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Our health is the most important thing we have. Our health is something that we as people, leaders, colleagues, employees and employers should hold as our highest priority. It is not enough to offer a wellness allowance, there must be room for wellness, reflection and recovery during work hours.

My work causes me both stress, anxiety and feelings of not being enough. And how is it right that I need my private time to compensate for that? I believe that my work hours should include everything I need to be able to do my job in the best possible way. For me, this means that I need space between meetings to process what has been said and time to prepare for the next meeting. I need time alone for my thoughts and reflections to be able to work out the best solution to a problem, create a good setup for the next meeting, or think about how to handle a situation.

As a leader, I owe those that follow me to think before I act. I owe them to be prepared for a meeting, to reflect on situations before I make decisions and think trough how I will handle a conflict. I also need space to learn new things, to read about research and new methods of leadership, team and psychological safety. This is important for me to be able to do my job, in the way that I want to do it.

I also need time when the brain can recover and turn off all impressions and thoughts. Where I have the opportunity to connect to my body that carries me through my work day. For me, it is yoga, which I often practice at lunchtime or before I go home. For you it might be a walk in the park, a horse back ride, a run around the nearby lake or to walk your dog. The important thing is that you know exactly what you need to have a sustainable work situation. Regardless, we all need recovery as part of our work day to be able to get through it, and the next day, and the next.

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Agility is about adapting and delivering value. More and more organisations are discovering that they either need to get on the agile train or fall hopelessly behind. 

Many of them turn to frameworks to adapt agile ways of  working. But what they get is another framework that will sit  on top of  the others and cause more confusion and frustration. What they need is to focus on the real problems like organisation, leadership  and culture. I’m going to use SAFe as an example in this text (there are other frameworks trying to solve this out there but I know more about SAFe).

A framework with a clear hierarchical role chart, process arrows, planning cycles and new roles is a way of satisfying the controlling part of an organisation. And it is exactly this part that we need to remove, if we want to be truly agile. To dare go down the agile road you need trust from leaders and in many organisations that is the exact thing they are lacking. So their own fear of losing control drives them to turn to things their recognize, roles and hierarchy, processes and planning, things that are feeding the controlling needs and is satisfying their own fears.

When introducing a framework like SAFe you are forced to focus on roles and planning cycles instead of culture, organisation and leadership. To get the right people in these roles is not an easy task an one that is impossible if there are no people with an agile mindset in the organisation. When people without agile mindset take on these roles what we get is another gant chart and detailed planning that will not adapt to the changing needs of the customer.

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I våras blev jag inbjuden att medverka som talare på Agila Örebro. Det var ett väldigt trevligt event med massor av intressanta talare och deltagare från regionen, men också från andra delar av Sverige.

När kunderna kräver bättre digitala tjänster och produkter behöver företagen hitta nya sätt att organisera sig för att snabbare leverera kundnytta. Gör man inte det riskerar man att bli omsprungen av snabbare konkurrenter. För att lyckas med detta krävs medvetenhet hos ledning och ett strategiskt ledningsbeslut. Den här föreläsningen riktar sig till nyfikna ledare som vill möjliggöra kundfokus och innovation.

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Since the customer is what drives the value in the organization, we must also organize accordingly. Narrow minded, sub-optimized-silos-days are finally over – future proof organizations with teams that have customer focus and can use their brain power to deliver value – here we come!

Poster downloads (PDF):

English version of the poster > 

Brazilian Portuguese version of the poster >

French version of the poster >

Spanish version of the poster >

Buy printed A1 poster >

business valueTo organize around the customer journey has proven to be extremely effective in order to deliver as much value as possible, as fast as possible – and to make the customer as well as the employees feel awesome! In most organization the organization structure itself is what´s causing the most pain – maybe no wonder when you reflect on that the silos based hierarchical organization is over 100 years old! You can download the Agile Leadership poster for more on that topic.

We are starting to see great results from organizations that have embraced this that makes for a strong business case for any organization. We love to be able to finally be able to share this concept with you. Enjoy!

The Over all Structure of the Customer Journey Product Organization

We have captured the over all visualization of how the organization can work hoping to give you a goal picture and a common understanding.

Here you can Download the poster in high resolution (PDF) > 

At Dandy People we support teams and organizations to become Agile to be able to focus on the business strategies and to mobilize the brain power in the teams to deliver value continuously. We call these value driven Agile teams for “Lean Teams” since they own the process end 2 end to deliver value, and that they also own the part of the service or product end 2 end. These teams work hypothesis based and have clear missions for 6-12 months with clear KPIs that gives them mandate to decide what to do when and enables them to have a ongoing learning process – all which is needed in a fast paced world if you desire to be the leading product or service within your niche. Crucial for these teams are of course the T-shape of the team members. The T-shape is something that enables the team to work as a team and it creates a really strong teams without dependencies to people within the team – and it also prevents the team to not do mini-waterfall in the team (just doing their part and handing over to the next). You can read more about T-shape here and how to grow it as a leader.

In this post you can download the poster for free and learn more about:

  • Lean Teams Connected to the Customer Journey with Missions
  • User research, Planning and Delivery across the Organization – connects as never before
  • Slicing for Value with User Story Mapping to create Alignment
  • The different type of teams
  • Cross-functional competences is needed in the Lean Team
  • Modern Agile and Continuous improvement of the System
  • Choosing what type of Organization you want to have Together
  • Avanza Leads the way with Lean Teams and Customer Journey Organization
  • Presentation on the Customer Journey Product Organization

Lean Teams Connected to the Customer Journey with Missions

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Équipes multidisciplinaires Agile

x-funktional teamLes équipes multidisciplinaires sont des équipes avec toutes les expertises néecessaires pour créer un produit et le mettre en production. Cependant, il ne suffit pas de rassembler un groupe de personnes différentes et de s’attendre à ce qu’elles agissent en équipe. Ce jeu essaie de montrer les conséquences du maintien d’une expertise et d’un rôle unique par les membres d’une équipe.

X-team silos game french

Instructions Préparatifs

Vous avez besoin de 48 morceaux de lego par jeu et par équipe, et ils doivent être dans 4 couleurs différentes, jaune, blanc, rouge et bleu. (more…)

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Many Agile teams are struggling to connect user experience and the design process with Agile ways of working and often Scrum. In this Poster (and post) I´m trying to describe the connection, and how you can collaborate in the team to learn more about user needs and solutions to solve real user problems together. I´ve been using this poster for over a year in my combined PO and UX training (Build the Right Product – Innovation through Collaboration & Design Thinking) and in my Agile coaching.

Download the Agile User Experience in a Nutshell in high resolution (PDF) >

Download in Portuguese >

Download in Spanish >

Download in Turkish >

Buy printed A1 poster >

Agile User Experience in a Nutshell Poster

My hope is that this poster might give some guidance in how User Experience can work in an Agile setup in combination with the posters; Agile Product Ownership in a Nutshell and Agile in a Nutshell (with a spice of Lean UX).

What does UX mean?

UX stands for User Experience. Basically, the expected and needed user experience of the service or digital product to meet user and business goals. To connect user needs and business goals is basic when working with user experience, it is basic to meet users and understand who they are – and involve and understand stakeholders. Any team can work with UX as long as they get to do this, and have the methods and processes to do it in a structured and effective way. (more…)

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I dag kick-startade vi våra frukostföreläsningar hos oss på Dandy People. Det blev fullt hus med gamla och nya vänner. God stämning och frukost, samt mycket spännande diskussioner med högt i tak. Dagens bästa citat stod nog Benny Forsberg för när det var dags för diskussionerna -“Hur många dörrar kan man slå upp på en morgon egentligen :)”. Lika delar igenkänning, provokation, nya inspirerande lösningar och lyckade exempel verkar vara en bra mix 🙂

Jag håller tummarna för att visioner och goda ideér till förändrat arbetsätt och ledarskap fick näring i dag, och att dom kommer att fortsätta att spira på fler håll i framtiden.

Här är beskrivningen av presentationen:

När kunderna kräver bättre digitala tjänster och produkter behöver företagen hitta nya sätt att organisera sig för att snabbare leverera kundnytta. Gör man inte det riskerar man att bli omsprungen av snabbare konkurrenter. För att lyckas med detta krävs medvetenhet hos ledning och ett strategiskt ledningsbeslut.Den här föreläsningen riktar sig till nyfikna ledare som vill möjliggöra kundfokus och innovation.

Mia går igenom trender och nya tankesätt kring hur man organiserar sig och leder arbetet på ett målstyrt sätt för att mobilisera hjärnkraft med korsfunktionella och autonoma team som snabbare kan leverera rätt produkter och tjänster. Mia visar även modeller för hur organisationer kan arbeta strukturerat med innovation och kundfokus för att välja att bli en haj i stället för en snigel samt riktiga exempel på den här typen av transformation från olika typer av branscher.

Är ni intresserade så kan vi också föreläsa internt hos er på er arbetsplats exklusivt med den här presentationen, eller någon annan inom Agil förändringsledning, ledarskap, Lean UX, produktledning, skalat Agilt arbetssätt, Agil upphandling eller annat ämne som passar er. Kontakta oss enklast här >

Tack alla som deltog, och alla Dandys som högg i och hjälpte till!

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Cross functional teams are complete in expertise but not necessarily collaborative. Sometimes team members hold on to their expertise too much and the team does not perform to its potential. This Lego game illuminates the difference when members allow themselves to take on tasks outside their expertise, being so called T-shaped. Play the game to kick-start your change and create collaboration.

This post was first published on the Crisp blog when Mia Kolmodin was a Crisp consultant.

Collected downloads from this post – updated June 2017
X-team Facilitators Instructions as PDF >
The X team silos game poster in PDF >

Playing the game.

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På grund av att många försöker få med “allt” I en IT-upphandling, är det endast 40% av det som byggs som gör nytta i digitala tjänster och produkter. Lean UX hjälper oss att bara bygga de 40% i stället för allt.

Att arbeta med Lean UX är ett bra sätt att kunna identifiera vad vi behöver bygga, och prioritera rätt löpande. Men hur funkar det egentligen med Lean UX och Agila team?

Mina nästa kurser inom ämnet under våren 2016: https://crisp.se/kurser/kurstyper/product-discovery-med-lean-ux

Jeff Gothelfs kurs för managers i Lean UX som kommer under våren 2016: https://crisp.se/kurser/kurstyper/lean-ux-in-the-enterprise

Upphandling med Lean UX och Agila kontrakt för upphandling med minskad waste: https://crisp.se/kurser/kurstyper/certifierad-agil-bestallare

Vill du att jag kommer och föreläser på ditt företag, eller hos din kund? Hör av dig!

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