Leveraging Core Values for Healthier, More Productive Teams

BT11 Concurrent Session 11/8/2012 3:45 PM

"Leveraging Core Values for Healthier, More Productive Teams"

Presented by:

Scott Ross Omnyx

Brought to you by:

340 Corporate Way, Suite 300, Orange Park, FL 32073 888‐268‐8770 ∙ 904‐278‐0524 ∙ [email protected] ∙ www.sqe.com

Scott Ross Omnyx

In the software industry for more than twenty years, Scott Ross is currently director of software at Omnyx, a joint venture of GE Healthcare and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He has worked with scanners, handheld controllers, videoconferencing systems, pharmacy applications, digital radiology, and now digital pathology in a variety of management positions. Scott has been practicing Scrum for three years—after spending two years practicing Scrum-but. Passionate about vision and core values, Scott has helped transform churches and teams using these tools. When well-written, vision statements can be challenging and energizing—and can help bring out the best in people. Scott enjoys woodworking, golf, reading, and hiking.

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•Leveraging Core Values for Healthier,

•An experience report for Better Software East

,More Productive

Teams

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•An experience report for Better Software East 2012

•Scott Ross•Director of Software, Omnyx

•[email protected]

Omnyx – Who we are

Joint-venture of GE Healthcare and UPMC, established in March 2008

110 employees at two locations in Pittsburgh,110 employees at two locations in Pittsburgh, PA and Piscataway, NJ

UPMC relationship gives us easy access to our customers (pathologists, histologists, IT)

GE Healthcare relationship benefits us in many ways: GRC, project/program management, sales and support, architectural reviews

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A GE Healthcare and UPMC Venture • 6 scrum teams• Greenfield Development• FDA Regulated

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What is Omnyx: What We Do

•Integrated Digital Pathology•Pathology

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Omnyx – Where Were We in Late 2009?

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“Agile-Friendly” Space

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Our Scrum Mechanics – Basics … in place

Sprint Planning Sprint Review Sprint Retro

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Solved Technical Hurdles

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Stakeholder Excitement

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Playing Together

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The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team

Inattention to Results

Avoidance ofAvoidance of Accountability

Lack of Commitment

Fear of ConflictFear of Conflict

Absence of Trust

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So, What Motivated us to Write Our Core Values?

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Team Burn Down Charts – Sprint #13Workflow Diagnostic Viewer

Diagnostic Archive

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Sprint #16 Burndown (Aggregate)

• Velocity - 41

• 54% of Sprint goal54% of Sprint goal

• 84% of release goal

•Velocity Trends:

• 26.5, 52.5 (40), 50, 56, 32,41

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VELOCITY CHART

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Ineffective Conflict Resolution

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Immature Understanding of “Self-Organizing”

A self-organizing team takes responsibility for meeting its commitments in accordance with the business needswith the business needs.

It does NOT mean management “has no right to interfere”.

It DOES mean “hold one another accountable”, but accountable to what? Against what standard should peers

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g pjudge one another?

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Us Versus Them

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Why Core Values?

•Purpose Statement – why we exist

•Mission Statement – what are we doing?g

•Vision Statement – A picture of the future not just how it can be, but how it must be

•Core Values – How do we behave when we do the things we do?

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Creating a Core Values Statement - Prepare

Articulate the motivation: Core Values are a tool to help us become less like we are and more like we want to be

G liGet management alignment

Establish a sense of urgency – this is about more than creating a document

Identify and prepare the leaders

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Creating a Core Values Statement - Build

Brainstorm with the teams

What do you love about Omnyx?y y

What things would you change about Omnyx?

What does “the best company you can imagine” look like?

What trends emerge from these brainstorming sessions?

Wordsmith – 17 revisions

Don’t let it become mechanical. Passion is required for change.

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Creating a Core Values Statement - Support

My favorite Quote about Communication:

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that i h k l ” G B d Shit has taken place.” – George Bernard Shaw

Repeat the Message

Keep an eye out for apathy/hostility/undermining. Share from your heart.

Get verbal commitment to “our” core values (not management’s ( gcore values)

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Core Value 1: Integrity and Respect

•We value Integrity & Respect, and believe that by being honest and courteous, we build trust which is foundational to building great teams.

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Core Value 2: Communication and Courage

•We value Communication & Courage and believe that by listening, disseminating, and engaging in difficult conversations to resolve issues we create a healthy workplace.

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Core Value 3: Accountability and Commitment

•We value Accountability & Commitment and believe that by driving to meet our goals and being responsible for our words and actions we can produce extraordinary results.

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Core Value 4: Learning and Continuous Improvement

•We value Learning & Continuous Improvement and believe that by seeking challenging opportunities, giving and receiving honest feedback and following through, we drive positive change.

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Core Value 5: Teamwork and Humility

•We value Teamwork & Humility and believe that by collaborating, sharing common goals, and buying into decisions we develop efficient solutions.

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Core Value 6: People and Community

•We value People & Community and believe that by hiring and investing in great people and encouraging work/life balance we build a lasting organization.

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What Had We Accomplished? Not much: We

created a tool to help drivehelp drive change.

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Leveraging Our Core Values Statement

• In our 1-on-1 meetings– InfoPath form asks how we are doing (good and bad) in living our core values

– If you’re leaving this section blank – you are not helping usIf you re leaving this section blank you are not helping us

• In our team meetings (top 3, bottom 1)– Strong drift towards good technical work – associate it with our core values

•eQuip Sessions

•tQuip Sessions

•Got everyone involved

•Wordsmith/Feedback Cycle

•Compared our Culture to our Core Values

•Referred to them Early and Often

•“Pull the pain forward”29

LEVERAGING OUR CORE LEVERAGING OUR CORE VALUES

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Biweekly 1 on 1 Form

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1-on-1 Forms: Real Examples

•There is resentment with regard to clinical \ regulatory exerting control \ influence in our development cycle. I've tried to provide examples of why this is appropriateprovide examples of why this is appropriate.

•I worry sometimes that we get in a rush and forget our manners, thereby being disrespectful and causing unnecessary conflict. For example, more than once I have called meetings to which all attendees accept, and yet no one attends.

•Teamwork - Chris went out of his way to help Kier when Kier was dealing with some learning curve issue with the scanner code.•

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Biweekly Team Meetings

Call out individuals -Constant reminder that these are about core values, not just good technical work

Call out group behavior -3:1 ratio of positive to

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technical work 3 1 ratio of positive to negative helps, but the negative is all people hear sometimes

Communication and Courage

•We value Communication & Courage and believe that by listening, disseminating, and engaging in difficult conversations to resolve issues we create a healthy workplace.

• From: “compliment in public criticize in private”• To: “Give feedback for the purpose of helping

the individual and the team”• MBTI: Watch the team mix• SBI

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• TKI• Too many eMails? – get on the phone• Talking about someone is easier than talking to

them

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Integrity and Respect

•We value Integrity & Respect, and believe that by being honest and courteous, we build trust which is foundational to building great teams.

• Mentor, set examples which kill gossip• Celebrate diversity of skills – getting things

done• Intentional focus when hiring• Integrity is Pass/Fail

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Accountability and Commitment

•We value Accountability & Commitment and believe that by driving to meet our goals and being responsible for our words and actions we can produce extraordinary results.

• Releases and sprints – force the commitment (don’t force what we are committing to)

• When we fall short, it’s OK, but it’s not acceptable

• Big thumbs up or thumbs down on sprint reviews

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g p p

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Learning and Continuous Improvement

•We value Learning & Continuous Improvement and believe that by seeking challenging opportunities, giving and receiving honest feedback and following through, we drive positive change.

• eQuip (S.O.L.I.D., Dep. Inj., B.D.D., …)• tQuip (JoHari Window, Risk-based, equiv. part.)• Brown bags• Conferences• Local user groups

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g p• Histology/Pathology lab visits• Daily Brain teasers• Leadership Book Club• Ted Talk Tuesdays

Teamwork and Humility

•We value Teamwork & Humility and believe that by collaborating, sharing common goals, and buying into decisions we develop efficient solutions.

• Teamwork is one of our great strengths• Make people aware when “I” dominates “We”• Interviews: Hungry/Humble/Smart• Teambuilding Events

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People and Community

•We value People & Community and believe that by hiring and investing in great people and encouraging work/life balance we build a lasting organization.

• Piggy banks to charity• Serving Opportunities• Happy Hour• Fantasy Football• Foosball Tournaments

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• Annual Chili Cook-off

The Hardest Parts

•1. Employees who don’t buy in. We work with them, share our passion, try to get them engaged. But we don’t wait forever and will not let negative individuals destroy our culture.

•2. Continuous learning and continuous improvement can be exhausting ☺

•3. Consumerism – bring me my culture

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Omnyx Now

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The “Real” Results

•1. “Us and them” is gone and morale is significantly improved

•2. Scrum team members are holding each other accountable d h i h diffi l i E d iand having the difficult conversations. Even card-carrying

introverts.

•3. The decibel level of our conversations has lowered, but the passion hasn’t.

•4. Continuous learning is more widely embraced not just by the fewfew.

•5. Scrum predictability has improved.

•6. Very Low Turnover (2 voluntary attrition in my 3 years)

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One of the Best Places to Work in Pittsburgh

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We Have More Drama in our Meetings

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Where are the Metrics?

•I am suspicious of metrics which measure “soft skills” or culture

•As a small company, we don’t conduct surveys on morale. So d ’ h b h h l b f d fwe don’t have numbers to show the morale before and after.

•Our scrum performance is better, but there are a lot of differences and it would be misleading to imply we know precisely what role core values played in doing scrum better.

•The key metric over time will be the success of our company.

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RESOURCESRESOURCES

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Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument

70%

80%

R&D Conflict Preferences

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

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0%

10%

20%

Competing Collaborating Compromising Avoiding Accomodating

Conflict “Types"

90%

100%

My Way

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

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0%

10%

20%

30%


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Conflict “Types (Cont.)

120%

The Pushover

40%

60%

80%

100%

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0%

20%


Conflict Types (Cont.)

120%

Mr. Hyde

40%

60%

80%

100%

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0%

20%


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SBI – Situation, Behavior, Impact

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StrengthsFinder 2.0 – A Success Story

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BIBS

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Johari Window

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Recommended Reading

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Summary

•Scrum mechanics is what everybody gets started with but those are the easy problems to solve - the early gains. The real long term gains are in going deeper into “soft skills” which is hard for engineers, managers, and

i ti i ll if b d h it th i G&Oorganizations, especially if nobody has it on their G&Os.

•Core values provide a reference for people to judge peer behavior. We think this is critical for self-organizing teams.

•Having a core values statement is fine. But then you need to continually reference it and leverage it as a tool.

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Acknowledgements

•I would like to acknowledge my coworkers at Omnyx for being an essential part of my continuous learning and (hopefully) continuous improvement.

•Thanks for your time today.

Questions?

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