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1.

Review Deming's System of Profound Knowledge, which we paraphrase thus:

  1. It's the whole product, the whole team, the whole system that matters.

  2. When something goes wrong, in all probability it was caused by the system, which makes it a management problem.

  3. Use the scientific method to change and improve.

  4. With people, the things that matter are skill, pride, expertise, confidence, and cooperation.

Imagine that Deming was scheduled to tour your organization next week. Prepare a presentation for him on how each of these points is addressed in your organization. What do you think his advice would be? Would you be prepared to act on it?

2.

Review Deming's 14 points with your team. For each one, discuss: Is this point relevant today in our organization? Is it important? If we regard it as relevant and important, what does it suggest we should do differently? What would it take to make the change?

3.

How are teams formed, chartered, and led in your organization? Are they actually work groups or true teams? How many teams are individuals typically on?

4.

Fill out the Visual Workspace Assessment on the next page:

  1. In column 2, answer the question posed in column 1 as it relates to your organization.

  2. In column 3, rate how self-directing your organization is. Give your organization a score of 05, with 0 = people are told what to do and 5 = people figure out among themselves what to work on next.

Question

Current Practice

Score

1) How do people know what customers really want?

  

2) How do people get technical questions answered?

  

3) How do people know what features to work on next?

  

4 How do people know what defects to work on next?

  

5) How do people know if tests are passing?

  

6) How do people know their progress toward meeting the overall goal of their work?

  


5.

The next time your company does an employee survey, add these questions:

  1. Do you feel that the compensation system is fair?

  2. Do you feel that the promotion system is fair?

  3. Rate how the compensation affects your dedication to your job (Scale of 15):

    1. It angers me and gets in the way of doing a good job.

    2. It sometimes annoys me and occasionally affects my performance.

    3. It doesn't make much difference.

    4. It occasionally motivates me to work harder.

    5. It motivates me to work hard every day.




Implementing Lean Software Development. From Concept to Cash
Implementing Lean Software Development: From Concept to Cash
ISBN: 0321437381
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 89

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