Continuous Improvement

Self-actualized Agile teams embrace failure as the key opportunity to progress in work. They embrace "Failing Fast". They continuously improve themselves and their work. Read more below.

Video Version

Credit: Tech Fleet https://youtu.be/fA9sm68xyz8

Where We Are in the Agile Pyramid

We're far along in the Agile self-actualization pyramid! Teams who are psychologically safe service leaders who are self-organized in their work can start continuously improving their work.

Continuous Improvement

Agile teams fail often. They do not look at failure in judgement, but celebration. Failure could mean that their plan didn't follow through. It could mean that a teammate didn't do something they said, or they tried and it didn't work out. Failure could mean that someone didn't show up.

Everything that "fails" on an Agile team is looked at as learning opportunities. Teams intentionally build small value in their releases so that they can deliver quickly and "fail fast", or learn from the delivery.

Teams who are continuously improving use retrospectives and reflection moments to listen and learn from feedback received.

Teams who are continuously improving aren't perfectionists, and they don't treat their teammates as perfectionists. They experiment with something that mat not work, and deliver quickly to get feedback quickly. They iterate by making adjustments based on feedback received.

In order to do this, there must be a strong foundation of psychological safety, service leadership in teammates, and self-organization among leadership. These three tenets enable teams to continuously progress, continuously learn from mistakes, continuously improve.

Continuous Improvement Video

Here's a video about failing fast and continuous improvement:

Credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2elv7NtJmNo

Continuous Improvement Checklist

1. Does your team deliver work incrementally in small chunks?

2. Does your team often reflect on previous work and identify areas of improvement?

3. Does your team celebrate failure as progress and learning opportunities?

4. Does your team constantly involve clients, stakeholders, and users in feedback sessions?

5. Does your team work on the most important things at any given time, and deliver them quickly?

Head to the Next Lesson