Red Beads Experiment

JOAKIM SUNDÉN

BODEN

Everyone Loves Music

W EdwardsDeming

David P.Joyce

The White Bead Co.

CMMI5

ISO9000

WE LISTEN TO OUR PEOPLE

Only at their annual appraisal

ITIL

We Are Recruiting!

1 chief inspector. Same qualifications as inspector. Must be able to speak in a loud voice.

1 inspector. Must be able to distinguish red from white. Must be able to count to 20. No experience

necessary.

3 willing workers. Must be willing to put in best efforts. Continuation of job is based on performance. No experience in making beads necessary. Educational

requirements-nil.

ABOVE AVERAGE WORKERS ONLY NEED APPLY

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARSOF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH

THE EXPERIENCE OF MANY YEARS.

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARSOF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH

THE EXPERIENCE OF MANY YEARS.

• Did incentives work?

• Did the motivational posters help?

• Did have a CMMI standard process work?

• What could managers do to improve things for the workers?

• What are the red beads in your company?

Lessons learned

Lessons learned• It’s the system not the workers

• It’s management thinking that designed the system

• Arbitrary numerical targets were completely ineffective

• Rewarding or punishing the workers had no effect

• Rigid and precise procedures are not sufficient to produce quality

• Keeping the ‘best’ workers did not work

• Management tampering creates more problems than it solves

• Posters and slogans are at best useless and can be insulting and create resentment

• The biggest source of variation was in the system

Theory of Variation

We Should Expect Things to Vary,

They Always Do

The First Principle of the Theory of Variation

My performancePe

rfor

man

ce

Time

✓

✗

Statistical Process Control Charts

Perf

orm

ance

Time

✓

✗

Upper Control Limit

Lower Control Limit

Average

Understanding Variation Will Tell us

What to Expect

The Second Principle of the Theory of Variation

10

20

30

40

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Signal or Noise?

Velocity

Reward!

No more Mr Nice Guy!

Managerrepents...

Tough managementworks!

Signal or Noise?

10

20

30

40

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Velocity

ControlLimits

What to expect

10

20

30

40

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Velocity

Average

Expectations...

10

20

30

40

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Velocity

Setting a TargetPe

rfor

man

ce

Time

✓

✗

Upper Control Limit

Lower Control Limit

Average

“I recently asked a colleague [CIO] whether he would prefer to deliver a project somewhat late and overbudget, but rich with business benefits, or one that is on time and underbudget but of scant value to the business.

He thought it was a tough call, and then went for the on-time scenario. Delivering on time and within budget is part of his IT department’s performance metrics.

Chasing after the elusive business value, over which he thought he had little control anyway, is not.”

Cutter Sr. Consultant Helen Pukszta

If you give a manager a numerical target, he’ll

make it, even if he has to destroy the company in

the process.

Work on the Causes of Variation,

Which are Always Found in the System

The Third Principle of the Theory of Variation

Majority of Performance is Down to the System

A bad system will defeat a good person

every time.

System

Individual

95%

5%

System Conditions

Work DesignPoliciesMeasuresStructureRolesProceduresInformationJob skillsKnowledge

Business CasesFundingPoor requirements

InspectionCompliance

Understanding Variation Tells you When Something

has Happened

The Fourth Principle of the Theory of Variation

Special Cause vs Common Cause

10

20

30

40

50

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Velocity

Did we improve?

0

10

20

30

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Changeintroduced

after sprint 8

SPC for comparison

Team A

Team B

Team C

Joakim SundénTwitter: @joakimsunden

[email protected]