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Allan Kelly - Do it right, then do the right thing

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Several generations of managers have been taught to "Do the right thing, then do it right." It has a logic all of its own doesn't it? What's the use of being highly effective is you are highly effective at the wrong thing? But what if the obsession with doing the right thing is itself harmful? What if you don't know the right thing to do until you have do something? What if you need to do something in order to know what is right and what is wrong? Rather than analyse before doing anything, it may well be cheaper and faster with modern tools to do something, and then analyse what happens before deciding what to do next. But only if you can iterate: do something, learn and go around again. In this session Allan Kelly will present an alternative, possibly heretical, view of the world and argue that doing things right is essential if you are to do the right thing.

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Page 1: Allan Kelly - Do it right, then do the right thing
Page 2: Allan Kelly - Do it right, then do the right thing

allan  kelly  Twi+er:  @allankellynet  h+p://www.allankelly.net  

Do  it  Right  Then  Do  the  Right  thing  

May    2014  

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Allan  Kelly…  

Chapters  in…  •  Business  Analysis  and  Leadership,  Pullan  &  Archer  

2013  •  97  Things  Every  Programmer  Should  Know,  Henney,  

2010  •  Context  EncapsulaAon  in  PaBern  Languages  of  

Program  Design,  vol#5,  2006  

Ø ConsulJng  on  soLware  development  &  strategy  

Ø Training  for  Agile  Author  –  Changing  SoLware  Development:  Learning  to  be  

Agile  (2008,  Wiley)  –  Business  Pa/erns  for  So2ware  Developers  (2012,  

Wiley  -­‐  ISBN:  978-­‐1119999249)  –  Xanpan:  ReflecJons  on  agile  (work  in  progress)  

h+ps://leanpub.com/xanpan    

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Management  commandment  

Do  the  Right  Thing  Then    

Do  it  Right  

I  am  here  to  

challenge  

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I  am  not  saying  

Knowingly  do  the  Wrong  Thing  

I  am  saying  

You  only  know  the  Right  Thing  by  doing  

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Exhibit  A  -­‐  The  Alignment  Trap  

Less  EffecJve  

More    EffecJve  

Highly  aligned  

Less  aligned  

‘Alignment  trap’  11%  companies  +13%  IT  spending  -­‐14%  3  year  sales  growth  

‘Maintenance  zone’  74%  companies  Avg  IT  spending  -­‐2%  3  year  sales  growth  

‘IT  Enabled  growth’  7%  companies  -­‐6%  IT  spending  +35%  3  year  sales  growth  

‘Well-­‐oiled  IT’  8%  companies  -­‐15%  IT  spending  +11%  3  year  sales  growth  

Source:  Shp

ilberg,  Berez,  Puryear,  Shah:  

MIT  Sloan  Review,  Fall  2007  

   1  

2  

Doing  the  rig

ht  th

ings  

Doing  things  right  

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Doing  the  right  thing…  

•  Costs    – Money:  £consultants,  $analysts,  €managers  – Time:  Analysis,  research,  meeJngs,  discussions  

•  AssumpJons  – There  is  a  right  answer  – And  it  is  knowable  – No  value  in  wrong  answer  – That  wrong  &  right  are  definable  

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Exhibit  B  –  Lean  Start-­‐Up  

•  Knowing  is  difficult  •  Get  into  the  market  to  find  out  

•  See  what  people  will  $pay  for  –  Not  just  what  that  €say  

•  Doing  need  not  be  expensive  

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Exhibit  C  –  Changing  course  

Seqng    the  “right”  course    makes  it  harder  to  change  course  

"Faced  with  the  choice  between  changing  one's  mind  and  

proving  that  there  is  no  need  to  do  so,  almost  everyone  gets  

busy  on  the  proof.”  John  Kenneth  Galbraith  

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Exhibit  D  –  Changing  (Me!)  

•  Its  about  Learning  •  To  Learn  we  must  do  •  How  can  you  increase  the  pace  of  learning?  

Learning  

Change  

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Exhibit  E  –  He  who  learns  fasters  

“We  understand  that  the  only  compeJJve  advantage  the  company  of  the  future  will  have  is  its  managers’  ability  to  learn  faster  than  then  their  compeHtors.”  

Arie  de  Geus,  The  Living  Company  1988  

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How  do  you  learn  fast?  

•  Do  •  How  do  you  do?  •  Iterate  –  Iterate  faster  –  Iterate  more  

•  Learn  •  Learn  to  iterate  faster,  improve  your  aim  

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Ready,  Fire,  Fire,  Fire,  Aim,  Fire,  …  

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Choose  your  weapon  

M16  from  Dragunova  via  WikiCommons,  CreaJve  Commons  License  L115A3  from  Defence    on  WikiCommon  Open  Government  License  

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Or  is  your  choice  more  like….  

M16  from  Dragunova  via  WikiCommons,  CreaJve  Commons  License  Berdan  Sharps  rifle  via  WikiCommons,  Public  Domain  image  

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Which  are  you?  

Your  delivery  (supply)  side?  Your  business  (demand)  side?  

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Choose  your  weapon  

Snipers  Rifle  •  Known  target  •  Clear  shot  •  Time  to  prepare  •  Limited  variables  

Machine  Gun  •  Many  targets  •  Confused  environment  •  Time  short  –  AcJon  

required  •  Many  variables  •  Frequently  miss  

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Choose  your  approach  

Sniper  development  •  Market  is  slow  moving  •  Market  it  known  •  CompeJtors  are  slow  •  Capital  is  scarce  •  Development  is  expensive  •  Risk  of  collateral  damage,  

e.g.  brand,  individuals  

Machine  development  •  Market  is  fast  •  Market  is  changing  •  CompeJtors  are  fast  •  Capital  is  cheap  •  Development  is  cheap  (and  

fast)  •  MulJple  failures,  try  again  

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Do  tools  dictate  approach?  

“It  takes  a  long  Jme  to  reload  and  aim”  Therefore  

“take  Jme  to  make  sure  every  shot  counts”  

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Or  your  compeJtors?  

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Asymmetric  warfare  You   Your  compeHtor   Result  

Stalemate  

Toast!  

Toast!  (Slow)  

?  

?  

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IteraJon  

•  Get  good  at  iteraJng  •  Get  good  at  iteraJng  fast  •  Get  good  at  learning  from  results  – Test  results  with  customer  – Test  output  in  the  market  

– And  Evaluate  Close  the  loop  –  evaluate  what  you  do  &  feedback  

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EvaluaJon  

Too  oLen  missing  

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Let  a  thousand  flowers  bloom…  

Get  good  at  selecJng  those  to  keep  -­‐  Cull  the  rest  

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How?  

A  liBle  advice….  

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Iterate!  

•  Try  something  – See  what  happens  – Learn,  adjust,  change  – Go  around  again  

•  If  you  can’t  iterate  – You  can’t  learn  

Doing  IteraHon  Right  is  a  pre-­‐requisite  for  Doing  the  Right  Thing  

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Brakes  are  good  

•  Get  good  at….  – Knowing  when  to  stop  – Stopping  

•  Technical  has  TDD,  ATDD,  BDD  to  stop  •  Corporate  brakes  – Por{olio  management  – Venture  Capital  funding  model  – Use  a  Dragon’s  Den  

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Plans  can  help  

•  Plans  are  a  useful  learning  tool  – Value  is  in  the  planning  

•  Don’t  spend  too  long  on  plans  •  Don’t  try  to  execute  the  plan  

plans  are  useless,  but  planning  is  indispensable  

Dwight  D.  Eisenhower  

About  2  hours  per  week(?)  

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You  can’t  see  the  future…  

•  You  can’t  know  what  will  work  •  Stop  wasJng  Jme  and  money  guessing  •  Get  good  at  probing  –  experimenJng  – Conduct  a  lot  of  experiments  – Learn  from  experiments  – Stop  those  which  “don’t  work”  – Promote  those  which  do  

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Iterate  at  all  levels  

Regularly   Evaluate  -­‐>  Set/change  direcJon  Frequently   Collect  next  -­‐>  Decide  next  Most  frequently   Developer  -­‐>  Release  

•  Build  capability  to  iterate  –  and  USE  IT  •  Use  data  gained  from  iteraJon  •  Iterate  your  way  to  to  The  Right  Thing  

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Allan’s  commandments  

#1  Do  it  Right,  Do  it  Fast;  Learn  &  Iterate  

#2  Fail  fast,  Fail  Cheap;  Evaluate,  Learn  

#3  Invest  in  brakes;  Stop  &  Turn  

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 Take-­‐away  1.  Fast  iteraJons  allow  for  

learning  – Learn  to  iterate  fast  – Then  iterate  in  the  market  – Learn  to  evaluate  &  feedback  

2.  Fail  fast,  fail  cheap,  learn  3.  Invest  in  brakes  

allan  kelly  -­‐  SoLware  Strategy  Ltd.  www.allankelly.net  -­‐  [email protected]  -­‐  @allankellynet  

h+p://leanpub.com/xanpan/c/DevConFu14