Thursday, June 18, 2009

Criteria for Innovative Success

I've got this in my head and want to write it down. I'm still tweaking it, and would like feedback.

Criteria for Innovative Success:
  • 1a) A Shared Vision of Success
  • 1b) Willingness to drive towards that Vision
  • 2) Reflective Problem Solving Staff
A Shared Vision is, well, shared. Everyone involved should be able to articulate it, write/draw it on a single white board.

I split 1) into two parts, or more specifically added the second part. I think that just having a vision isn't sufficient, the will to see it through and cut away what's not helpful is critical. I suppose the metaphor for 1b) would be chipping marble away to make a sculpture.

"Reflective Problem Solving" is a phrase I got from "Managing to Learn" by John Shook. I've got more to say about this book and will review it when I can, but having a team of people who refectively problem solve is very different than a team that does what it's told.

In my experience at the Lean Kanban conference I concluded that a Kanban board with WIP limits is a "concrete reflective tool". I'm now on the hunt for "concrete reflective" tools and ideas, with a strong belief that such tools will be adopted by more teams than abstract or prescriptive tools.