1 00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:04,400 The Better Business Analysis Institute presence, the Better 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,760 Business Analysis Podcast with Kenjamin Walsh. 3 00:00:12,640 --> 00:00:16,040 Hi everybody, and welcome back to the Better Business Analysis 4 00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:19,760 Podcast with Benjamin Walsh. Now we're going to focus on a 5 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:23,120 topic here today, which is actually for some of you your 6 00:00:23,120 --> 00:00:27,440 core job or for some of you a job that you would like and for 7 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:30,160 other B. As this is a mindset, it should 8 00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:32,439 be a mindset regardless of it's your job or not. 9 00:00:32,840 --> 00:00:37,680 And something that you as ABA, it is part of your remit, it is 10 00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:41,120 part of your role. And if you follow the teachings 11 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:44,720 of the Better Business Analysis Institute, it actually relates 12 00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:48,040 to one of our phases called release and Operational 13 00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:50,520 improvement. And this topic I'm going to 14 00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:53,040 broadly call continuous improvement. 15 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:56,400 Actually, we are going to focus on continuous improvement. 16 00:00:56,680 --> 00:01:00,040 What does that actually mean? What does that mean for you in 17 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:02,120 your role? What does it mean for you on 18 00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:05,040 your project? What does it mean for operations 19 00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:07,200 and all those things? And we're going to bring it 20 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:10,800 together hopefully in a concise, easy to understand podcast 21 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:14,280 episode. What is continuous improvement? 22 00:01:14,440 --> 00:01:16,360 What does, what does this continuous mean? 23 00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:21,920 Well, if you're from the world or the world of Agile, then a 24 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:27,120 whole lot about Agile and agile delivery is around the 25 00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:31,040 continuous nature of running a machine, really a delivery 26 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:35,760 machine, and allowing it to work in a great way. 27 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:38,560 So that's the that's the whole point of it, which gets feed in 28 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:42,920 basically into a backlog where and the machine starts to do its 29 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:46,080 thing. And off the back of Agile and 30 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:49,400 DevOps, we now use the word continuous, not just in 31 00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:53,000 continuous improvement which has been around for a while since 32 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:58,200 the Six Sigma days and and even before that, but we also tag it 33 00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:01,960 on to things like continuous delivery and continuous testing 34 00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:06,920 and continuous integration. So you know, it is, it is the 35 00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:09,680 word of the day. And so when we can talk about 36 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:13,400 continuous improvement, it's really just making sure that we 37 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:17,000 are making something better. If you have a product, the best 38 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:19,560 analogy and probably the best use case for an agile delivery 39 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:22,520 team, once you've established a product, which I would argue you 40 00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:25,640 know is not an easy job and falls outside of the scope of a 41 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:30,120 delivery cycle, Say you've got a web app which is successful, 42 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:33,920 you've done all the upfront startup things and you're now in 43 00:02:33,920 --> 00:02:37,640 a continuous improvement loop of making it better, right. 44 00:02:37,640 --> 00:02:42,400 That's, that's where we can use a a great example of continuous 45 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:45,560 improvement in action where you get customer feedback and you 46 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:49,480 add features and you do AB testing and you know you grow it 47 00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:54,400 to target different markets. That for me all in itself is you 48 00:02:54,400 --> 00:02:56,120 know, continuous improvement on a product. 49 00:02:57,480 --> 00:03:01,640 However, we also can apply the word continuous improvement to 50 00:03:01,640 --> 00:03:06,680 look at processes, right. So a process regardless of 51 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:10,280 product is just not operating in an optimal way. 52 00:03:10,640 --> 00:03:16,440 In reality it's usually enough that the there is benefit, more 53 00:03:16,440 --> 00:03:19,840 benefit than cost to change what we're doing and that's an 54 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:23,320 important factor there. So not all things not everything 55 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:26,520 will be working perfectly and and actually to be honest 56 00:03:26,920 --> 00:03:32,360 perfection I would say is is you know the opposite of progress in 57 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:33,960 some cases. So you know aiming for 58 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:37,480 perfection's it will never come plus the world changes which you 59 00:03:37,480 --> 00:03:40,120 can't control hence you know move forward. 60 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:44,600 However with continuous improvement we talk about the 61 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:48,880 fact that when something has a strong business case and I'm 62 00:03:48,880 --> 00:03:50,120 going to use that in a general sense. 63 00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:54,560 So it simply that the cost benefit analysis is positive. 64 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:59,000 Say that again in more simple terms that it might sense 65 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:03,040 spending money in time and effort fixing an issue such that 66 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:06,360 you know that the outcome of spending that money in time and 67 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:09,000 effort will be more valuable than what you had before. 68 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:12,000 OK, so that's simply what we talk about when we mean 69 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:14,840 continuous improvement. Now there are methodologies for 70 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:16,760 doing that. The the analysis we're looking 71 00:04:16,760 --> 00:04:20,320 at this process end to end, let's say the easiest example in 72 00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:24,520 the examples where continuous improvement was really 73 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:26,760 corporalized was in manufacturing. 74 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:30,440 So you know things like Toyota and the the building of cars and 75 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:34,000 you can imagine it actually helps to have that analogy. 76 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:36,440 It actually helps to have something simple and real. 77 00:04:36,840 --> 00:04:39,760 So you've got to convey about with an order and it's not 78 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:42,480 really focusing on that really. It's really the assembly line 79 00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:44,920 which they were focusing on and making sure that they were 80 00:04:45,280 --> 00:04:48,600 removing inefficiencies and reducing costs, OK, over the 81 00:04:48,600 --> 00:04:52,880 long term. And they there is the concept of 82 00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:56,520 lean, the word we've talked about before 6 Sigma, there 83 00:04:56,520 --> 00:04:58,960 were, you know, there's there's a whole Kaizen, there's a whole, 84 00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:02,760 there's a whole movement which is still with us today. 85 00:05:02,760 --> 00:05:06,480 And a lot of that is aligned with the Agile movement, all for 86 00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:09,320 that. But in simple terms, if you 87 00:05:09,480 --> 00:05:12,760 don't know anything about those methodologies, I really suggest 88 00:05:12,760 --> 00:05:17,120 that you learn about them, that you learn about 6 Sigma 89 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:19,640 specifically in lean. And just read those stories, 90 00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:23,360 they're just fascinating, really great in the general sense. 91 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:28,000 I am a very, very, very, very pro removing waste, which is the 92 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:31,400 word that was used from a process, OK, because it just 93 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:34,840 doesn't benefit anyone and it's not necessary to drive the 94 00:05:34,840 --> 00:05:37,400 bottom line or reduce costs or get rid of people's jobs or 95 00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:40,040 anything. Any of those outcomes that 96 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:41,600 corporations might be looking for. 97 00:05:41,880 --> 00:05:45,680 My I just don't. I just don't like it when there 98 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:48,960 are unnecessary steps that don't benefit anyone and society. 99 00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:54,200 Can be can be one of the people that lose when you spend money, 100 00:05:54,200 --> 00:05:56,960 the wrong money in areas which are inefficient where you could 101 00:05:56,960 --> 00:06:00,480 be spending them on other areas. So this is not confined to the 102 00:06:00,480 --> 00:06:03,080 corporate world. So continuous improvement is 103 00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:06,160 around taking a process and looking for initial efficiencies 104 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:09,800 and then you know you really move from a a current state to a 105 00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:13,640 future state process in stages, which is important like the 106 00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:15,600 agile cycle. You don't do everything at once 107 00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:18,760 because you want to measure that the change you made actually 108 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:21,360 made a difference and you might try things, you might not do 109 00:06:21,360 --> 00:06:22,920 them all. So it's not necessary. 110 00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:25,400 You've hooked on changing Step 2. 111 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:28,960 You know you you try different things and and and those 112 00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:31,040 methodologies have a good way of measuring. 113 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:34,000 They've got different measurables to measure. 114 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:36,080 You know how efficient the process is. 115 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:38,960 OK and where the areas for improvement are. 116 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:41,760 OK. So that's the that's the bottom 117 00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:44,720 line when it comes to continuous improvement, it can get you 118 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:49,200 know, quite scientific actually. Now we bring that up, that's so 119 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:52,080 we don't need to talk about the those particular methodology. 120 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:54,360 You can go and read about them. But in the general sense you're 121 00:06:54,360 --> 00:06:57,600 improving a a process that existed continuous improvement. 122 00:06:57,880 --> 00:07:01,320 So we've just said we can improve our product in the sense 123 00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:04,560 of agile and you can feedback and make it better and I'd argue 124 00:07:04,560 --> 00:07:07,120 that's what product management is all about. 125 00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:10,040 You have to make your products better or they will just, 126 00:07:10,240 --> 00:07:13,120 they'll just die death, OK. Product management is not about 127 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:16,040 just owning, you know, product ownership or just keeping 128 00:07:16,480 --> 00:07:18,640 ownership of the product. You have to improve it over time 129 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:22,040 or do different things. So you know, you might say Coke, 130 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:25,840 the formula for Coke hasn't changed since they tried some 131 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:29,080 stuff in the 80s, but they do bring out new products. 132 00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:32,920 So we've just said Coke 0 now. So they don't don't think for a 133 00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:36,560 minute because the base rule product, the actual formula of 134 00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:41,400 Coke hasn't changed in a while say let's just say that that's 135 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:45,080 true of their main product which is just the standard Coke. 136 00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:49,360 They are always were looking at improving processes at 137 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:52,960 Coca-Cola, OK. They're reducing costs and 138 00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:57,200 selling more moving into other countries distribution, they're 139 00:07:57,200 --> 00:07:59,320 a huge distributor. They're actually to be honest 140 00:07:59,720 --> 00:08:02,960 that the main part of their business is how to distribute, 141 00:08:03,960 --> 00:08:06,440 you know they acquire other other brands. 142 00:08:06,840 --> 00:08:10,640 They you know are playing with their their diet range as we've 143 00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:13,960 just talked about they know sugar range and how they best do 144 00:08:13,960 --> 00:08:16,760 that. This will continue that there is 145 00:08:16,760 --> 00:08:19,520 a constant continuous improvement in Coca-Cola. 146 00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:24,200 So don't think don't if you just you know take it at service 147 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:27,040 level might look like some of these products don't change over 148 00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:29,160 time. They really do OK and the 149 00:08:29,160 --> 00:08:30,920 companies do and they respond to the market. 150 00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:33,679 So that's continuous improvement. 151 00:08:33,679 --> 00:08:39,600 The product, the company itself and processes which form the the 152 00:08:39,600 --> 00:08:41,240 company. And of course there's people, 153 00:08:41,240 --> 00:08:46,320 processes and people. The way to improve people only 154 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:51,120 use a continuous word here is to take a mindset of continuous 155 00:08:51,520 --> 00:08:57,160 learning. OK, so continuous learning is 156 00:08:57,160 --> 00:09:00,000 really important here. So not only do we have 157 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:04,000 continuous improvement in those areas, to continually improve 158 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:08,240 yourself, you need to learn and you need to adapt and you need 159 00:09:08,240 --> 00:09:11,240 to experience. And for you as ABA, this is 160 00:09:11,240 --> 00:09:15,160 where this is where the topic becomes more interesting and 161 00:09:15,160 --> 00:09:19,000 that is the fact that you have a challenge in your role. 162 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:22,160 You have a challenge as ABA and that is that the business 163 00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:25,520 landscape is continuously, it's changing all the time. 164 00:09:26,240 --> 00:09:27,920 OK. So you're you're forced to 165 00:09:27,920 --> 00:09:30,200 respond to that. There are cycles, yes, there are 166 00:09:30,200 --> 00:09:33,680 cycles and patterns, but the business landscape always 167 00:09:33,680 --> 00:09:36,280 changes. There are new tools, 168 00:09:36,680 --> 00:09:41,080 methodologies, industry trends that have merged. 169 00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:43,720 They merge all the time. If you see any interesting 170 00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:49,560 interviews with Elon Musk or Bill Gates, you know and Co, 171 00:09:49,760 --> 00:09:51,480 then the question. They always get asked these 172 00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:53,360 questions right. Their first question is what do 173 00:09:53,360 --> 00:09:55,640 you think about AI? Or you know, what do you think 174 00:09:55,640 --> 00:09:58,920 about machine learning or. Those topics have been on the 175 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:02,320 table for a while. You want to be good at your job. 176 00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:04,080 You should be able to talk about these topics. 177 00:10:04,160 --> 00:10:05,320 You won't know about all of them. 178 00:10:05,880 --> 00:10:10,760 There are, there are days, every day I will be in a situation 179 00:10:10,760 --> 00:10:13,120 where someone might be talking about something that's new that 180 00:10:13,160 --> 00:10:16,000 I don't know about, but I have an obligation to go and learn 181 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:18,560 about that and be educated, especially before a workshop 182 00:10:18,560 --> 00:10:20,200 where they might be talking about this topic. 183 00:10:20,960 --> 00:10:23,760 So that's your job and that's a challenge. 184 00:10:24,080 --> 00:10:26,360 Just moving on. That's slightly different from 185 00:10:26,360 --> 00:10:30,320 that point apart from new trends and methodologies and industry 186 00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:33,480 and waves and we are in a tech evolution. 187 00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:38,080 So we've had the you know the industrial revolution and we 188 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:39,200 have it. We're still in the tech 189 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:43,320 revolution and now we're probably looking at more of AI 190 00:10:43,320 --> 00:10:48,120 such a a big term but the idea of I won't call them robots but 191 00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:55,040 I I just the idea that some of the task manual ways of working 192 00:10:55,040 --> 00:10:57,840 and and and I want to I need to be very careful with my words 193 00:10:57,840 --> 00:11:02,040 here but some of the manual ways of working that don't really add 194 00:11:02,040 --> 00:11:04,480 value to you, your life your output so they can be done by 195 00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:06,560 anyone. So they're the kind of jobs that 196 00:11:06,560 --> 00:11:10,240 you would look to outsource or you know, big corporations would 197 00:11:10,240 --> 00:11:16,000 get done in 3rd world countries can be done by robots as opposed 198 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:19,200 to humans and that will totally change. 199 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:24,760 Even if you are worried about other uses of AII can tell you 200 00:11:24,760 --> 00:11:27,600 for sure. When it comes to people labor, 201 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:30,560 AI will have a huge impact on that. 202 00:11:30,560 --> 00:11:31,800 So you can't ignore it. OK. 203 00:11:31,800 --> 00:11:35,520 Even if you are not worried about some of the higher level 204 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:40,280 uses of AI, the market, the working class market is is going 205 00:11:40,280 --> 00:11:44,400 to completely change and and and no I don't believe that it will 206 00:11:44,400 --> 00:11:49,840 as Elon or Musk says that it will necessary benefit humanity. 207 00:11:49,880 --> 00:11:54,880 OK, it might get rid of manual tasks that we think are just 208 00:11:55,080 --> 00:11:57,680 it's silly that humans do. We'll look back at it and say 209 00:11:57,680 --> 00:12:02,120 why are we doing you know merging two articles into one or 210 00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:05,000 rewriting an article and they'll say well you know a a computer 211 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:09,880 can do that once you feed in the right algorithm and and 212 00:12:09,880 --> 00:12:14,760 methodology and train it. Now that might be true, but the 213 00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:17,000 the reality is that what's going to happen is that a lot of 214 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:20,920 people doing low skilled labor jobs which all involve just time 215 00:12:20,920 --> 00:12:23,080 and data entry, they they're not going to do that anymore. 216 00:12:23,080 --> 00:12:25,400 They're going to be done by robots and that will have a huge 217 00:12:25,960 --> 00:12:32,880 impact on the market as we as we as we move forward. 218 00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:36,480 So just take that as a point, write that down, willing to put 219 00:12:36,760 --> 00:12:40,040 bet you $20 on that. So there's that. 220 00:12:40,040 --> 00:12:43,360 But then there's also the fact that, and and I'm going to use 221 00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:46,520 the word value. And I've just talked about an 222 00:12:46,520 --> 00:12:50,080 example of, you know, people losing jobs because of AI 223 00:12:50,080 --> 00:12:55,240 development. But your job as ABA is to talk 224 00:12:55,240 --> 00:12:57,240 about value. And what part of that is 225 00:12:57,240 --> 00:13:01,960 people's, you know, people doing work that's unnecessary and 226 00:13:01,960 --> 00:13:05,840 unnecessary is different from work that can be done in a more 227 00:13:05,840 --> 00:13:08,160 efficient way. So continuous improvement might 228 00:13:08,160 --> 00:13:12,440 be saying, well, this particular task in a factory where the 229 00:13:12,440 --> 00:13:16,680 people are kind of taking the doors and attaching them to the 230 00:13:16,680 --> 00:13:19,560 car, we've, you know, you've done the analysis and there was 231 00:13:19,560 --> 00:13:22,560 a robot that can do that much cheaper, that totally might make 232 00:13:22,560 --> 00:13:24,800 sense. Obviously there's some impact to 233 00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:28,800 the employees as a result of that and you know, 234 00:13:28,800 --> 00:13:35,040 redistributing that that labor into a better area, like maybe 235 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:39,440 turning that person into a a machine technician or engineer, 236 00:13:39,440 --> 00:13:40,640 that might be a best use of time. 237 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:45,960 And I'm as much as you might have a view on an empathy for 238 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:48,880 those people. Your job is to look at the best 239 00:13:48,880 --> 00:13:52,400 value, the big, best use of resources in a company. 240 00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:56,120 OK. So your job is to stay informed 241 00:13:56,320 --> 00:13:58,440 and provide the best value. OK. 242 00:13:58,440 --> 00:14:01,880 So this is all what continuous improvement is about. 243 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:05,200 OK. So, so we've talked about that. 244 00:14:05,200 --> 00:14:10,920 So your job is to respond to look at market trends, to keep 245 00:14:10,920 --> 00:14:15,120 up to date and to and to kind of keep learning yourself as a 246 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:21,760 person. Now when it comes to things like 247 00:14:21,920 --> 00:14:27,720 Scrum, so specifically within an agile team, now you can Scrum 248 00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:33,040 agile use it interchangeably. That's a really good example 249 00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:35,880 where continuous learning and improvement is built in. 250 00:14:36,320 --> 00:14:40,560 So you do a Sprint retrospective, which is around 251 00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:44,200 to look at the team internally, looking at the team what went 252 00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:47,240 well, what could be improved, what should be adapted. 253 00:14:47,560 --> 00:14:51,160 So I I like that analogy because that's exactly what continuous 254 00:14:51,160 --> 00:14:52,480 learning and improvement is about. 255 00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:56,680 It fosters that. It's built into the framework. 256 00:14:58,280 --> 00:15:02,640 There are what we call empirical process controls. 257 00:15:03,720 --> 00:15:10,680 So Scrum is an empirical approach and so we are making 258 00:15:10,680 --> 00:15:14,640 decisions on what's observed, not what we think. 259 00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:17,400 And we learn from that throughout the project. 260 00:15:17,720 --> 00:15:23,120 So it's kind of the idea of having this kind of, I guess 261 00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:27,880 it's iterative approach allows the team that you're working 262 00:15:27,880 --> 00:15:32,960 with to learn from successes and failures and refine OK as well 263 00:15:32,960 --> 00:15:35,600 as the backlog because refinement is what is built into 264 00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:39,240 the backlog grooming. And the fact that your list of 265 00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:41,360 requirements that you start with might be quite different at the 266 00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:44,000 end in terms of what you plan to do upfront. 267 00:15:45,360 --> 00:15:50,480 And there's a there's a kind of a principle which talks about 268 00:15:50,560 --> 00:15:54,840 inspecting and adapting. So Scrum emphasizes the 269 00:15:54,840 --> 00:15:58,800 importance of inspecting the current state of a project and 270 00:15:58,800 --> 00:16:01,800 then adapting the pro approach based on learnings. 271 00:16:02,200 --> 00:16:04,320 OK? And that cycle promotes 272 00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:07,680 continuous learning throughout the development process. 273 00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:13,760 So that is how you can incorporate, I guess by looking 274 00:16:13,760 --> 00:16:16,720 at the benefits of Scrum, or at least even if you're not in an 275 00:16:16,720 --> 00:16:20,520 Agile ish environment and you're working in a more traditional 276 00:16:20,520 --> 00:16:21,920 way, you can still do these things. 277 00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:25,120 You can have a a retro by looking internally. 278 00:16:25,400 --> 00:16:28,800 You can, you know, start to measure things and based on 279 00:16:28,800 --> 00:16:32,560 what's observed, like a scientific method, you can 280 00:16:32,560 --> 00:16:36,640 inspect and adapt based on what's worked for the last 281 00:16:36,680 --> 00:16:38,800 series of time. You can call them sprints if you 282 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:45,560 want and you also have the concept that within within Scrum 283 00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:48,080 Agile is that you are releasing the product and getting 284 00:16:48,080 --> 00:16:50,520 feedback. So incorporating and I don't 285 00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:53,240 talk about that enough really, but the idea that customer 286 00:16:53,240 --> 00:16:55,520 insights are feeding your backlog, not your just your 287 00:16:55,520 --> 00:16:59,440 product owner, you know this, it's very soft around that. 288 00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:03,400 But there should be a stronger emphasis which is better I guess 289 00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:05,960 explained in product management and we've talked about that 290 00:17:05,960 --> 00:17:09,319 before with some great gifts that the customer is feeding 291 00:17:09,319 --> 00:17:10,839 back. So ultimately are they buying 292 00:17:10,839 --> 00:17:13,359 it, what are they using, what's their features, you know and 293 00:17:13,359 --> 00:17:15,720 incorporating things like hot jar on your web app and seeing 294 00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:19,160 where they're clicking and improving the user experience or 295 00:17:19,200 --> 00:17:21,920 you know is all is all that. So that's continuous learning 296 00:17:21,920 --> 00:17:24,440 and improvement and I don't think you can, I actually don't 297 00:17:24,440 --> 00:17:26,079 think you can. If you're looking looking at 298 00:17:26,079 --> 00:17:28,760 this higher level of abstraction, like I said, not 299 00:17:28,760 --> 00:17:32,160 down in the weeds. I don't think you can actually 300 00:17:35,480 --> 00:17:38,320 pull apart continuous learning and improvement. 301 00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:42,720 So continuous learning is is and improvement is kind of locked 302 00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:46,520 together what and I guess it's a Venn diagram because you take 303 00:17:46,520 --> 00:17:48,840 learnings, you might not do anything with them, but the 304 00:17:48,840 --> 00:17:52,880 overlap is where you've you've actually taken learnings and 305 00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:55,800 you've improved, right. And you can have continuous 306 00:17:55,800 --> 00:17:58,720 improvement which is a bit more random not from learnings just 307 00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:00,800 by trying things which is wasteful. 308 00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:05,800 So the true continuous improvement, I would say, OK, so 309 00:18:05,800 --> 00:18:09,040 this is, you know, those who have studied 6 Sigma and all the 310 00:18:09,040 --> 00:18:12,040 rest of it. For me, true continuous 311 00:18:12,040 --> 00:18:16,680 improvement relies on continuous learning, right, And learnings 312 00:18:16,720 --> 00:18:20,000 generally. And the overlap you've actually 313 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:24,120 got a reason to look at improving a process, not just 314 00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:27,800 trying to improve everything and spending lots of money and then 315 00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:29,240 not actually having a better outcome. 316 00:18:29,600 --> 00:18:33,560 So that's important. And then in terms of practical 317 00:18:33,560 --> 00:18:38,360 uses of continuous improvement as a whole at the Beta Business 318 00:18:38,360 --> 00:18:42,320 Analysis Institute we talk about release and operational 319 00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:47,640 improvement at the end of a of a of the kind of journey and you 320 00:18:47,640 --> 00:18:51,400 know the the two big topics we we've squeezed them into one and 321 00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:54,400 because I think it's really important that you are aware 322 00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:56,440 that when you're released it's not done. 323 00:18:57,280 --> 00:19:00,360 So you're looping back and and that all connects quite nicely 324 00:19:00,360 --> 00:19:02,960 with Scrum and the idea is you're releasing and then 325 00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:06,200 there's usually and the reason we don't collect continuous 326 00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:09,320 improvement, we call it operational improvement, is that 327 00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:12,560 at some point I guess it's continuous if the program and 328 00:19:12,560 --> 00:19:14,120 the project team is still working. 329 00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:18,680 But it's usually an operational team and you need to appreciate 330 00:19:18,680 --> 00:19:21,560 that when you're handing over a project which might have all 331 00:19:21,560 --> 00:19:24,520 this great continuous improvement culture, continuous 332 00:19:24,520 --> 00:19:29,360 learning baked into it, man that that can die at death when it 333 00:19:29,360 --> 00:19:31,840 goes to operations. If that isn't the way your 334 00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:34,880 operational teams are set up or whether or not that team isn't 335 00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:38,520 already an operational team delivering you know the delivery 336 00:19:38,520 --> 00:19:41,320 side like you know they're not already a internal delivery 337 00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:42,720 team. So you've got to be really 338 00:19:42,720 --> 00:19:45,160 careful about how you hand that over and you need to hand over 339 00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:50,240 more than just the project and the product and the insights and 340 00:19:50,240 --> 00:19:54,280 the documentation as we always see and the and the training 341 00:19:54,280 --> 00:19:55,880 guides. You need to hand over the 342 00:19:55,880 --> 00:19:58,680 culture that actually this is, this is how we do it. 343 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:04,040 So you know in a product, true product management shop that is 344 00:20:04,040 --> 00:20:06,680 all done because it's baked into the fact that product's going to 345 00:20:06,680 --> 00:20:08,120 be there for the end of its life. 346 00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:12,680 Having product teams and the operational area is is OK. 347 00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:15,160 I I think they need my personal preferences. 348 00:20:15,160 --> 00:20:18,400 They're one and the same as the project team, overarching, and 349 00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:22,000 they're involved in change. Not like true change, big 350 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:24,960 changes, not just tweaks to the product. 351 00:20:26,360 --> 00:20:29,960 But as we talk about at the institute, release and 352 00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:33,200 operational management of the product or service really 353 00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:39,240 contributes to the betterment of of the product, right. 354 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:42,880 It it it contributes to how you do that. 355 00:20:42,880 --> 00:20:46,880 Sorry, I guess how you do that is a is a hugely important step 356 00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:53,760 and we need to kind of think about things like release 357 00:20:53,760 --> 00:20:58,320 planning, you know what does that mean in terms of the the 358 00:20:58,320 --> 00:20:59,680 risks that we have on the project. 359 00:20:59,680 --> 00:21:03,000 When you think about how we test it continuous, I guess quality 360 00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:09,200 assurance and continuous testing maybe our acceptance criteria, 361 00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:13,920 change management, benefits realization and then and then 362 00:21:14,520 --> 00:21:15,840 right. So we can think about all these 363 00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:18,880 things when we do release management and then of course 364 00:21:19,160 --> 00:21:23,240 we're thinking about OK, well when this does go over to the 365 00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:27,000 operational teams, we need to collaborate with them to look at 366 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:31,640 ways in which we can actually establish process optimization 367 00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:35,080 after the fact. So it is not even though we've 368 00:21:35,080 --> 00:21:38,160 got these continuous improvement and learning processes within 369 00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:41,880 the project, it is not the product team or deliveries job 370 00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:49,520 to make it the most optimal process, right, The not to loop 371 00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:52,840 around the most optimal process when delivering their product. 372 00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:56,880 I'll say that another way, the goals of the project, the 373 00:21:57,040 --> 00:22:00,520 delivery, the production, let's say it's a new product, There is 374 00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:04,560 usually nothing written into the objectives. 375 00:22:04,760 --> 00:22:07,520 There's nothing in the business case or the link canvas. 376 00:22:07,960 --> 00:22:11,720 There's nothing that says and and in some ways I'll justify 377 00:22:11,720 --> 00:22:16,280 why that you need to make sure that the process is the most 378 00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:20,600 efficient, quite the opposite by delivering something very 379 00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:23,680 quickly and by focusing on the user stories within the job to 380 00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:26,880 be done to get the result and focusing on where the customer 381 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:29,080 we're going to get the biggest value, value driven. 382 00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:32,520 That's the whole point in releasing a product to the 383 00:22:32,520 --> 00:22:37,440 market, focus on the value. You are actually maybe flying in 384 00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:40,800 the face of process optimization. 385 00:22:41,720 --> 00:22:43,560 OK. So we're just going to be really 386 00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:45,440 careful here. We've talked about before that 387 00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:48,400 you know a project might spin up which is literally taking an 388 00:22:48,400 --> 00:22:52,880 existing process and we may be trying to improve it, OK. 389 00:22:52,880 --> 00:22:54,440 And that generates a project, right. 390 00:22:54,600 --> 00:22:58,560 That's that's that's one way of looking at, that's one angle Now 391 00:22:58,760 --> 00:23:01,480 in the in the kind of situation where you're talking about a 392 00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:05,520 product, right. And and probably the same for 393 00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:08,480 people by the way, it's not always you know, the most 394 00:23:08,520 --> 00:23:11,920 optimal situation for them to be in and we'll come back to that. 395 00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:15,520 But in regards to a product, that isn't the goal, the goal 396 00:23:15,520 --> 00:23:18,440 isn't necessary. Making sure that every single 397 00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:21,760 process step that a customer goes through to interact with 398 00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:25,080 your product or your back end processing or the way you 399 00:23:25,080 --> 00:23:30,200 support it or even the kit it runs on, none of that, none of 400 00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:34,760 that journey is focused on making sure that that is the 401 00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:38,480 most efficient process step. I would say it's the opposite. 402 00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:43,400 It is the most. It's usually the most MacGyver 403 00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:46,160 way you can do it. Now hopefully, if you're this is 404 00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:49,240 a scalable product, you've baked in, You've taught, you've 405 00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:51,960 thought about technical debt From a technical point of view, 406 00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:54,760 you've got architects, business architects. 407 00:23:54,760 --> 00:24:00,400 Thinking about how this might long after the product is in 408 00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:02,840 market, you've already thought about how it can be integrated 409 00:24:02,840 --> 00:24:08,680 with the rest of the ecosystem and you've even baked into the 410 00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:12,640 project plan or the program or the operational support budget. 411 00:24:13,120 --> 00:24:15,760 This is, this is the trick. So if you're in the situation do 412 00:24:15,760 --> 00:24:19,680 this, I always say don't process optimize, OK. 413 00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:22,480 So I'm going to say, OK, sorry, sorry, let me rewind. 414 00:24:23,360 --> 00:24:26,360 If the project is kicked off to improve a process, so you're 415 00:24:26,360 --> 00:24:30,360 moving a process that's paper based into a system or another 416 00:24:30,360 --> 00:24:33,560 system into a new system, you will probably do some process 417 00:24:33,560 --> 00:24:35,440 improvement. That's how you generate your 418 00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:36,760 requirements. You know what doesn't work 419 00:24:36,760 --> 00:24:39,760 today? You won't just simply lift and 420 00:24:39,760 --> 00:24:41,600 shift that process into a product. 421 00:24:41,600 --> 00:24:44,760 So there's that side of it. OK, Making it better, OK, that's 422 00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:48,160 fine. But now you've got that process 423 00:24:48,480 --> 00:24:52,400 inside a new product and the combination of process and 424 00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:56,720 product there might be more efficiency sees with the way you 425 00:24:56,720 --> 00:24:59,920 use use the product now to fulfill those processes. 426 00:24:59,920 --> 00:25:02,600 So at more down at the procedure level, OK. 427 00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:06,760 And that level don't try and optimize that at the same time 428 00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:09,560 don't fully optimize that process. 429 00:25:09,560 --> 00:25:13,520 You will improve it by nature of moving to the to the new 430 00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:16,600 product. The BA will work with you and 431 00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:20,080 work out better ways of doing things and new UX, but you won't 432 00:25:20,120 --> 00:25:23,520 really know. You won't really know where to 433 00:25:23,520 --> 00:25:27,280 put your money improving that process right until people are 434 00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:30,280 using the new product. Not at the procedure level, not 435 00:25:30,280 --> 00:25:32,920 the low when I say that it's a lower process level. 436 00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:36,320 Once you use the product, you might start using new features 437 00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:39,040 that you didn't know existed before, and you might start 438 00:25:39,040 --> 00:25:42,000 optimizing things like screens. OK. 439 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:46,800 And that is a different lens. That is a different lens. 440 00:25:46,800 --> 00:25:49,800 Continuous improvement at that point is a different lens. 441 00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:52,000 It's optimizing every single step. 442 00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:54,520 And that's very hard to do if you don't know what the 443 00:25:54,520 --> 00:25:56,080 solution's going to be. OK. 444 00:25:56,600 --> 00:25:59,040 So like I said, you can do that with an existing product. 445 00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:01,960 You can do that even at a high level process point of view. 446 00:26:02,360 --> 00:26:04,720 But when you're and you can actually do that the procedure 447 00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:08,520 level, all I'm saying is that if you're going to do a project 448 00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:10,440 like where you're moving a process you've improved it, you 449 00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:13,760 put into a new kit, the best time to do real process 450 00:26:13,760 --> 00:26:17,560 optimization is about 3 months after you've released. 451 00:26:18,600 --> 00:26:19,920 And there's something you should think about. 452 00:26:20,440 --> 00:26:22,360 Don't try and intertwine those two things. 453 00:26:22,360 --> 00:26:26,760 They're quite different. Even the skill set you need the 454 00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:30,920 focus, you know, the fact that you don't really understand the 455 00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:34,520 product, what you'll know after three months of using the 456 00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:38,240 product with the process, the improved process probably that 457 00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:41,200 you've put into the system, That's the point in using it is 458 00:26:41,200 --> 00:26:44,000 you'll actually start to get some facts about how people are 459 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:47,400 using it, OK. And it's it's that's a corporate 460 00:26:47,400 --> 00:26:50,320 example, that's an internal example like moving to a new CRM 461 00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:53,000 system. But it's the same methodology is 462 00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:56,520 all about, well, you don't know what to change in your product 463 00:26:56,520 --> 00:26:58,800 until you release it to the market. 464 00:26:58,800 --> 00:27:01,840 So when we talk about public facing products, you actually 465 00:27:01,840 --> 00:27:04,760 don't know what you should change until you've got customer 466 00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:06,640 feedback on it. Once the product's established, 467 00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:10,000 it's exactly the same. We're moving to a new internal 468 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:14,240 system like a moving to a new CRM system or ERP is that you 469 00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:17,360 can prove it to a certain degree, but you you know upfront 470 00:27:17,360 --> 00:27:19,960 process improvement, but you won't be able to do procedural 471 00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:23,160 improvement or low level process improvement until people have 472 00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:25,240 used the product. I hope that's clear. 473 00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:30,240 But when you do do process optimization, which is the 474 00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:34,720 series I'm talking about, real continuous improvement, you're 475 00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:37,400 starting to look at things like automation opportunities, 476 00:27:37,680 --> 00:27:41,600 workflow enhancements, data-driven recommendations and 477 00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:44,960 customer feedback. So all of those four factors are 478 00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:48,960 feeding in and and that changes the focus of the project to be 479 00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:52,520 more operational in my mind, right. 480 00:27:53,240 --> 00:27:57,480 Not only people using new product, you know the new if 481 00:27:57,480 --> 00:28:00,480 you've got a brand new product, customers using it or you're, 482 00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:04,120 you know using an internal product and your users are using 483 00:28:04,120 --> 00:28:06,600 it. All of those things, you can 484 00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:09,120 actually have a different lens on the project after the fact 485 00:28:09,120 --> 00:28:10,960 and it will save you money because you'll be spending money 486 00:28:10,960 --> 00:28:13,840 in the right place if you do it after you've done the initial 487 00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:17,560 implementation. What I'm not saying is don't you 488 00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:21,000 know don't do any improvement upfront, just do the big things. 489 00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:24,240 OK, cool. So we've got the, I think we've 490 00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:29,880 ascertained that continuous improvement and continuous 491 00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:34,960 learning overlapped and some of our project processes are baked 492 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:36,960 in for that. And we've just talked about the 493 00:28:36,960 --> 00:28:40,440 fact that at the Better Business Analysis Institute, we think 494 00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:44,200 about those things both in release and operational 495 00:28:44,360 --> 00:28:47,640 improvement, OK, which is one of the stages of the delivery 496 00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:50,080 journey. We're doing continuous 497 00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:53,760 improvement and continuous learning throughout where it's a 498 00:28:53,840 --> 00:28:59,240 that's a consistent mindset that we're applying just across our 499 00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:03,560 organization regardless of team. But we are specifically saying 500 00:29:03,560 --> 00:29:07,800 that when you go from release into the operational teams which 501 00:29:07,800 --> 00:29:09,400 are probably going to be different. 502 00:29:09,720 --> 00:29:13,240 We then have a specific phase and a specific lens that we are 503 00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:17,800 now putting across our product and our service that is both 504 00:29:18,600 --> 00:29:22,040 like we said to get the best bang for buck in terms of where 505 00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:24,480 we spend money based on customer feedback that you're learning 506 00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:27,400 know and user feedback once they've used the product. 507 00:29:28,840 --> 00:29:34,480 But we're also not just talking about that, We're also talking 508 00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:38,200 about the fact that our organization, we need to think 509 00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:41,480 about how our product and our processes fit within the 510 00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:44,160 organization. And I'll give you an example 511 00:29:44,160 --> 00:29:47,400 there. So if your large corporate is 512 00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:52,840 getting into a new business, let's say that your telecoms 513 00:29:52,840 --> 00:29:55,880 company, so telecommunications company that just does mobile 514 00:29:55,880 --> 00:29:59,760 phones very much a commodity company, decides that this is 515 00:29:59,760 --> 00:30:03,400 not much different to selling electricity, OK, Also a 516 00:30:03,400 --> 00:30:05,160 commodity that people need these days. 517 00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:09,240 So you need your mobile in some kind of messaging and you need 518 00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:11,720 electricity, OK. That's just the developing 519 00:30:11,720 --> 00:30:16,280 world, that kind of necessities. Now they have sourced 520 00:30:17,160 --> 00:30:20,160 electricity from a from a generator and they're just going 521 00:30:20,160 --> 00:30:21,600 to sell it, right. They're going to do some kind of 522 00:30:21,600 --> 00:30:24,040 wholesale agreement and they're going to sell it, start 523 00:30:24,040 --> 00:30:28,120 packaging it together. Now all the processes that are 524 00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:32,000 needed to support that new business stream, new product, 525 00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:38,560 new service, one on the same that might exist outside of the 526 00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:41,760 organization right now because it's just in a product team's 527 00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:43,240 idea. And they're thinking about 528 00:30:43,240 --> 00:30:49,800 things like building an interface and things like, I 529 00:30:49,800 --> 00:30:52,360 guess, buy like how they're going to purchase this, how 530 00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:57,640 they're going to manage managing meters and homes because they 531 00:30:57,640 --> 00:30:59,800 are now a retailer. And so they need to worry about 532 00:30:59,800 --> 00:31:01,400 all those things. They're worried about 533 00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:04,080 disconnection, They're worried about customer services. 534 00:31:04,080 --> 00:31:08,160 So this whole business model, well, let's just call that the 535 00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:14,760 program or the project and the organization doesn't have all 536 00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:18,240 that infrastructure set up. So as part of that project, 537 00:31:18,240 --> 00:31:20,800 ideally, you've got phases, you've got sprints thinking 538 00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:22,600 about that that's baked into the project. 539 00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:27,000 But that's why we have a specific phase delivery phase 540 00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:29,480 called release and operational improvement. 541 00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:34,560 It's not just around improving the product, making it better. 542 00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:38,040 It's also about the organization's ability to 543 00:31:38,040 --> 00:31:41,080 respond to that new product or service, OK. 544 00:31:41,320 --> 00:31:45,600 And it's around setting those things up, change management, 545 00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:51,320 BAS may be involved in organizational structures even 546 00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:56,240 fitting into that that probably the best people to place placed 547 00:31:56,240 --> 00:31:59,120 on the project to go well, actually there's three or four 548 00:31:59,120 --> 00:32:02,400 new processes. What teams do you have today? 549 00:32:02,760 --> 00:32:05,920 There's a gap, capability gap and identifying that maybe you 550 00:32:05,920 --> 00:32:09,480 know that you're introducing new services like quite different to 551 00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:10,840 what you've got in your new team. 552 00:32:11,320 --> 00:32:13,600 So if we take a telecoms company, they probably already 553 00:32:13,600 --> 00:32:15,560 have a call center. They probably already got 554 00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:17,760 customer acquisition. They're probably already 555 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:23,040 actually even clearer around connections and disconnections. 556 00:32:23,040 --> 00:32:25,560 So you might think, well those processes, think about it for a 557 00:32:25,560 --> 00:32:28,520 minute, they'll integrate with those tanks that do that today, 558 00:32:28,560 --> 00:32:30,360 right. We might need new personnel, 559 00:32:30,960 --> 00:32:33,360 more staff and more training, but they kind of fit. 560 00:32:33,600 --> 00:32:38,520 But then equally you might have a process which is very specific 561 00:32:38,520 --> 00:32:42,320 to the electricity market. Maybe it's, I don't know how you 562 00:32:42,720 --> 00:32:46,800 the charge, how you charge the complex complexity around 563 00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:50,920 charging or you know maybe that just goes to the finance team. 564 00:32:51,320 --> 00:32:54,160 But there might be, there will be elements which are unique to 565 00:32:54,160 --> 00:32:57,360 the electricity market and you don't necessarily have a team in 566 00:32:57,360 --> 00:32:59,280 which you're going to hand that over to, right. 567 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:03,040 You don't just hand over the the box that is the project, you 568 00:33:03,040 --> 00:33:05,280 hand over processes that have changed. 569 00:33:06,840 --> 00:33:11,320 So you need to create that. So this is what this phase is 570 00:33:11,320 --> 00:33:14,080 all about and the reason I bring this up and you could say this 571 00:33:14,080 --> 00:33:17,680 is you're going off on a bit of a tangent here and I I am 572 00:33:17,920 --> 00:33:20,840 specifically to say that that is you need to worry about all that 573 00:33:20,840 --> 00:33:23,920 stuff, right? That is for me still the scope 574 00:33:23,920 --> 00:33:25,600 of continuous improvement and learning. 575 00:33:25,960 --> 00:33:30,560 It's not just about the project or the product or the services, 576 00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:33,280 about the people and the organization responding to that 577 00:33:33,280 --> 00:33:35,920 after the fact. And if you don't worry about 578 00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:38,440 those things, if you ignore those things and you just focus 579 00:33:38,440 --> 00:33:40,720 on your project and say they'll just take care of themselves or 580 00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:43,560 wow, the operational team needs to get used to that, they're 581 00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:44,320 busy. They're doing BAU. 582 00:33:44,320 --> 00:33:46,080 They they've got enough time for this. 583 00:33:46,080 --> 00:33:48,560 This is your job. This is your project team's job. 584 00:33:48,880 --> 00:33:52,320 If you don't think about that and you ignore that, then all 585 00:33:52,320 --> 00:33:54,320 that continuous improvement you've made throughout your 586 00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:58,000 projects phase and all the great BA work you've done to improve 587 00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:00,880 the process, it's all Nutter. It's all it means. 588 00:34:00,880 --> 00:34:04,840 It can mean nothing. It can mean nothing if it's not 589 00:34:04,840 --> 00:34:07,960 fully embraced and recognized by the organization. 590 00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:10,880 And it's not just them accepting it like a, you know, throwing a 591 00:34:10,880 --> 00:34:13,000 baseball and then catching it or whatever. 592 00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:14,440 And other analogy you want to use. 593 00:34:14,760 --> 00:34:17,040 You know, they need to prepare, They need to have the Met, They 594 00:34:17,040 --> 00:34:20,520 need to know how to play the game, and you need to do that as 595 00:34:20,520 --> 00:34:21,800 part of your program. OK. 596 00:34:21,800 --> 00:34:26,520 You as ABA are critical in that. So the final point I guess I 597 00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:29,320 want to make around continuous improvement in learning and and 598 00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:32,159 why I'm stressing, it's so important and needs to be baked 599 00:34:32,159 --> 00:34:36,679 into your project, your mindset. The four PS that I've talked 600 00:34:36,679 --> 00:34:40,880 about with you know people and processes and products right and 601 00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:49,080 projects is that you also have 222 other kind of aspects here 602 00:34:49,360 --> 00:34:54,719 you have the continuous learning from the project team itself by 603 00:34:54,719 --> 00:34:57,560 sharing that knowledge. This relates to the last point I 604 00:34:57,560 --> 00:35:00,560 just made around having knowledge sharing sessions. 605 00:35:01,520 --> 00:35:05,400 This is where you're this is the way in which you are doing what 606 00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:08,240 I would say the greater change management, change management 607 00:35:08,240 --> 00:35:12,920 plus plus where you encouraging members of your team to or 608 00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:17,280 expertise in the in the team to cross pollinate that knowledge 609 00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:19,240 that you've learnt to the organization. 610 00:35:19,680 --> 00:35:21,880 You can talk about what you've found. 611 00:35:22,200 --> 00:35:24,240 You know you're in a lucky spot. You are. 612 00:35:24,520 --> 00:35:27,160 In some ways, the operational teams can get jealous of this. 613 00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:30,040 And this can happen, especially if the team that's working on 614 00:35:30,040 --> 00:35:32,880 the project as a contractor or consultant. 615 00:35:32,880 --> 00:35:35,920 You know there can be jealousy here, so you need to share your 616 00:35:35,920 --> 00:35:37,680 knowledge. Your job is not to retain that 617 00:35:37,680 --> 00:35:40,280 knowledge. If you are a contractor or a 618 00:35:40,280 --> 00:35:43,360 consultant, your job is to empower and leave the 619 00:35:43,360 --> 00:35:45,720 organization better than you found it. 620 00:35:46,520 --> 00:35:49,000 You can have brown paper bag lunches. 621 00:35:49,240 --> 00:35:53,280 You can have lunch breaks and formal presentations, talk about 622 00:35:53,280 --> 00:35:57,480 new topics, industry trends, lessons learnt, what's going on 623 00:35:57,480 --> 00:36:00,720 in your project and updates something fun demoing back to 624 00:36:00,720 --> 00:36:03,600 them. You can also like integrate 625 00:36:03,880 --> 00:36:06,160 operational members into your team. 626 00:36:06,400 --> 00:36:08,720 So this is all about continuous improvement and learning. 627 00:36:08,720 --> 00:36:12,560 It's about the people side by maybe pairing up a team member 628 00:36:12,560 --> 00:36:15,680 with a less experienced person. Sometimes you know you might 629 00:36:15,680 --> 00:36:17,920 have a senior programmer in your team and they're working with a 630 00:36:17,920 --> 00:36:21,920 junior and you know they can't afford to pay the best wages for 631 00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:24,520 internal staff. So you end up with a junior 632 00:36:24,520 --> 00:36:26,480 there and you know your job is to transfer that. 633 00:36:26,480 --> 00:36:31,800 That can be quite rewarding. There's also around the fact 634 00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:37,800 that you could even this is this happens infrequently but I I've 635 00:36:38,040 --> 00:36:43,200 recently been involved in this where we're encouraging the BAU 636 00:36:43,600 --> 00:36:47,160 operational team to have a learning budget right. 637 00:36:47,200 --> 00:36:49,680 And because you're you're on the project so you're working with a 638 00:36:49,680 --> 00:36:52,920 product let's say you're just integrating off the shelf 639 00:36:52,920 --> 00:36:55,800 product. So some product that you've just 640 00:36:56,600 --> 00:37:00,120 as part of the project you've integrated or put in a product 641 00:37:00,320 --> 00:37:03,160 and someone's going to look after that and you find out 642 00:37:03,160 --> 00:37:05,520 because you know how's the operational team because they 643 00:37:05,520 --> 00:37:07,680 know about it. You're the one who's worked out 644 00:37:07,680 --> 00:37:10,080 that it's going to fit and you've done all the the work in 645 00:37:10,080 --> 00:37:12,320 terms of requirement management and your architects worked out 646 00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:15,280 technically, it's it's nice and you and you've your projects 647 00:37:15,280 --> 00:37:17,360 worked on it. And as part of that learning you 648 00:37:17,360 --> 00:37:20,200 pick up that the certification for learning how to use this 649 00:37:20,200 --> 00:37:23,360 product is cheap, right. It has certifications, it has 650 00:37:23,360 --> 00:37:27,080 learnings, it has conferences. Salesforce would be an example. 651 00:37:27,080 --> 00:37:28,800 Dynamics 365 would be an example. 652 00:37:28,800 --> 00:37:31,160 There's a whole ecosystem around these products. 653 00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:34,200 And so you can maybe suggest to the team that you might be 654 00:37:34,200 --> 00:37:37,840 handing it over to or your SME team that, you know, your 655 00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:43,160 project manager could do this, that they need, that this is how 656 00:37:43,160 --> 00:37:44,840 much it costs to get educated in this area. 657 00:37:44,840 --> 00:37:47,440 And so as part of your project, you could put out some of these 658 00:37:47,440 --> 00:37:49,960 recommendations that people get trained in these tools. 659 00:37:50,160 --> 00:37:52,080 And so they're ready. Like I said, they've got the 660 00:37:52,080 --> 00:37:53,480 mat, they're ready to catch the ball. 661 00:37:55,600 --> 00:37:59,360 You could also suggest there's some learning time for them and 662 00:37:59,360 --> 00:38:03,040 you could do a bit of a, you know, a bit of a playback 663 00:38:03,040 --> 00:38:07,400 session to that team. So I think there's, there's some 664 00:38:07,480 --> 00:38:11,800 good ways in which you can help with operational improvement or 665 00:38:11,800 --> 00:38:15,760 continuous improvement in learning for the organization 666 00:38:15,800 --> 00:38:19,600 outside of the project team that you're working on, OK. 667 00:38:19,640 --> 00:38:25,640 You know, allowing them to be involved a bit more, sharing, 668 00:38:26,240 --> 00:38:29,280 you know, you're fostering this continuous learning in a kind of 669 00:38:29,280 --> 00:38:31,840 collaborative way. I think that's really great. 670 00:38:31,960 --> 00:38:35,360 So there's that aspect, right. And then finally there's the 671 00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:41,360 aspect about yourself, OK, we talked about like learning, 672 00:38:41,360 --> 00:38:46,960 keeping ahead of business acumen and soft skill development. 673 00:38:47,240 --> 00:38:49,880 Well, not not so much on soft skill development but industry 674 00:38:49,880 --> 00:38:54,160 trends and how you can provide value but and emerging 675 00:38:54,160 --> 00:38:56,280 technologies. But one of the things that I 676 00:38:56,280 --> 00:38:59,600 think that you could do as ABA and I touched on it there with 677 00:38:59,600 --> 00:39:03,160 the soft skills kind of gave it away is just making sure that 678 00:39:03,160 --> 00:39:07,520 you are continually learning yourself, OK about your own 679 00:39:07,520 --> 00:39:12,440 tools, techniques, processes, you, you as a human also, which 680 00:39:12,440 --> 00:39:16,160 I you know not very good at, there are things that you could 681 00:39:16,160 --> 00:39:17,800 learn to be better with soft skills. 682 00:39:19,240 --> 00:39:23,760 So getting certifications, courses, micro credits, 683 00:39:24,480 --> 00:39:28,800 listening to this podcast, you know, going on to our website, 684 00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:32,400 reading articles about BA, going to conferences, all of that is 685 00:39:32,400 --> 00:39:34,880 continuous learning and improvement of yourself. 686 00:39:35,600 --> 00:39:39,040 So I'm going to suggest that you find one area where you can add 687 00:39:39,240 --> 00:39:43,600 or improve yourself 1%. So it might be going for a walk, 688 00:39:43,600 --> 00:39:48,600 you know, not drinking as much, taking some time out, sleeping 689 00:39:48,600 --> 00:39:50,480 in, you know, it doesn't have to be anything big. 690 00:39:50,480 --> 00:39:53,520 It's your list, it's you. But improve yourself by 1%. 691 00:39:53,520 --> 00:39:56,600 If you do that every day, then you know it's just like 692 00:39:56,600 --> 00:39:59,400 interest. You'll end up in a much better 693 00:39:59,400 --> 00:40:02,200 place than you are today. So I think it's really important 694 00:40:02,200 --> 00:40:04,240 that you do focus on improving yourself. 695 00:40:04,560 --> 00:40:07,600 What it allows you to do, and the reason why it's good as BA 696 00:40:07,760 --> 00:40:11,680 to do this exercise, is that by having a mindset of continuous 697 00:40:11,680 --> 00:40:15,600 improvement on yourself, you're able to find and look for and 698 00:40:15,600 --> 00:40:21,120 recognize continuous improvement opportunities in a business and 699 00:40:21,120 --> 00:40:24,480 just in life generally. So I'll leave you with that 700 00:40:24,480 --> 00:40:28,160 action, which is to continuously improve one area of your life by 701 00:40:28,160 --> 00:40:32,800 1% every day, and I'll see you on the next episode.