Becoming a Learning Organization
Question: Why are so many agile transformations (or Scrum implementations for that matter) seemingly going nowhere? No doubt, Scrum is a framework that enables empiricism and fosters communication — if done right. But, in many organizations, Scrum is in essence a mechanism supposed to deal with long lists of work. In other words: organizations are mainly concerned with improving their delivery speed. At the same time they keep their old decision structures — eloquently explained by Craig Larman’s Laws Of organizational behaviour.
But the most important question will always be “what to build”. The framework itself doesn’t have an answer for that. And as Jeff Patton puts it, Scrum is not about delivering more crap faster.
In this article I wrote about how a shift in language can help in shifting the paradigm. But on the way to develop learning organizations this can (and should be) a first step. Ron Kohavi has proposed four stages of organizational development.
Stage 1: Hubris or “we don’t need measurement because of confidence in certain roles”
Hierarchy has it that decisions are made by specialists or those high in rank. Organizations assume superior knowledge goes along with those. But concentrating decision power not only creates system bottlenecks. It also rewards certainty and avoids doubt. Ask yourself: when was the last time in your organization someone answered “I don’t know”?
Turns out, we can have a meaningful conversation only if we can safely acknowledge that we don’t know (or can’t predict). So the first necessary step is to overcome our own hubris. Why is this hard? Well, admitting you don’t know best is hard.
Stage 2: Measurement or “we measure key metrics and start to control for unexplained differences.”
Once we have control over our own hubris and arrogance an increased need for metrics will occur. Typical obstacles are that we have to align on these metrics first. Maybe we don’t have basic information yet or we haven’t even found out how we want to measure at all. But just like Lewis Carroll said: “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.” Besides, it is just so much easier to develop a fixed plan and then define success as “percentage done”.
Stage 3: Semmelweis Reflex or “we reject new knowledge because it contradicts entrenched norms, beliefs or paradigms.”
Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis was a hungarian physician working in Vienna who discovered in 1847 that doctors’ maternity wards had three times the mortality of midwives’ wards. The mortality rates fell ten-fold when doctors disinfected their hands with a chlorine solution before moving from one patient to another. Despite the overwhelming empirical evidence, his fellow doctors rejected his hand-washing suggestions, often for non-medical reasons. For instance, some doctors refused to believe that a gentleman’s hands could transmit disease. The reflex-like tendency to reject new evidence or new knowledge because it contradicts established norms has been named Semmelweis Reflex. You will undoubtedly encounter it, too.
Stage 4: Fundamental Understanding or “we understand causes and our models actually work.”
Measuring helps you in understanding how things are but not necessarily why. By applying Feynmans Scientific Method you can get in control of the variants over time. Which is exactly what Ignaz Semmelweis did. By having a meticulous process of eliminating all possible differences he came up with a contextualized hypothesis. If you practice this regularly then Learning has become part of your organization’s DNA.
Let me make my case clear: We need measuring — not as a goal, but as a mean to understand the system we’re in and as a way to test our hypotheses.
In a nutshell: four stages pave the way from hubris to fundamental understanding. Shared understanding for metrics is key. Fight the Semmelweis reflex. Get in control of the variants and you will greatly accelerate learning. And in the end, that’s what Scrum ist all about.
