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Continuous improvement: Flowing, not forced

Writer's picture: Kat HounsellKat Hounsell

Making a change in your business can feel like a huge undertaking. Introducing new processes and ways of working can feel disruptive. But along the way, something magical can happen. You can reach a point when things don't feel so forced, they just start to flow.


In the video below, Eddie Kenny from Lean Agile Brighton shares his experience of the joy created when teams begin to own the continuous improvement process and it becomes a natural way of working.


And, it all starts from gaining, listening to and responding to team feedback.



Video Transcript


Darryl: Okay. So Eddie from Lean Agile Brighton. I'm just wondering what is the continuous improvement experience you've had which, with any team or business you've worked in, that has bought you the most Joy.


Eddie: Yeah, thanks Darryl. The thing that I like is when the team starts to own the process themselves, the process of continuous improvement, rather than just being told to do it and feeling they have to go along with it.


So, I worked with one team where they were very hesitant to take any actions in the retrospective. They were very defensive against suggestions for improvements and then eventually, you know, kind of by, you know, just practice, cajoling, seeing the benefits of when they do try something. Seeing something come from that, then eventually, that kind of takes over and just going over that loop a few times and persevering with it and then eventually they got to the point where they owned their own Kaizen backlog which was, you know, just all their improvement items, big and small, and they just chipped away at that, you know, kind of regardless of, you know, it wasn't an end of sprint thing. It wasn't a, you know, a Google 10% time kind of thing it was just if they had some time they could look at it, anything. Pick a small thing from the backlog or if there were big systemic impediments, you know, start escalating them and trying to get them sponsored.


So, but when they get that ownership and it's not the coach or the Scrum Master who's forcing it, then I think that's the most joyful place to get to.


Darryl: Fantastic. So I love the incremental joy you explained there that's awesome. Thank you so much.


Eddie: Brilliant, yeah, thank you.


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