Category: Daily thoughts

Who do you really work for?

If you work in our organization, this is the question I ask my team members:

The Answer,

Alasdair Says, “Yourself!”

I like that.

I ask again, “Who do you really work for?”

Boss, Customer …..

at last … he says, “could be a your Team members”

…..

that is what I was aiming for.

Why?

This is a fundamental shift in mindset:

Why do you work for the Team?

He says, “Because, the Team is working together to serve the customer”

Yes, that’s right, but, …. That’s not what I was aiming for!

Here’s a clue:

Because …. the Team decide who to put on the rota, …. the Team decides who goes on holiday, ….. the Team decides who can have a day off, …… the Team decide if a team member is eligable for a raise, …… the Team decides…… t’s a fair system for everyone and the Team decides the rules of being a Team member.

No manager or boss to please here!

Notes from a discussion between Riccardo Mariti and Alasdair McWilliam, 28th October 2022

How many post-its

Fresh back from an amazing week with Joe Justice at the Bosch Engineering headquarters in Germany.

Just thinking about post-its and the scrum board.

The purpose of a scrum board is to MAKE WORK VISIBLE.

Therefore, the level of information should be enough to keep all team members and other stakeholders informed about what is happening, but not so much that the board is hard to read.

Agile Manifesto – Translated to the restaurant business

Several weeks ago I tried to convert (interpret) the Agile Manifesto to the restaurant business (it was written for software development) and I had a problem with #3, “Customer collaboration over contract negotiation” “- but I couldn’t work it out.

Today, I was training a new team member Nick Cowan, we were reading through the Agile Manifesto, and he said, “Contract negotiation refers to the menu!” and, “the customer collaboration part is talking to the customer in real time to find out what they want and then amending the menu item to meet their needs and wants” – and that was the essence of what I was looking for. I got it.

Yes, the Agile Manifesto applies to all businesses – you just have to work out the essence of what the was meant and apply it to your circumstances.

Andrew Carnegie said, “the mastermind principle is defined as two or more minds working in perfect harmony towards a ‘definite major purpose’ open access to a third, far more powerful mind that none of the individuals have access to”. – Well, this experience was the essence of what Carnegie was referring to. I have been wrestling with this alone for several weeks and gave up, thinking, “I get the essence of it, hopefully, others will too.” But with Nick’s help, I have a workable explanation.

Well done Nick!