Lean Software and Systems Conference 2012 Day One

I recently attended the 2012 edition of the Lean Software and Systems Conference.  Here's my summary of the first day.

Steven Spear - Achieving the High Velocity Edge in System Design, Deployment, and Operation

Essentially discussing themes from his book The High-Velocity Edge.

• Without the opportunity to be surprised, there is no opportunity to learn
• The only way to learn is to raise your hand and say "I don't know"
• Use the language of the domain - don't bring arcane Toyota language [which I'd generalise as "Use what's there - don't drag in your own baggage"]

3 point summary of his talk:

1. See what you don't know (and create environments that allow you to do this)
2. Learn in a disciplined fashion (i.e., science)
3. Tell a friend

Brant Cooper - Are you a Visionary? How Lean Startup is Helping to Create an Innovation Economy

I expect these were themes that will make it into the Lean Entrepreneur.

• "Visionary" is a media myth
• What's worse than building a product that no one wants is writing a business plan to build a product that no one wants
• Stages of customer action: curious -> intrigued -> trusting -> convinced -> eager -> satisfied -> passionate
• It's easy to build something no one wants... just build what's between your ears
• To create a startup culture in a large enterprise, buy the leaders copies of The Lean Startup

I asked a question about how to migrate products / services from something like a corporate Lean Startup lab to main business units.  There's no clear answer here.  I wonder how Intuit and 3M do it.

J. Leighton Reed - Total Engagement and the Reinvention of Work Using Games

I expect these were themes from Total Engagement.

As you can tell from the title of this blog, I'm also an avid gamer (PC primarily) so I was interested in this from more than one perspective.

• Being able to customise your avatar is important for self-representation.  [This suggests that we should encourage custom card wall avatars rather than just using photos]
• People accept transparency in reward systems when the the reward system is perceived as fair.  [So if people are reluctant to expose performance measures, salaries, etc., you should be asking whether  this is more a reflection of the fairness of the system]
• We need to give feedback in the time cycles that are relevant to humans
• Without an epic story, badges, ranks, and levels aren't engaging enough to matter

He also described a system using a currency called Serios to create an attention economy.  I'm not sure about this part but it's interesting...

Lightning / Ignite Talks

A new addition to LSSC were lightning and Ignite talks.  Some were good, some not so much.  I'd suggest the kind of presentation shepherding that Ignite Sydney does.  I'd also suggest just Ignite format.

Learned about Change Camp from Gerry Kirk... neat!

Jim Sutton - President's Address

The main thing I remember...

Jim says: "We're all about community. We're all communal."
Someone in the audience says: "Isn't that communists?"

Jeff Andersen - Enabling Enterprise Kanban Transformation through Lean Startup Techniques

Although I have some issues with some execution choices, I found the overall concept quite interesting as I've begun experimenting with framing organisations as market places into which we are trying to launch ideas.  My starting point has been New Lanchester Strategy via The Four Steps to the Epiphany (aka Customer Development) while Jeff and the people at Deloitte LEAN have focused primarily on the concept of Minimum Viable Changes.

I also began wondering about what a Change Model Canvas modelled after Business Model Canvas might look like.

Brant Cooper wondered on Twitter whether we could create a weekend "changeathon" akin to a hackathon.

This led to an ad-hoc session scheduled via Twitter which I'll summarise for Day 2.

Steven Denning - Making the Entire Organisation Lean

I did not know that Steven Denning was Australian...

I expect these were themes from The Leader's Guide to Radical Management:

• Not balanced scorecards but one goal: delighting customers

Everything else he said essentially supported that one point.

Michael Kennedy - Set-Based Decision Making: Taming System Complexity to Ensure Project Success

These were themes from his books and beyond:

• Product Development for the Lean Enterprise
• Ready, Set, Dominate

I attended the Lean Kanban Benelux version of this talk but I popped in to catch the end of this version.

How do we systematically learn as people and as an organisation in software product development for the current and all subsequent products?

This is what's called an interesting question.

Next up: Day 2