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What Agile Teams Can Learn from Human Performance Technology

Bob WinterCA Technologies@TheBobWinter

November 2015

2 @TheBobWinter #AgileHPT© 2014 CA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Agenda

The Twain Shall Meet

Human Performance Technology

Proving Value

Agile Performance Improvement

Conclusion


Agile and Human Performance Technology: The Twain Shall Meet


The Origins of Agile Performance Improvement


Who Are These People?


Name-Dropping


History


Human Performance Technology


What Is Human Performance Technology (HPT)?

Human Performance Technology* is a systematic approach to improving productivity and competence, uses a set of methods and procedures—and a strategy for solving problems—for realizing opportunities related to the performance of people.

Also known as:

human performance improvement

performance engineering

performance improvement

*Definition from the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI)


A Tip of the Cap to Robert Mager

Definition of instructional objectives (1962)*

• Performance: what the learner is able to do

• Conditions: important conditions under which

the performance is expected to occur

• Criterion: the quality or level of performance

that will be considered acceptable

*Robert F. Mager, Preparing Instructional Objectives (Belmont, CA: Fearon Publishers, 1962).

Mager’s 3 parts, mashed up with the Agile story syntax

As a <conditions>, I need <criterion>, so that I can <performance>.


Today‘s Stories

As a product owner, I need to learn the skills introduced by Thomas F. Gilbert’s Behavior Engineering Model so that I can accurately diagnose performance gaps.

As a product owner, I need to follow the taxonomy for proving value, so that I can monetize the output of the development team

As an agile team, we need to apply the success metrics of agile performance improvement, so that we can evaluate our team efficacy


B.F. Skinner (1904-1990)Operant Conditioning


The Father of Human Performance Technology

Thomas F. Gilbert (1927–1995)Author of Human Competence: Engineering Worthy Performance (1978)


Gilbert’s Behavior Engineering Model (BEM)

Information Instrumentation Motivation

Environmental supports

Data (1) Instruments (2) Incentive (3)

Person’s repertory of behavior

Knowledge (4) Capacity (5) Motives (6)


The 85 Percent Rule*

*Possibly apocryphal, but useful nonetheless


Why Bad French Fries?

Typical Response (focus on Individual Factors)

An underperforming and disgruntled kitchen worker dropping some french fries into the deep fryer.

Motivation deficiency: “He doesn’t care.” “He’s lazy.”

Knowledge deficiency: “He doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing.” “He needs more training.”

Capacity deficiency: “He’s useless.” “He’s stupid.”


Environmental Factors

Information:• Does the cook know what is expected? • Does he know what a good french fry looks like

and tastes like? • Is there a feedback mechanism in place?

Incentives: • What are the rewards for making consistently excellent fried food? • What are the consequences of not consistently producing high-quality output?

“If you pit a good performer against a bad system, the system will win almost every time.” Geary Rummler

Instrumentation: • Does the cook have the equipment that will make

it possible to consistently create good fried food? • What if following the menu specifications yields

unpleasing fries?


Proving Value


What Kinds of Performance Can Be Measured?

Any kind of performance can be measured-reliably and with considerable precision.

We can measure the performance of poets, managers, teachers, and politicians-not

just that of production workers and athletes. The belief that the more complex forms

of performance are not subject to measurement and quantification arises simply from

ignorance about how to do it. Once you get the knack, performance that you once

thought unmeasurable will usually be not nearly so difficult to measure as, say the

radiation of Martian soil or the fertility of farm land.

Thomas F. Gilbert, Human Competence: Engineering Worthy Performance (1978)


Taxonomy for Proving Human Performance Value

Monetized Value

• Making Money

• Saving Money

• Repurposed Labor

Convertible Value

• Turnover

• Level of Commitment

• Safety and Security

• Customer Loyalty

Workforce Efficacy

• Employee Capabilities

• Productivity

• Time to Productivity


Agile Performance Improvement#AgileHPT






Conclusion


Takeaways

1. Any kind of performance can be measured.

2. Performance measure should be related to cause.

3. You can almost never isolate the impact of training,

4. The Taxonomy for Proving Performance Value may

help, but every situation is unique.

5. The customer needs to agree on what is important.

6. The customer needs to contribute their data.


Let’s [email protected]@TheBobWinter#AgileHPThttp://thebobwinter.blogspot.com/

http://thebobwinter.blogspot.com/

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