Finish

Screen (2)

Interview (2)

FirstDay(2)

Start /Finish

Blocked

Digital Kanban

STATIK & Digital Artifacts

u Needed a way to visualize policy without being redundant and generating “policy blindness”

u Needed a simple way to guide people on how to use technology with the Kanban system design

u Decided to create two type of documents

u A quick reference

u A guidebook

Once we moved to digital, we lost the awesomeness of analog

Defining Capabilityu Focused on government Request for Proposals (RFP’s)

u Three submissions per month

u About one submission every ten days

u Average time when government notifies a proposal is needed two weeks in advance of due date (=~ 10 days)

u The goal is three proposals per month

u The challenge is a throughput of one proposal every week

u The challenge is preparing and packaging proposals quickly

u Proposals mean demand for Recruitment Service, People Service, Finance & Operations Service

Measuring Capability

Did we deliver the proposals?

Initial Capabilities1. Proposals / Sales

2. Finance and Contract Operations

3. Process Improvement

4. People Service (HR)

5. Recruitment Service

Initial Capabilities

Campfire Conversations and Cadences

u Things we talked about

u Services and their ability to deliver according to expectations

u Delays / risks and quality issues associated with the work being delivered

u Stability or health of a service

2017u All staff trained on Kanban

Method and how to design and manage Kanban Systems

u Eight people total

u Five services identified

u All services eventually created using Systems Thinking Approach To Introducing Kanban (STATIK)

u Capabilities defined and measured

TriTech

People Service

Recruitment Service

Finance and Operations

Service

Proposal Service

Process Improvement

Service

2017 We’re on our way to achieving our mission!

Whoo hoo!

We’re set for growth!

“I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term of Natural Selection.” -Darwin

Shift Happens

Turnover Happens

Our Second Year2018

Turnover Happens1. February 2017 – Recruiter

moves to role closer to home

2. July 2017 – Quality management lead moves to another role in another company with a focus on CMMI consulting

3. October 2017 – Secondary proposal developer moves to new employer

4. November 2017 – Primary proposal developer moves to contract role that better suits her work/life balance

5. June 2018 – HR specialist moves to new role

TriTech

People Service

Recruitment Service

Service

Proposal Service

Process Improvement

Service

A Mindful Evolutionu What happens if we don’t rehire

these positions?

u Can we sustain the pace for the services without hurting our capability?

u Can we make it easier to operate the Kanban systems?

u What will we sacrifice?

35Randy Williams, Jr., PresidentTriTech Enterprise Systems, Inc.

Hmm… Maybe we can use Kanban to deliver the same amount with

fewer people?

Our Second Year

TriTech

People Service

Recruitment Service

Service

Proposal Service

Process Improvement

Service

Our Second Yearu Three people total with occasional

support from proposal specialists

u Simplification of services down to

u Proposal / Sales

u Finance, Contract Operations, People

u Kanban Services

TriTech

Service

Proposal Service

Commercial Kanban Service

Second Year Capabilitiesu Proposals / Sales

u Finance and Contract Operations

u Kanban Services

Second Year Capabilities

u Things we talk about

u Services and their ability to deliver according to expectations

u Delays / risks and quality issues associated with the work being delivered

u Stability or health of a service

u Customer feedback on proposals

u Did we build the right thing?

u What was acceptable and not acceptable?

A Mindful Evolution

What happens if we don’t rehire these positions?

We save some money, fewer lines of communication, clear need for leadership and ownership

Can we sustain the pace for the services without hurting our capability?

Yes and no. We learned where are capabilities are threatened based on the type of work we choose to accept (options -> proposals -> what kind of proposals mean reliable v. unreliable capability)

Can we make it easier to operate the Kanban systems?

Yes. We boiled our policies in a vat of reality. We found what was necessary and kept it. We simplified the number of systems, too.

What will we sacrifice? Opportunity. We can’t say “yes” to as much as before.

The Impact Of Our DecisionsWhat feedback did we get from the changes we made?

The Impact Of Our Decisions

Consequences

u Pressure to manage with fewer people

u Quality can be missed

u Making decisions to limit commitments and deliver rather than delay

Benefitsu Fewer lines of communication

u Shorter conversations

u Fewer priorities

This is hard to do well!

u Change in focus from service performance to company performance

u Emphasis on transparency towards corporate goals, not just service targets

u It’s great you can hit a 3 point goal consistently; we’re in a free-throw business

u Emphasis on key sustainable factors that drive towards a fitness for purpose implied by our market segments

u Government

u Commercial

u Goal areas emphasize traditional business components

u Revenue

u Staff

u Customers

u Contracts

“Grown-Ups Having Grown-Up Conversations”

u Proposal readiness – not being equipped to deliver

u Missing the technical

u Active experiments for “hot-n-ready” people, content, and more

u Too many other commitments – time to consider refining classes of service

u Commercial Kanban

u Public courses and resources

u Sales and marketing

Do Failures Pull You Towards Maturity?

u Experimentation Awareness

u Marshaling options as experiments – maybe it’s better to rethink what we’re committing to?

u Building knowledge before committing and executing

Understanding Experiments in a Larger Context

We maintained our capability.

Hard and rewarding work. Humbling work with sacrifices.

2019 should be smooth sailing!

482019 ShutdownShift Happens

Our Third Year2019

Government Shutdowns Happen

12/11/18Trump - proud of

shutdown

12/19/18 Senate posses spending bill

12/20/18 Trump says he won't sign Senate bill; House moves to add wall

funding

12/22/18 Partial government

shutdown begins

1/2/19 Trump, Democrats meet

again; Smithsonian museums close

1/3/19 Democrats take control of the

House, pass spending bills

1/4/19 Trump threatens national

emergency

1/8/19 Trump addresses nation;

Democrats respond

1/9/19 Trump walks out of meeting with

Democrats

1/2/19 Trump visits US-Mexico border;

renews threats

1/11/19 Thousands of federal

employees miss first paycheck

1/12/19 Longest shutdown in US

history

Our Third Year

US Government standardized delivery, compliance to regulatory needs, constantly shifting

requirements, and rarely shifting deadlines

Commercialquality, timeliness, immediate results

State Government stability, predictability, consistency

Focusing on fitness for the customers and segments we want to support

Third year capabilities

Through March 2019

When Shift Happens, So Does Delay

u Combined and integrated Service Delivery Reviews, Operations Reviews, and Risk Reviews in 2 hour meeting

u Remember, we’re small and can do this for now …

u Focus is on business goals and how they’re supported by the services

Cultivating Capability

TriTech

People Service

Recruitment Service

ServiceProposal Service

Process Improvement

Service

TriTech

Service

Proposal Service

Commercial Kanban Service

TriTech

Service

Proposal Service

Agile Service

Process Improvement

Service

Detailed CapabilityWhat do we have?Internal focus.

Rationalized CapabilityWhat’s necessary?Internal focus.A real experiment with less.Increasing skill liquidity.

Targeted CapabilityWhere are we the fittest?External and internal focus.Finding our true strengths.Demand driven design.

How can you experience this in 4.5 hours from now?

u Experience the risk review and operations review cadences and the enterprise decision making that’s involved!

u Work with a fellow team member as you operate a multi-million dollar business to either thrive, survive, or die.

Thank you!

Joey Spooneru 18+ years in management and

technology

u Product design and development

u Service design and management

u Kanban Trainer & Coach

u jspooner@tritechenterprise.com

u www.tritechenterprise.com

Accredited Kanban Coach and Trainer

cultivating capability - amazon web services

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