AGILE SUCCESS - kcpmichapter.org · The Presenter Jared D. Lock, Ph.D. –Co-Founder, Convergent,...

AGILE SUCCESSThe Psychology of Human Behavior in the

Failure of Projects

© 2014 Convergent, LLC

Jared D. Lock, Ph.D.

Co-Founder, Convergent, LLC

[email protected]

918-808-5451

mailto:[email protected]

The Presenter

Jared D. Lock, Ph.D. – Co-Founder, Convergent, LLC• Licensed Industrial/Organizational psychologist

• 25 years of practical experience as a Businessman

• Owner and President of 3 different organizations with year-over-year

double digit growth and profitability

• President of International test publisher

• Both internal corporate and external consulting experience

• 5 years management consulting

• 2 years internally for Fortune 50

• 25 years of project management design and implementation

• Key research scientist in terms of organizational culture and change

• Expert on employee derailment in terms of research, practice, coaching,

and selecting away from tendencies

• Over 60 book chapters, papers, and presentations


Who is Convergent?

• Convergent, LLC is a partnership aiming to combine thought leaders from organizational psychology, business, and IT to help organizations with all aspects of their business processes by:• Accurately predicting the speed, impediments, and likely success of

identified strategic plans, projects, and opportunities via a proprietary process

• Creating accurate and focused strategies that drive solid plans, actions, and outcomes from a host of full consulting capabilities

• Harnessing the organization’s people power in a unified direction creating and solidifying the culture along the way

• Incisively measuring results with quick feedback loops and smart, data-driven adjustments

Agenda

• Provide background concerning Agile and Best Practices

• Identify the top overarching reasons projects fail

• Provide a model of Human Behavior to describe and

understand these Failure Points

• Discuss what to do about it


Key Features of Agile

• Continuous Delivery of Value

• Dynamic and Empirical Process Control -- Plan small

amount of work, then use experience to plan future

components

• Feedback throughout for mid-course correction

• Focus on small, deliverable chunks of work

• Developers and customers work together throughout

• Open to changes at any point, as prioritized by customers


Agile Origins

• History of lightweight software development models since

1990s

• 2001: 17 developers met to discuss lightweight

development methods.

• Published the Manifesto for Agile Software Development:We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and

helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value:

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

Working software over comprehensive documentation

Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

Responding to change over following a plan

That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on

the left more.


Keys to Success with Agile

Mindset shift in

planning – dynamic

process control

Product Owner, Scrum Master, and team create a

detailed plan only for the current iteration and use

experience to plan for future iterations

Greater disciplineTo effectively deliver every two to four weeks requires

a high degree of self discipline

Continually deliver

incremental scope

• Agile success hinges on incremental completion of

scope throughout the project

• Define – exit criteria for each work unit (story) in

order to attain closure on work in progress

Heightened focus on

testing

• Testing is no longer relegated to the last third of

the project

• Testing must be automated

Testing is as important as development and takes

• as much time to get right


Keys to Success with Agile

• 6 Required Behaviors for Success

• Shift from ‘command and control’ management to servant leadership

• Commitment to heightened transparency

• Information sharing, not hoarding

• True team collaboration

• Honest and constructive debate/discussions to address

issues/behaviors head on

• Flexibility – inspect and adapt is a foundational piece of successful

agile teams


Keys to Failure with Agile

• The number one reason for Agile adoption failures is People.

• Empire building

• Lack of transparency – discomfort with people knowing everything that is going on in area and true status of each project

• Information hoarding

• Turf wars (lack of collaboration)

• Passive Aggressiveness/Conflict avoidance – inability to address issues/behaviors head on

• Lack of flexibility – inspect and adapt is a foundational piece of successful agile teams

• Bonus Behavior: Viewing quality as an add-on not something that is built into the process


THE PEOPLE PROCESS


Convergent’s Approach To Projects

• All change requires three things – People, Tools, and Process

• With every new approach, technique, tool, or process, people have to decide to do things differently • This involves their values, personal characteristics, and how they solve

problems, make decisions, and use their judgment (i.e., “Whole Person”)

• Linking “Whole Person” to specific change and performance outcomes for over 20 years • 500,000 person database

• 25,000 Director-level and above

• 25,000 in Project Management Scenarios

• 25,000 in IT Sector

• Unique and proprietary ability to predict future outcomes and impact them (a) before the project starts, (b) as the project is being rolled out, (c) when the project hits rough patches, and (d) after implementation when backsliding is likely to occur

Agile Into an Existing Culture

People Can Be Measured ScientificallyComprehensive Assessment Model

Motives and Values

Technical Skills

Degrees

Training

Job skills

Personality

Initiative

Diligence

Integrity

Mischief

Dependence

Hostility

Development

Culture Fit

Values

Motivation

Drivers

Judgment

Cognitive

Prob. Solving

Decisions

Two Companies – An Example

Customer Orientation #1 in Sales

Care for Others

Service Orientation

Reserved

Cautious

Outgoing

IP Skills

Politics

Social

Power

Commerce

Ambition

Outgoing

Bold (+)

Skeptical (-)

Action

Industry

Specific

Industry

Specific

Personal AlignmentCustomer Service Example

Values

Positive

Negative

Judgment

Aligned Not Aligned

I have service

orientation

I care for

others

I am outgoing

I have good IP

Skills

I am not

reserved

I am willing to

help

I understand

politics

I focus on my goals

I look out for

me

I am outgoing

I have poor IP

Skills

I am reserved

I do not move

from rules

I understand

politics

Measurement + Database = PredictionDefining the 30-30-30

Safety Orientation

Customer Focus

Managerial Aptitude

Attention to Details

Stress Reactions

Performance Oriented

PEOPLE EXPLAINED


What is the Commonality?


Leader Organization

Howard Dean Presidential Candidate

Richard Nixon US President

Lloyd Ward Maytag

Rick Thoman Xerox

George Bush (41) US President

Jeff Skilling Enron

Bernie Ebbers WorldCom

Joseph Nacchio Qwest Communications

Jerry Levin AOL Time Warner

Jimmy Carter US President

Oliver North US Military

Derailers = Career Killers


Leader Organization Derailer

Howard Dean Presidential Candidate Excitable

Richard Nixon US President Skeptical

Lloyd Ward Maytag Cautious

Rick Thoman Xerox Reserved

George Bush (41) US President Leisurely

Jeff Skilling Enron Bold

Bernie Ebbers WorldCom Mischievous

Joseph Nacchio Qwest Communications Colorful

Jerry Levin AOL Time Warner Imaginative

Jimmy Carter US President Diligent

Oliver North US Military Dutiful

Some Derailment Research

• Zenger and Folkman -- 2003

• Inability to learn from mistakes

• Lack of core interpersonal skills

• Lack of openness to new or different ideas

• Lack of accountability

• Lack of initiative

• Lombardo and Eichinger -- 2002

• Don’t relate well to others

• Are self-centered

• Don’t inspire or build talent

• Are too narrow

• Don’t deliver results


Derailment Characteristics Defined


• Derailer: The tendency to engage in a particular set of behaviors that can limit or undermine your effectiveness

• They occur most often under stress or in novel situations

• They can result from positive characteristics taken to the extreme or lack of characteristics needed

• All adults have them—they’re part of one’s personality.

• Some derailers create more problems than others.

Positive Personality


Normal or Positive

Personality typically

shines under

normal and stress-

free working

conditions

Negative Personality


Derailers occur under

stressful situations,

situations of

uncertainty, or novel

situations – i.e., when

the person does not

have the energy to pay

attention

Strong Behaviors Become Derailers


• When Taken Too Far

A strength… when taken to an extreme is:

Enthusiastic

Dubious

Careful

Independent

Questioning

Confident

Challenging

Expressive

Curious/Creative

Conscientious

Devoted/Compliant

Strengths / Derailers


• When Taken Too Far

A strength… when taken to an extreme is:

Enthusiastic Excitable/Volatile

Dubious Skeptical/Distrustful

Careful Overly cautious

Independent Reserved/Aloof

Questioning Leisurely/Passive resistant

Confident Bold/Arrogant

Challenging Mischievous

Expressive Colorful/Melodramatic

Curious/Creative Imaginative/Eccentric

Conscientious Diligent/Perfectionistic

Devoted/Compliant Dutiful/Pleaser

Derailment Scale Clusters


Moving Away from People

Excitable

Skeptical

Cautious

Reserved

Leisurely

Bold

Mischievous

Colorful

Imaginative

Diligent

Moving Against People

DutifulMoving Toward People

The 11 Derailers


Derailer The person has a propensity toward seeming…

Excitable Moody, inconsistent, and unpredictable

Skeptical Cynical, distrustful, and fault-finding

Cautious Reluctant to change, averse to strategic risk, and fearful of failure

Reserved Socially withdrawn, distant, and unapproachable

LeisurelyIndifferent to others’ requests, covertly resistant, and passively

aggressive

BoldExceptionally self confident, stubborn, self-promoting, and

entitled

MischievousEager to take inadvisable risks, test limits, and neglect

consequences

ColorfulAttention-seeking, non-strategically dramatic, and socially

dominating

Imaginative Eccentric, flighty, and impractical

Diligent Perfectionistic, averse to delegation, and micromanaging

Dutiful Overly eager to please, reliant on others, and ingratiating

We All Have A Few Derailers


Excitable

Skeptical

Cautious

Reserved

Leisurely

Bold

Mischievous

Colorful

Imaginative

Diligent

Dutiful

“Excessive Caution”

“Perfectionism”

“Eagerness to Please”

• Don’t be judge and jury --- seek to understand and work on/with/through

Personal Reflection – Derailers• “Awareness of your derailers doesn’t mean you have to

dwell on how ‘bad’ you are. When you learn to manage

your self-destructive traits, you allow your strengths to

emerge.”-- Why CEOs Fail -- Dotlich and Cairo

• After thinking about your derailers, reflect on and answer

the following questions:

• When are my high- or moderate-risk derailers most likely to show up?

• What impact do they have on my team? My peers? My clients?

• Which derailers, when exhibited by others, bother me the most?

• How can I make the “stressful situations” less stressful in my life?


What If My Company / Project is Derailing

• Realize that at any one time at least 50% of your managers are the number 1 cause of stress in your work place

• Be aware that derailment and stress exist – this is very important as acknowledgement can lead to an open culture

• Questions not accusations • The stress levels seem to be high, can I help?

• When you do that, how do you think it impacts others?

• Realize which type of derailer you are dealing with. Then … • Moving Away – Build something that is not there

• Moving Against – Put a leash on it

• Moving Towards – Tone it down -- Ewwww factor


Department Level = Pilot Participants

Team = Pilot and Training Participants

Visual Progress Assessments

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

3.00Team/People

Planning

TransparencyTooling&Quality

Improvement/Feedback


Thoughts for Moving Forward• We all have potential vulnerabilities

• Awareness is key to managing derailers

• If unsure of derailers, validate hunches by linking potential derailers

to negative outcomes

• Manage derailers with stress levels, recognizing triggers,

structuring work, and inviting feedback

• The expression of our derailers, can cause additional

stress in others, triggering their derailers; this is called a

“derailing spiral”

• We tend to experience and focus on the derailers of others more

readily than we recognize them in ourselves

• Overcome the spiral by recognizing our own contribution to the

situation and to make the changes in ourselves


QUESTIONS?


AGILE SUCCESSThe Psychology of Human Behavior in the

Failure of Projects


Jared D. Lock, Ph.D.

Co-Founder, Convergent, LLC

[email protected]

918-808-5451

mailto:[email protected]

AGILE SUCCESS - kcpmichapter.org · The Presenter Jared D. Lock, Ph.D. –Co-Founder, Convergent,...

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