lessons learned from five years in the dojo - part 1
Having helped organizations with Dojos for five years, we felt it was the right time to share what we’ve learned so far. In this series of blog posts, we want to offer you our “best tips” for starting your own Dojo or for improving your existing Dojo. We’ll wrap up with our thoughts on where Dojos are going next.
Without further ado…
Six Reasons Why We Do Two-and-a-Half-Day Sprints in the Dojo
When we’re explaining the Dojo model to people who are unfamiliar with it we often get a lot of head nods and other indicators that people understand the model. They see how it’s different from other approaches to learning. Sadly, most of us have had experience with inadequate training programs...
Measuring Impact In The Dojo
Last month at Agile Day Chicago, I (Joel) had the pleasure of listening to Mark Graban speak about separating signal from noise in our measurements. Mark referenced Process Behavior Charts, a technique described in the book Understanding Variation: The Key to Managing Chaos by Donald J. Wheeler. This simple tool helps us look at metrics over time and understand the difference between naturally occurring variations (what Wheeler calls “The Voice of the Process”) and signals, or variation in the metrics representing real changes. Signals can be indicators that a desired change is manifesting, or they can be indicators that something is wrong and requires further investigation.
Dojo Metrics - Moving From What is Easy to capture to What Matters
A fair question to ask when starting a Dojo (or any initiative for that matter) is “how do we know this is working?” Invariably, right on the heels of that question somebody always brings up the idea of capturing metrics. Then they turn to us and say “What are the right metrics for the Dojo?”.
Empowering & Enabling Responsibility
Empowering teams is a topic the DevOps and Agile communities frequently talk about. But it is easier said than done. Here is one simple approach to empowering teams you can do right now.
But first a little background...