Tag Archives: Super7 Operations

Gamification helps Super7 teams to become successful

Recently, I attended a presentation on how Gamification can help Super7 teams to become successful. A talented graduate student had designed a method where super7 teams manage not their actual performance, but instead manage a virtual company.

First, a Super7 team got to choose their virtual business. For instance, a team would choose to become a virtual coffee bar or tea parlor. Their operational results as a Super7 were translated into virtual sales figures and profits. When quality or timeliness would fall behind slightly, this would show up in customers staying away from their virtual company. Excellent service in their real work would boost their virtual popularity and sales. And, the amount of capacity needed to process their real work would determine the costs side of their business.

I can only imagine the fun the teams must have had with this approach. And, the results where great, from what I heard. I hope to share more about the exciting possibilities of applying gamification for Super7’s in the near future. And, could this be a whole new way of engaging scrum teams or agile squads as well?

Menno R. van Dijk.

Principles of Agile and Super7 compared

Many companies are adopting the principles of agile, nowadays. And they often find that their operations departments are ahead in this field. This is because of their experience with Lean and autonomous teams – their experience with Super7 Operations.

So, how do the principles of agile compare to the princples of Super7 Operations?

The agile principles (source: www.agilemanifesto.org):

  1. Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
  2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change or the customer’s competitive advantage.
  3. Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.
  4. Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
  5. Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.
  6. The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation
  7. Working software is the primary measure of progress.
  8. Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
  9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
  10. Simplicity–the art of maximizing the amount of work not done–is essential.
  11. The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
  12. At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.

The principles of Super7 Operations:

  1. The Super7 team has a goal that is relevant for the customer. The Super 7 team can help each other in achieving this goal. The goal is translated daily to a goal for that day. The Super7 team is committed to achieving the daily goal. When problems arise during the day and the daily goal can’t be met, the Super 7 team responses by doing what they can to come as close as possible to the goal. When that isn’t enough to reach the goal, they ask for help from their team manager.
  2. All Super 7 team members have the skills for all types of work. The Super7 Skills-Matrix shows who can do what, and at what skill level. The Super 7 team members are sufficiently flexible in working hours to be able to meet customer demand on busy days.
  3. Team manager steers on output. Manager stimulates the Super 7 team to come up with solutions. Manager is available and helpful when the Super7 asks for help.
  4. The daily rhythm is tuned to the rhythm of the customer requests. There is a fixed schedule for Super 7 team stand-up meetings, focused on achieving the daily goal.
  5. Super 7 team is autonomous in work distribution and who does what. There is a standard way of working. The team can deviate from this standard, as part of an improvement experiment.
  6. The Super 7 team is stimulated to continuously make the daily goals more challenging. Standard norm times are improved and planning is made tighter. This is done though Improvement Kata and Kaizen. As an Improvement Kata habit, a Super7 conducts small experiments, aimed at achieving the next target condition. For larger improvements, they plan a Kaizen event. There is a constructive performance dialogue, based on facts and figures, on all level of the organization.
  7. The Super 7 uses visual management. Daily goal and progress towards this is visible on the Super7 team board. Performance of last period is visible, as is the trend. Running and planned experiments and improvements are visible on the Super7 team board.                                                                                

The similarities are clear:

  • Delivering value to the customer is the main priority
  • Teamwork is key
  • Self-organization
  • Flexibility over planning
  • Face-to-face is the best way
  • Continuous improvement based on reflection on performance

Because of these similarities, experience with Super7 Operations will facilitate the transition towards agility.

Menno R. van Dijk.

 

Transformation to Agile benefits from LeanSixSigma experience

When traditional organizations transform into Agile, they can benefit from their LeanSixSigma experience.

Many traditional companies are looking with great interest at how innovative tech companies are organized. Even in banking, an industry that is known for being conservative, experiments are taking place with Agile Organization:

  • multidisciplinary squads instead of functional teams,
  • tribes instead of departments
  • IT development and business management in close cooperation
  • Continuous delivery of small changes (sprints) instead of big projects

LSS
Lean Six Sigma has been applied in banking for more than a decade. Many banks have their own pool of Lean Experts or LeanSixSigma Blackbelts. As Agile is based on similar principles as Lean and the Toyota Production System, this experience may be very valuable in this transition.

 

Agile organizations use Agile Coaches, to help the team in the use of the Agile and Lean principles. LeanSixSigma could add to that. For instance:

  • Put focus on the Voice of the Customer. Challenge the Squads to determine and measure the customer impact of their work.
  • Make sure the quantitative results of every sprint are visible
  • Achieve alignment between squad missions, tribe purpose and company vision. This can be done through Hoshin Kanri – a method for policy deployment developed by Toyota and an important Lean method
  • Accelerate problem solving by applying the Coaching Kata to the squads Improvement Kata, and by applying Analytical Problem Solving techniques from LeanSixSigma

 

The transformation of classical Back-Offices to Lean Super7 Operations has been an exciting journey so far. The transformation from a top-down functional organization to an Agile organization promises to be even more so.

Menno R. van Dijk.

Improvement kata to implement change

The principles of the Improvement Kata can be a powerful and effective way to implement any change, including the implementation of Super7 Operations.

The Toyota Improvement Kata, or Lean Kata, is a powerful and proven method for solving problems and driving continuous improvement. And, it can also be applied to implement the change from classical operations to an agile way of working. Recently, I’ve applied the improvement kata for implementing Super7 Operations in an operational back-office.

The Toyota Improvement Kata, or Lean Kata, starts with having a vision. Some companies use the term “Our definition of awesome” for this. Others use policy deployment or Hoshin Kanri to translate the companies purpose, mission and vision to yearly goals. When you implement a different way of working, e.g. autonomous lean teams or Super7 Operations, your vision could for instance be to have your teams achieve full autonomy.

The next step is then to implement the basics. For Super7 Operations, the teams need to learn how they can plan and organize their work. The 7 principles of Super7 Operation need to be introduced. You don’t have to explain everything, learning by doing is very powerful in the first phase. This is in line with the Shu phase of the ShuHaRi approach (see my earlier post on www.cooperationalexcellence.nl).

Then, we don’t plan the transition in the classical way. No milestones. Instead, define the next target condition. For Super7 Operation, this translates to the next level of maturity, on all seven principles of Super7 Operations. For this, we’ve developed a high-over description of each of the 5 levels of maturity, for each principle of Super7 Operations. Next to this, the level of autonomy is also taken into account.

Finally, the team managers and implementation consultants decide on what experiments may help the team to reach the target condition. The actual action will depend strongly on the level of autonomy of the team. Immature teams benefit from instructions, mature teams will come into action when the right coaching questions are asked.

As you can see, this weekly cycle is based on the Improvement Kata. The results so far are very promising indeed. I will certainly continue experimenting with it myself.

Menno R. van Dijk.

Similarities and differences between Agile Squads and Super7 teams

What are the similarities and differences between Agile Squads and Super7 teams?

Many traditional companies are adopting an Agile way of working, inspired by innovative companies like Spotify, Zappos or Google. In financial services there is also inspiration from within: the transition from classical operational management towards Super7 Operations.

 Similarities Agile Squads and Super7 teams

  • Small team of 5 to 9 members
  • High degree of autonomy
  • Steered on output
  • Team has one mission, one common goal
  • Workload and progress is made visual
  • High degree of flexibility in skills and capacity

Differences Agile Squads and Super7 teams

  • Super7 Operations for ‘customer requests’: operational work, at least in part repetitive
  • Agile Squads for ‘customer missions’: customer services or enablers involving any combination of product development, marketing, product management, data management and IT
  • Super7’s have daily goals (e.g. TITO): daily processing of all customer requests for that day
  • Agile Squads work in weekly sprints, weekly releases of customer-ready solutions or improvements

My conclusion is that both Super7 teams and Agile Squad are manifestations of the same Lean principles. For example, both apply visual management, flexible resources (capacity and skills) and customer centricity.  I expect that the Agile trend delivers the same break-through results in product development and product management as the Super7 trend has delivered in operations.

Menno R. van Dijk

Super7 teams benefit from Lean Operational Management

Super7 teams benefit from having the standard processing times and performance dashboards in place. These elements from Operational Management help a Super7 team in steering itself. When these basic elements from Operational Management are missing, implementation projects tend to take more time. It takes longer before the Super7 teams become autonomous.

Super7 Operations claims to be the next step for Lean in financial services. But how much does it owe to the previous Lean wave in financial Services? Which elements from Lean Operational Management are essential for the success of Super7 Operations?

The Next Step for Lean builds on the previous step

The way I see it, Super7 Operations is the logical next step for Lean in financial services. The first lean waves in financial services were often aimed at introducing standardized work,  standard processing times, and making performance visible in performance dashboards.

Standard processing times make the work plannable. In Lean Operational Management, managers use them to plan the work for their teams. And afterwards, actual production is compared with planned production to calculate performance*. The manager then retains control through performance dashboards.

As I explain in my book, Super7 teams are steered on output. And, in Super7 Operations, the teams get the freedom and responsibility to plan their own work. However, both output steering and planning your own work becomes much easier when standard working times and dashboards are in place.

In Super7 Operations, the customer determines what needs to be done: the workload is based on the actual demand from that day. The manager sets the boundary conditions: that all requests are processed the same day (Today In, Today Out, or TITO). Work is often planned on forecast. But, to make planning decisions, the team needs to be able to match the forecasted workload to their planned capacity. And this can only be done when the forecasted number of customer requests can be translated into hours of work with the help of standard processing times.

Dashboards are equally important in Super7 Operations, but primarily for the teams themselves. They need to be able to see if all their Continuous Improvement efforts are paying off. And dashboards can be used to constantly raise the bar, both by the team itself and by the manager. Too many green lights become a red light, as the saying goes. This means that when the daily targets are met every day, this should lead to a more challenging target. More service in the same time for instance, or doing the same work with less capacity.

When standard processing times and performance dashboards, two basic elements from Lean Operational Management, are missing, implementation projects tend to take more time. It takes longer before the Super7 teams can make the decisions that make them truly autonomous.

Menno R. van Dijk

*Performance in Financial Services is often expressed in Total Team Effectiveness, a derivative of Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) which is the standard within manufacturing.

 

ShuHaRi as a way of implementing Super7

Implementation of Super7 Operations can benefit from ShuHaRi, the Japanese learning-technique that is often used to introduce Agile Scrum. This way, you can give the team the responsibility for how to apply the principles of Super7, as soon as they are ready for it.

Should we ask the people from the shop floor to participate in the design of Super7? As Super7’s are supposed to be autonomous, why not give them autonomy in how Super7 Operations is applied in their teams? These questions often arise when organizations are planning to adopt Super7 Operations.

I feel that it is a very good idea to give the Super7 teams full autonomy on how they apply the principles of Super7. However:

  • People can only be expected to master the principles, and apply them to their own view, when they first fully understand them;
  • And, they can only fully understand them after they have experienced working with them;
  • And experience isn’t gained through explaining and training, but through doing.

My approach to implementing Super7 Operations is based on ShuHaRi, a Japanese teaching philosophy. So, a bit of theory, then:

ShuHaRi describes three phases that you go through when learning a technique:

 Shu: As a student, you follow the teachings of the master precisely. You don’t have to know the underlying principles. You practice the standard way that the master teaches you.

Ha: You are now able to execute the new technique, and you start to recognize the principles and theory behind it. The teacher may help you by explaining the principles to you. You now start to experiment with applying the principles, not only the standard that you have been taught.

Ri: You are now able to improve on the standard, by applying the principles. You use your experience to make the technique better for your situation. The principles are so clear to you that you can apply them without help from a master.

The ShuHaRi method is now widely used within Scum and Agile software development. Alistair Cockburn translated this Japanese martial arts best-practice to a way to learn techniques and methodologies for software development.

In our most recent Super7 Operations implementation projects, we’ve applied ShuHaRi in combination with the Improvement Kata. See my previous posts on the subject of Kata for more information. ShuHaRi and Improvement Kata are combined to give the team weekly target conditions that they can experiment towards, where the focus shifts from instruction towards freedom to change the method as seen fit. But this is perhaps too abstract, too much for one blog post. I will go into my approach to implementation in more detail in the near future.

Menno R. van Dijk.

Making Agile Squads work

To make Agile Squads work, you can make specialists multi-skilled to enable the Squad to prioritize across all disciplines within their squad – an important lesson from our Super7 experience.

Many companies are trying to emulate the success that Spotify has had with their Agile engineering culture (see YouTube: part1, part2). Traditional companies are now considering reorganizing into Squads, Tribes and Chapters. Let’s recap first:

A Squad is a small, multi-disciplinary team, much like a Super7 team, but more focused on developing and managing a product or product feature rather than processing customer requests.

A Tribe is more-or-less what we used to call a department, but again, focused on a related group of products or services.

A chapter is the ‘matrix-layer’, a group of similar specialism from different tribes.

As Spotify explains in their second video, strong growth has made the Squad & Tribe organization more complex. So how do you get this type of organization to work?

My observation is that the matrix of Chapters running crisscross through Tribes creates 2 potential problems.

1. Less autonomous problem solving power for the Squads because different specialists can’t help each other.

– Squad members are all specialists in their own field
– Each specialist will have their own list of priorities
– When one specialist’s highest priority is really critical, the risk is that his/her squad members can’t help this specialist, simply because they don’t know enough of the subject.
– Instead, they can only focus on their own priorities, sub optimizing the squad results

2. Requirement of more management because of complexity

– In the situation as described above, the specialist in need of help will turn to his/her chapter-members.
– This requires cross-squad or even cross-tribe prioritizing
– And this will require a lot of talk, compromising, decision making.
– In short, this will increase the need of management.

For these 2 problems, our experience with Super7 could hold the solution:

Use multi-skilled specialists, and enable the Squad to prioritize across all disciplines within their squad. A graduation study has shown that Super7’s that can rely on help from within their own Super7 are more effective and have better team-spirit than teams that need to lend a hand to other Super7’s on a regular basis. This emphasizes the importance of multi-skilled specialists.

How would this work for Squads?

  • Super7 shows us that specialists need to be able to help at least 2 other members of their Super7.
  • Translated to Squads: every squad-member needs to be a specialist in at least 2, but preferably 3 specialisms that are needed within the squad.

This will demand a lot of the people involved. They need to be trained. But as Toyota puts it: “we build people before we build cars”.

Menno R. van Dijk.

Super7 with Quality Improvement as output

Quality Improvement can be used as one of the output targets for Super7 teams within Super7 Operations. The trick is to set a target for the amount of time that a team spends per week on continuous improvement. This target then comes on top of the output target of helping all customers on time in full.

In my book – Super7 Operations, The Next Step for Lean in Financial Services – several examples are given of Super7 teams that use throughput time as target for intra-day self-steering.

Recently, I was asked to help an operations department that wanted to drastically improve their quality and customer satisfaction*. The management had taken a liking to the ideas of Super7 Operations. However, they felt that throughput time as main output wasn’t suitable for their type of work. The daily focus had to be on helping the customers, first time right. And this had to be achieved through continuous improvement. For they strongly believed – as I do – that bottom-up continuous improvement is the best way to sustain strong performance.

*Many companies, especially banks, use the Customer Effort Score (CES) as a metric to customer satisfaction. This didn’t replace Net Promoter Score (NPS) as a metric, but many companies have found that customers aren’t that likely to become promoter after going through a ‘process’ that they regard ‘basic service’ (like opening a savings account, for example).

The teams were given a target for the amount of time that a team spends per week on continuous improvement. This target came on top of the output target of helping all customers on time in full. As the improvements led to better quality and therefore less rework, the amount of time available for continuous improvement was likely to increase over time. We had anticipated this beforehand and developed a system where the weekly improvement time target would automatically be increased each week. This forced a productivity increase and at the same time made sure that the teams would spend enough time working on continuous improvement.

The journey of this particular department has only just begun. Who knows what successes I can report about in the near future?

Menno R. van Dijk.

Call center and operations department integrated – how can Super7 Operations make this happen?

For complex customer requests, Call center activities will be more and more integrated with operations activities – and Super7 Operations will enable this.

The classical Financial Services Back-Office work is being replaced with Straight Through Processing for the simple customer request. Super7’s, small autonomous multi-skilled teams with flexible capacity, are taking care of the rest: complex service requests, where human judgment is needed, or requests that are too infrequent to be automated at this time.

At the same time, the classical Call Center is being transformed into a customer service organization, because customers prefer the new Straight Trough Processes offered through internet and mobile apps. What’s left are the more complex requests. There are apparently a lot of similarities with what happened to the classical Back-Office. Does this mean Super7 Operations can make an equally impressive impact in the Call Center?

In my opinion, Super7 Operations will have direct use in those areas where the call center and operations can be integrated. For low volume, high complexity service requests, a call directly to the operations specialist – or a chat session, for that matter – will be more effective than a call to an agent, who fills in a channel form, and forwards this to the same specialist.

In other areas, Super7 Operations is not the answer. A large group of customers still prefers the call channel over internet or mobile applications. Bulk calls, high volume: an efficient call center organization will be able to process these with far less costs per call and with probably a higher chance of cross sales. Super7 Operations wasn’t designed for this type of work, and others have set the benchmarks for these departments.

So, how would that work, Super7 Operations combined with answering a large number inbound calls? The basic principles stay the same, but we need to find solutions to a new set of problems. For instance:

  • How can a Super7 keep the overview of the total workload when calls are routed to individuals?
  • How can Super7 members help or ask for help when everybody is constantly on the phone?
  • How can the manager still offer help when inbound calls make up a large part of the work?

I will address these questions in one or more of my next blog posts. So make sure you check regularly on www.cooperationalexcellence.nl

Menno R. van Dijk.