Steve Tendon

Agile approaches and the Theory of Constraints have thus far been like the proverbial oil and water. Agile enthusiasts have always considered TOC as grounded in manufacturing, and thus completely inadequate to handle the peculiarities of knowledge-work, and software engineering management in particular. TOC practitioners, notwithstanding the decade long experience in many different fields, have a hard time accepting Agile methods, as they do not seem supported by the scientific rigor and… Show more

Agile approaches and the Theory of Constraints have thus far been like the proverbial oil and water. Agile enthusiasts have always considered TOC as grounded in manufacturing, and thus completely inadequate to handle the peculiarities of knowledge-work, and software engineering management in particular. TOC practitioners, notwithstanding the decade long experience in many different fields, have a hard time accepting Agile methods, as they do not seem supported by the scientific rigor and logical reasoning that is typical of TOC; and yet there is no workable solution for software engineering management.

In this book we have outlined a solution that merges and takes the best of both worlds. Agile practitioners will enjoy a more financially sound way to prioritize and select work; deal with multiple projects (or products), stakeholders, deadlines and teams; and resolve the conundrum of dependency management at scale by collapsing the combinatorial explosion of dependency networks in a simple linear queue.

TOC practitioners will be able to create the behavioral habits and response patterns that are typical of Agile settings. By using the Work Execution Signals we trigger intense, frequent and engaging collaboration between all players, and unleashe the organization's collective intelligence via co-creation and social learning.

Flow Metrics enabled us to identify and reason in terms of the Work Flow Constraint, Work Process Constraint and Work Execution Constraint. By understanding and observing the interactions between the three, we create the setting for effective Constraints Management even in the field of software engineering management.

With the solution that we have outlined, Agile and TOC can now co-exist, and work better together. Any other Agile or TOC concept can be leveraged on top of this solution too.

Whether you have an Agile or a TOC background, you will learn about a new way to handle software engineering management at scale. Show less

This book describes advanced applications of the TameFlow Approach - a pragmatic systems-thinking approach for creating breakthrough performance-innovation in knowledge-intensive digital-businesses. You will learn how to apply the Theory of Constraints to knowledge-work, and in particular to handle coordination, synchronization and prioritization in "PEST" environments, where you have multiple Projects or Products; multiple Events or deadlines; multiple Stakeholders; and multiple… Show more

This book describes advanced applications of the TameFlow Approach - a pragmatic systems-thinking approach for creating breakthrough performance-innovation in knowledge-intensive digital-businesses. You will learn how to apply the Theory of Constraints to knowledge-work, and in particular to handle coordination, synchronization and prioritization in "PEST" environments, where you have multiple Projects or Products; multiple Events or deadlines; multiple Stakeholders; and multiple Teams.

Focus is on producing business outcomes and customer value with tangible bottom line results. The TameFlow Approach provides business agility to change direction at speed and at scale by dramatically improving organizational performance beyond that of mainstream Agile or "agile-like" methods and frameworks (Kanban, Scrum, SAFe, LeSS, Nexus, Scrum@Scale, Enterprise Scrum, etc.), and providing new means to tame the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA) of modern knowledge-work. Show less

A comprehensive collection of ideas that are foundational to the TameFlow Approach.

The first part, for business leaders and managers, delves into management, leadership and governance topics and explains how to think when leading a knowledge-work organization.

The second part, for middle-managers, team-leads and practitioners, gives actionable and practical advice on how to apply the ideas of the TameFlow Aproach to two of the most popular knowledge-work management methods… Show more

A comprehensive collection of ideas that are foundational to the TameFlow Approach.

The first part, for business leaders and managers, delves into management, leadership and governance topics and explains how to think when leading a knowledge-work organization.

The second part, for middle-managers, team-leads and practitioners, gives actionable and practical advice on how to apply the ideas of the TameFlow Aproach to two of the most popular knowledge-work management methods, namely Scrum and Kanban

Key topics:

◦ Reveals a number of practical methods, models, and tools to manage knowledge work, and discusses what needs to be considered from a managerial and organizational perspective to develop a hyper-productive firm capable of delivering superior performance

◦ Shows how to shape the information flow between individuals and groups and build an organization’s collective intelligence, setting the foundation for the organization’s culture, values, and principles

◦ Teaches how to reach a psychological state of flow where individuals or groups achieve high performance levels

◦ Describes how to master operational flow or the rate at which goods and services are delivered to the marketplace

◦ Explains how to maximize financial flow or the rate at which products or services are turned into positive cash flow

◦ Demonstrates, by applying the TameFlow approach, how to overcome typical pitfalls of Scrum and Kanban, and how they can be extended with features of the Theory of Constraints to help create a hyper-productive organization Show less

As a contributing author, wrote Chapter 4, Tailoring Agility: Promiscuous Pair Story Authoring and Value Calculation where I presented a case of how a multi-national software organization created a business plan involving business units from eight countries that followed an agile way, after two previously failed attempts with traditional approaches. The case describes how the company initiated implementation of agility into requirements gathering, estimation and planning processes in an… Show more

As a contributing author, wrote Chapter 4, Tailoring Agility: Promiscuous Pair Story Authoring and Value Calculation where I presented a case of how a multi-national software organization created a business plan involving business units from eight countries that followed an agile way, after two previously failed attempts with traditional approaches. The case describes how the company initiated implementation of agility into requirements gathering, estimation and planning processes in an international setting.

The agile approach was inspired by eXtreme Programming, but then tailored to meet the peculiar requirements.

Two innovations were critical.

◦ The first innovation was promiscuous pair story authoring, where user stories were written by two people (similarly to pair programming), and the pairing changed very often (as frequently as every 15–20 minutes) to achieve promiscuity and cater for diverse point of views.

◦ The second innovation was an economic value evaluation (and not the cost) which was attributed to stories. Continuous recalculation of the financial value of the stories allowed to assess the projects financial return.

In this case implementation of agility in the international context allowed the involved team members to reach consensus and unanimity of decisions, vision and purpose. Show less