The Human Side of Delivery – Building Trust, Talent, and Triumph

with Peter Woolley.

Working in my current role as a Senior Delivery Lead (mix of a Scrum Master and Product Owner) and the as part of the SC IT team I would like to share what we have achieved in 7 months, specifically:

• Average time to complete an item has dropped from 20 days to 6 days.
• Feature flow time has reduced by 2/3.
• Staff engagement score has improved from 48% to 72%
• C-Level stakeholder has publicity expressed that “I have never had as much faith in Supply Chain IT as I do now”.

So how did we get there, what stories can be told and what can we learn from this:

• Three weeks into a new role I tell our stakeholders, no new features for the next quarter – we have too much work in progress and we need to start finishing. We stick to this plan and we succeed.
• I started using the words capacity and slack, built them into our plans, socialized and defended them and playback how they support our delivery.
• I made priority calls and focused on one item at time, as we delivered we did the next, the next and got faster.
• Rebuilt the relationship with our functional team and we now work so closely no one can tell we are two teams.
• Refused individual recognition and stated the team as a whole deserves it.
• Being completely transparent with what we do. Sharing all information the good, the bad and the ugly.
• Worked in the distribution centers (DCs) with the DC staff, modeled the behaviors I wanted to see and built relationships.
• In conclusion – How team morale, relationships and trust are the most successful elements of product delivery and how self belief becomes a multiplier effect.

Learning outcomes

1. What you see and hear (as well as what you don’t see and hear) and how you can analyze this and lead your team.
2. The value of prioritization, limiting work in progress (WIP) and the benefits of saying No.
3. How to have the successful uncomfortable conversations (especially the ones that start with “No”), what to prepare of and how to do.
4. The importance of systems thinking, understanding that your team is part of an organizational system and how to influence the system as a whole, not just your team.
5. How to not fear making a mistake as your intent is clear and you gain respect for trying something new.