My Mum gave up trying to understand what I do ‘at my work’ years ago. It’s become a running joke. It struck me recently that this is not ok. We ought to be able to explain what we do in an abstract and jargon-free way. If we can’t, then we don’t really understand what we’re trying to do.
So here is my attempt…
I’m working to transform our company by introducing new ways of working. When I say ‘ways of working’ at a high level, I mean…
- Roles & Responsibilities – What roles do we have, and what responsibilities do they have
- Structure – How people are organized into teams and teams of teams
- Process – How we plan and do the work
- Knowledge & documents – What information we create, capture, and use in those processes
- Measurement & learning – How we track progress and improve over time
- Supporting tools – The technology that makes all of this possible
If we’re successful, then we should be working in a way that…
- Creates intended value – We are helping customers or employees do something they couldn’t before, or do it more easily (like make a purchase or complete a task)
- Delivers faster – We complete work more quickly without sacrificing quality
- Operates efficiently – We are able to do more things, or we do things at less cost
- Enables collaboration – We help people from different teams / departments work together seamlessly (this is often the biggest predictor of success)
- Embraces experimentation – We run experiments and iterate when we’re solving challenges where we don’t know what will work
- Ensures quality – We build systems and services that actually works and solves real problems
We draw on established frameworks like agile, agile at scale, product management, design thinking & devops, but these are just the tools in our toolbox.
How do you explain what you do?