Simplicity the Art of Maximizing the Amount of Work Not Done Examples

Most of the states in the Information technology globe are busy people.  We are certainly in the age of push technology overload and minimizing wasteful piece of work at personal, professional and corporate level is a abiding goal.

From the Agile Manifesto, there are twelve principles[ane] related to software delivery.  All the principles still have deep significant 15 years later the establishment of them, merely one that repeatedly resonates with me is the tenth principle: "Simplicity–the art of maximizing the corporeality of work not washed–is essential".

When I've asked people who have been in the IT industry for a long fourth dimension, they volition often question the idea of "maximizing the corporeality of piece of work not done".  Why would one maximize non doing something?  Well, the concept shouldn't be that catchy to sympathise.  Allow me provide a common example.

For me, context switching is a daily claiming to manage.  In my job, there are constant interruptions in the form of calls, Instant Messages, texts, emails and the one-time fashioned borer on my shoulder.  I've had an old, rather bad habit of wanting to "go along my inbox" make clean and checking my email throughout the day.  Manifestly I'm not the only ane since over a third of Americans follow me in this exercise[2].  This is a productivity killer since I'grand always switching between focused piece of work and my emails.  This doesn't follow the Kanban-inspired "Stop Starting, Outset Finishing" mantra.

So more than frequently now, I keep my electronic mail closed throughout the day and only go into it similar to spelunking into a cavern.  Cheque information technology out only a few times a solar day.  Productivity appears to have risen since I find myself finishing more than before going on to the next job.  And then this is about maximize the amount of work not done.  Don't bank check on electronic mail regularly since information technology'southward a productivity killer.

Now let's accept this Lean-Active principle to the software development world.  From Donald Thousand. Reinertsen'south book, "Flow"[3], in that location is a residual betwixt the frequency of any transition (i.due east. checking your email) and the belongings cost (i.due east. others waiting for you to answer your e-mail).  This balance is very tricky to meet since it is dependent on the state of affairs.  If yous get urgent emails daily that require instant attending (production system alerts, major support incident, etc.) and so checking your e-mail frequency would be necessary.

See the beneath overall conceptual nautical chart of how to maximize your flow.  Sometimes, maximizing flow is clear and easy when at an individual level.  However, at the organizational and squad levels information technology becomes far more complicated.  Only through tracking and measuring the results will y'all be able to determine the optimum place of maximizing the work not done.  Notation sometimes the results volition exist surprising!

Then take for instance Scrum ceremonies like backlog refinement, sprint planning, dart reviews, sprint retrospectives and of course, the daily stand up.  If we consider the daily standup, many team members often find information technology a "waste of fourth dimension".  That may indeed be the case.  For instance, if the squad is collocated and regularly talk together, they may already take this key points of a stand up up known to each other.  Using tools similar Jira, TFS, CA Technologies (one time Rally), VersionOne, etc. volition also decrease the "churr".  In this example, reducing the number of standups may actually be the best remedy and increase the amount of work non washed.

Scrum has a set of tools with a recommended ready of cadences that should be synchronized in social club to simplify delivery and therefore maximize the work not washed.  This recommendation should be adjusted based on the needs of the organization.  Scrum is flexible, but still organized simply at a different levels.

A diligent leader will always be seeking for these areas of waste and pointing those out to their staff to address their own organizational bottlenecks, reducing the corporeality of waste.  For instance, I've seen the Outlook agenda for a specific CTO in a large retail company where his schedule was booked pretty much 100% from commonly 7am – 5pm every single day.  Akin to a thruway at 100% usage, this brings his productivity downward to a minimum where working early mornings and evenings becomes necessary for daily work and less on longer term vision, innovation and growth.  He should focus on maximizing that piece of work not done by blocking out fourth dimension for completing priority work and thereby freeing upwardly the resulting traffic jam for unexpected events.

 So when you lot are in the middle of your busy work day, remember to continuously seek ways to maximize that work not washed.  This is a never ending process and will always demand activeness or otherwise decrease your enterprises' power to perform.

[1] http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html

[2] http://www.businessinsider.com/how-often-do-people-bank check-their-electronic mail-2015-viii

[iii] http://ardalis.com/principles-of-product-development-flow-book-review

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Source: https://www.cio.com/article/238531/the-art-of-maximizing-work-not-done.html