Nyari Samushonga@nyarisam

pivoting… without pain is impossible

▸ 0,70 Gini coefficient (highest measured inequality in the world)

▸ 33% unemployment (54% youth unemployment)

▸ ZAR 3 650 average wage of a low skilled worker

▸ ZAR 26 400 estimated living wage for a family

State of employment in South Africa

“We can’t talk about economics without talking about the means of production - this is about employment and the right to a living wage”

Source: Statistics SA

Until we realise:

▸ dignity before wealth

▸ sufficiency before excess

Because we have not yet effected transformation

We should remain uncomfortable...

Partner with organisations that...

▸ gather and analyse data on the current state of labour in SA

▸ lobby for a living wage for low skilled workers

▸ increase awareness of the material conditions of the working class

Our discomfort compelled us to ...

Impactful change demands agitation

be precise

Current State Agitation Future State

Murapazvose...agile heals everything

Exception Reports

Status & Trend Reports

Standardise System Input

ValidationsIntuitive UIUser training

employersemployees collection

statistics

waste

Inaccurate data

usage

slow

Backlog, MVP, Release Plan

CD, CI, TDD, continuous refactoring

Standups, Showcases, Retros, etc

▸ From developers, to product owners to execs...we all converged on a definition of “value”

▸ We understood the complexity in the domain

▸ We recognised points of failure and points of waste between teams and the system of processes

▸ We adopted strong agile engineering practices - CD, TDD, Agile UX...

Life was agile good...

We had set the project up right, our rituals were on fleek and we were ready to conquer Kilimanjaro….

We thought we knew...

▸ What was value

▸ The complexity in the domain

▸ The points of failure and points of waste between teams and the system of process

For all the great agile practices...we were building the wrong software

And then...

Pivot #1

What is unemployment about? Efficiency is meaningless if you are

collecting the wrong data.

?��

Focus on Employers

Focus on Employees

… then you get some view of

income in relation to profit

… then you get some view of income in relation to place of work and movement of people

The disruption is significant The prioritisation of the backlog changes!The design is questionable!

A predicament of

understanding

! Focus on employer datapivot

This is nothing but a choice - a big bet.

Pivot #2

Collect data fast or collect lots of data in the shortest possible time

?��

Put effort into

employer compliance

Put effort into catering for variable data formats

… effort into negotiation

… effort into complex software data transformation

The disruption is about locus of control We can control what software we build!We can’t control the outcome of a negotiation!

A predicament

of control

! Build complex softwarepivot

The hard choices are often the right choices

Pivot #3

Design a new solution for

an unfamiliar domain

Complex domains need simple designs

?��

Apply a well known design from another domain

… ignore the abstractions

and design for implementation

… simplify with a well known higher level abstraction

The disruption is about simple solutionsDesign is a journey to realise simplicity!

A predicament of complexity

! Leverage accounting principlespivot

Sometimes new question have old answers

Pivoting is painfulbut absolutely necessary!

If there isn’t a new context after you pivot, then you didn’t pivot!

Every pivot creates a new context

!pivot

The new context must be socialised

My observation is that we ...

1pivot

Pivot to gain deep understanding

2pivot

Pivot to gain control

3pivot

Pivot to simplify

Pivoting is Leadership

Leadership is about making decisionsPivoting is about making decisions

* All decisions are correct

* All decisions are lonely

* Making decisions instills humility

Having done all you can do to stand

Nyari Samushonga@nyarisam

STAND