Knowledge

The generic toolbox approach – neutral, lean and appropriate

We treat our knowledge as a toolbox. A framework, method, technology or good practice for us is a „tool“ – like a knife. With a knife you can peel & slice an orange (create value) or hurt yourself badly (harm your organization).

The lean an agile approach is to use the minimal number of tools, a well-tuned set of tools that ease the daily work and are therefore accepted; that complement each other; and optimal support the working system.

We are ipso facto tool neutral and pragmatic. We do not recommend the framework X or the method Y as a religion or because we are bound by monetizing contract to a framework consultancy.

Building flow-oriented lean organizations

• Identification of the product and services portfolio
• Establishing a continuous, synchronized and value driven product development flow
• Lean Roadmap development based on Story Mapping in a Scaled Agile environment
• Identification, synchronization and management of abstraction layers in the company´s portfolio from strategic level to team level based on the Requirements Abstraction Model RAM by Tony Gorschek and Claes Wohlin
• Decentralizing control, delegation mapping, decision mapping
• Design of the working system as queue-based pull system with team as queue pulling units
• Establishment of cadence and synchronization of queues following the principles of product development flow by Donald G. Reinertsen

Business Value and Prioritization

• Development and usage of a lean Balanced Score Card BSC
• Establishment of a system health measurement and observation model based on (key) performance indicators.
• Definition of Business Value based on the BSC and (K)PI system
• Weighted shortest job first (WSJF) approach.
• Prioritization of innovation and strategy initiatives versus organizational hygiene initiatives
• Estimation – as well classical estimation techniques (analogy, expert judgment, ..) as agile methods (planning poker, t-shirt sizing, …)

Capacity Management, work in progress (WIP) limits and Focus

• Establishing a companywide aligned Kanban system with synchronized Kanban queue elements
• Identification of teams, decision boards and responsibilities driving the Kanban systems
• Identification of appropriate work in progress (WIP) limits to keep focus and avoid fragmentation and distraction of team work.
• Handling dependencies: Synchronization of teams, Scrum of Scrums, big room planning, release planning methods
• Capacity consumption feedback cycles top – down and bottom – up
• Balancing innovation, architecture, system health initiatives
• Balancing (high ceremony) initiatives versus small (fast lane, low ceremony) work items
• Managing slack time as driver for ideation, innovation and knowledge management

Scaling Agility

• Sound and in-deep knowledge of the scaling frameworks SAFe, LeSS, Nexus and DaD
• Contributed case study for business value definition to SAFe and worked with Ken Schwaber
• Experiences from implementing the digitec Galaxus case (see our blog for more information)
• Scaling Agility beyond IT into business departments
• Beyond Budgeting implementation based on rolling forecast, stretched goal definition and (key) performance indicators
• Synchronization of meetings: alignment of business portfolio Kanban events, release (big room) planning event, to team events based on Scrum or Kanban
• Alignment of product development flow with development team following Domain Driven Design approach by Eric Evans
• Alignment of business architecture, system architecture and development organization following lean implementations of TOGAF by opengroup

Basics Agility & Lean Principles

• Building and coaching of high performance Scrum or Kanban teams
• Sound knowledge and experience in team, Product Owner, Scrum Master education and coaching
• Sound knowledge in good and proven practices for many competence areas such as backlog refinement, acceptance criteria, emerging architecture, requirements engineering, testing, and many more
• Establishing center of competences (guilds, chapters) to foster and focus Kaizen activities and innovation
• Education and training in core competences of agility and lean (including development of courses at universities of applied science)

The network approach of smartsystemguild

Based on our own personal development from a green graduate to a highly skilled, educated and experienced consultant working in many different positions and responsibilities in many different organizations: our knowledge is broad and deep – but for sure not all-embracing.

This is why we position ourselves as one knot in a knowledge network. We work closely with our Partners in projects, but as well we commonly share our knowledge filling our shared toolbox.

We respect the specialization of our Partners. If a partner will support your needs better than we are able to, we recommend working with our partner. Ideally you as our customers are part of the network.

Additional we know that you as our customer do have your preferences. We respect the selection of your partner based on your preferences. Our primary mission is your positive development.