Roundtable on Work 4.0

In order to better understand the world of work 4.0, I gathered several experts and debated this topic for 4 hours. In the following I would like to show the results and support them with quotes from the participants. More about the roundtable can be found here . The participants can be found in the following table.

The work 4.0

The future of work is discussed under the heading Work 4.0. There is no direct definition of this, but the term is also often used in marketing. In a round table For work 4.0, I worked with the participants to define initial guidelines on how work should look like in the course of digitization, and the following results were achieved:

• Work 4.0 has to be agile!
• Agility needs freedom!
• Good work is voluntary!
• The term “leadership” has to give way to “guiding”!
• Work will be more dynamic and short-cycle in the future!
• Work 4.0 is supported digitally!

This means that topics such as agility, freedom and voluntariness characterize the new world of work. One participant said: “So for me the first association with work 4.0 is the change from ‘work as a duty / must’ to ‘I can design something, I feel a purpose'” . The new work should also be supported digitally. To do this, a participant: “So digitization favors speed. If we still had pencil, paper and mail, that wouldn’t have been. “ and agile methods should contribute to making work more dynamic and short-cycle, according to the participants: “Well, I also believe that the Scrum issue has made a huge contribution to this.” This means that, unlike in the past, there will be a lot of small and rapidly changing work tasks. For example, a team leader used to give one employee 5-10 standard tasks per month, which is now more divided into 100 small tasks. In order to better understand this, I would like to explain the concepts behind Work 4.0 in more detail and give a few quotes from my participants from the roundtable.
Reading tip: What is work 4.0

New Work – work that is flexible in terms of location and time

Another point is work that is flexible in terms of location and time. One participant says: “So 30% is on average[im Home Office] . And […] home office[ist] of course no problem[und …] is often also approved. And working hours are also relaxed with us. There are no core working hours, you can come to us whenever you want. ” So it is possible that work can be done from anywhere, anytime. This is what the union’s executive committee also says in my round table: “Work wherever you want. With mobile devices this is no longer a problem at all. We have also created the company agreement in such a way that working hours are recognized from anywhere, i.e. theoretically also from the swimming pool. You document it. You can work from anywhere. Mobile work is an important topic.”
So, with a view to the future, it seems that we can work from anywhere, anytime. This is often described with the vision of New Work, which is shown in the following figure.
Reading tip: What is New Work

New and agile office complexes

There are also new office concepts. There should be a workplace for every activity. Different zones should be set up in the office for, for example, quiet and creative work. I know many medium-sized companies as well as corporations that are currently converting their buildings. One participant in my roundtable also said: “Every table is available, it is not booked in advance, because ultimately it makes the system even more complex if I had to think about it every evening: Where do I sit tomorrow? That would just be too much of a hassle. And so, in principle, every workplace is free for everyone. I can sit down wherever I want. ” The classic desk is dying out, according to the participants. The following figure illustrates a possible interpretation of the new office models using the example of noris network from Nuremberg, which kindly approved the pictures for me. So in the future we will not only work at any time and place, but also in the “right place” for every activity.
Reading tip: What is futurework

Agile teams

Furthermore, these new working models should not run using classic methods, but agile teams should organize themselves, arrange vacations with each other and in some companies even hire employees together. It will be exciting to see how this trend develops. The first effects of this finding can already be seen in agile Scrum teams (mostly in IT).
Reading tip: What is agile

Conclusion

The roundtable showed that the goal of the Work 4.0 projects is increased agility and voluntariness. Work 4.0 should be digitally supported, guided and more dynamic and short-cycle than current work. Work should also become more flexible in terms of time and location.
Overall, the roundtable showed that the need for novel concepts and models with which companies meet the design of Work 4.0 has existed for a long time. But only today have the framework conditions and the degree of digitization been created to actually implement these changes. Before that, on the one hand, the new office complexes had not yet been planned and, on the other hand, there was a lack of mobile technology (laptops and smartphones) and secure access as well as valid company agreements for mobile work and home office. So it remains exciting!
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Der Beitrag Tomorrow’s world of work #Future view erschien zuerst auf agile Companies.

• What are my very personal experiences in my life as a rebel?
• What best practices can I share – and what have been my biggest mistakes that others can learn from?

In the first step I would like to tell my very personal story about a change in which I was involved for a whole year. From this story I derive best practices that can help an organizational rebel in everyday life. The following story happened during the last 3 years in the course of my consulting activity. I don’t want to give any time periods because the company is supposed to remain anonymous. In the following, some details have been changed so that the company cannot be traced. Hired as a consultant, I found myself there in an environment of tradition and change.
Reading tip: SMEs between tradition and change

My very personal experiences

One day I received an exciting project. I was supposed to support a company for a year, to restructure a department and, in addition to consulting, also tackle the change with management and employees.

From one day to the next to a rebel

Change is difficult – hardly anyone likes it. Especially not in a group with fixed structures. But changes are essential to move a company forward. So I was called by a company to restructure a department with almost 100 employees. In 50 percent of my time, I helped the managers responsible to change the organization – the other 50 percent I took on important projects using agile methods. So I had come to change something – an organizational rebel – which perhaps not all employees received with open arms at first.

Planning, planning, planning and shut up

A very well-known agile mind and book author once gave me the tip a few years ago: “If you come in somewhere new, shut up and take a close look at everything.“That’s exactly what I did. In the first few weeks I was busy getting used to it, understanding processes and getting the seniors to explain the company to me. Together with the manager and his team leaders, we met regularly for one-day workshops on planning the new department. Especially at the beginning I listened carefully. I didn’t bring my own ideas to the table, but rather thought about how I can put the manager’s visions into concrete terms. Before I came up with an idea, I usually discussed it personally with one of the team leaders. By the way, if you want to read some theory, you can click on my article on organizational development.
Reading tip: Organizational development

The target image was created!

After a while, we had defined the target image for the department. We had to observe the following framework conditions:

• Compliant with the certified standard
• Compliant with processes in other departments
• Lots of people who don’t all want to work in an agile manner
• Different customers, not all of whom were enthusiastic about agility either
• highest flexibility with maximum stability

There were currently very large teams in the company that worked according to traditional methods. This should be changed. We had the idea to appoint two new team leaders and to form four teams from two teams. These are:

• Internal IT: automation and operation – Kanban
• Project team – large customer projects – complete self-organization and autonomy
• DevOPs: For medium-sized projects and agile (Scrum) customers – Scrum and DevOps
• Classic unit: small customers and customers with standard tasks – ITIL

Challenge accepted! To do this, we came up with a four-step model. Some of the employees were supposed to continue to work in the old organization, the other part slowly moved with the customers. It was important to us that the stability of the department was maintained. I created a graphic for this – I will go into the individual phases in more detail later. To explain: DevOps is an artificial word that is made up of the words Development and Operations.

With full force against the wall

After a few weeks I got into my first project, which I was supposed to do in 50 percent of my time. I was a project manager for a large client. There was a program manager above me and two sub-project managers below me. So I did what I had learned in the target picture and organized this project as agile as I could.
One aspect of this agility was to give the sub-project managers a high degree of freedom and autonomy in their task execution and to keep their backs free as Scrum Masters. I also saw myself more like a lawyer in front of the client and the program management. Unfortunately, it only occurred to me too late that my project was completely out of line with the ITIL-oriented line of the program and, despite its success, was perceived by the program manager as uncontrollable and chaotic. ITIL is a way of organizing IT and is often not easy to combine with agile methods.
Better: Unfortunately, it wasn’t until much too late that I realized that two worlds were colliding. Agility paired with an ITIL-oriented line of the program let my project step out of line. Despite the success, the program manager perceived the change as uncontrollable and chaotic.
In order to protect his project, after three months I was suddenly allowed to put on my hat and “go” – the unit was again organized in the classic way. So I did it! I was kicked out of my first project after three months. Fortunately, the manager of my department was behind me and decided to just give me a new project. There was just me as a project manager and a team. The predecessor should train me. By the way, if you want to read more about the establishment of Scrum in traditional companies, then I have a free whitepaper for you here!
Reading tip: Agile in the Waterfallworld

Networking can help – the Change Board

However, two months passed between the old and the new project and I was able to devote myself to the change. After I got home quite early on the day of the exclusion, I was in the office all the earlier the next day. I used the next time to have a short one-on-one conversation of 15 minutes with 40 of the 60 employees and made notes. I formed clusters and had roughly summarized the wishes and suggestions of the department at a glance for the manager.  Now we formed the change board, which consisted of the following types of employees:

• Strong skeptic against change
• Knows a lot of people
• Is very committed and has lots of ideas
• Team leader of other departments

At the first attempt, we presented a plan to the change board and the new teams. Together with the board, we filled a backlog with tasks. A sprint took place every two weeks and every employee was allowed to take tasks from the change board. Each of the ten participants helped. Team leaders from related departments were invited to provide feedback. After four sprints, we had completed all preparations and could start the change. Each phase was represented by exactly four sprints of two months each.

With a new approach and classic methods

Now I started my new project, which I was supposed to carry out alongside the change. It was another big customer with an innovative technology stack. This time I adopted the same method as the previous one and continued the project in exactly the same way for the time being. I wanted to achieve exactly the status quo. I apparently managed to do this and slowly gained the trust of the team – including that of management. So I devoted 50 percent to change and 50 percent to classic project management.

Persevere and do marketing

Now it was time to persevere and continue the sprints of change. Every week there was a status meeting and every two weeks there was a review and retrospective. Participation in the Change Board was voluntary and I saw my job in motivating people to keep going. We worked our way forward sprint by sprint.
In the course of my project, in addition to the change, I moved more and more from the classic project system to Jira and we carried out the first small sprints. I now had more trust in the company and was slowly able to make the project a little more agile.

Every change also has an end

Every change has to be completed at some point. The first phases were mostly a technical changeover as well as the move to the new offices and the relocation of the employees. Later on, coaching and finding your way around in the new roles came in particular. It was also possible to volunteer for a team. However, the last 25 percent of employees had to be persuaded to switch to the new organization. I accompanied each and every one of them individually and tried to help.

It goes on: After agile comes virtual

Now the change is over and I have to say: It was fun and we all think we did a good job. The change is also officially completed and other departments may follow. I didn’t pack my things afterwards, as might have been expected, but instead took on another mission for the manager: the company set up two new locations.  I was supposed to coach the company’s first virtual team, which is spread over three locations. But this should be a topic for a new article.

Conclusion: best practices for the organizational rebel

The change was a lot of fun and I was looking forward to the next task. Now I derive my do’s and don’ts for organizational rebels from my experiences. First and foremost, a change agent should see himself as an advocate of change, i.e. defend it again and again, instead of preaching like a priest.  Networking is also important in order to attract the opinion leaders in the company. Furthermore, work should be done on the status quo, because a classically run company will not become Google or Spotify overnight.
It is also important, especially at the beginning, to first listen and gain the trust of the employees. As a rebel, you shouldn’t realize your own ideas, but see what the company management really wants to achieve. Of course, it doesn’t always have to be 100 percent agile. ITIL organizations can also be agile and are very important for certain customer projects. Always remember that you are between tradition and change. Much that rebels want to change may even have guaranteed the success of the last few years.
Let’s get to the Dont’s. It is important not to polarize, but rather to stay in the background. You should also not pursue your own goals, such as wanting to make everything agile. Of course, I wanted to try out the LeSS framework, but that just didn’t make sense for our customers. Incidentally, the LeSS Framework is a method of scaling Scrum. If you want to read more about agile scaling, go to the article here.  A change is also not a matter of a few days and takes time. We invested a year in the change. It is also important to pick up all employees and take them with you, otherwise you will lose the opinion leaders of the company and you, like me, will be thrown out of a project. A great saying that I have used again and again in Change is:  Grass doesn’t grow if you pull on it. People need time to slowly adapt to the new situation – because the job means securing livelihoods for everyone. I have summarized my findings in the following figure:

Der Beitrag Between tradition and change – the story of an organizational rebel erschien zuerst auf agile Companies.

The project manager today!

What about the project manager today? A keyword is probably the technical management of employees in the matrix organization. A kind of toothless tiger who has to get people to work on his project in addition to their day-to-day business. It is seldom that you are assigned full-time staff, because even if you do, the employee is often still on 5 other projects. At least that’s my impression. The project manager has to motivate and bring the various stakeholders together and keep the project going. But now the question remains: what does digital change do to a project manager? Will the increasingly distributed and interdisciplinary teams, often from different organizations, be networked as a generalist, like from a project magazine to a control center?
Reading tip: Generalist or specialist?

Round table on the future in PMO

Some time ago I did a study to answer this question. For this purpose, I brought together a wide variety of participants from the field of project management in a round table. The full report is available in the minutes to fourth round table . The participants of the roundtable are listed below. The study can also be found under Lindner et al. (2017) in the HMD – Practice of Business Informatics and was created as part of my doctoral thesis. However, the results serve well to concretize the project manager2030.
Participants of this round table:

Together with this expert from the PMO (project management office), consultant for project management and project manager, we talked about the daily work and found that the digital change is already influencing the work of the project management experts present. In the study by Lindner et al. (2017) the following examples can be found:

• A development team based in India with whom communication only takes place via Jira (https://de.atlassian.com/software/jira) and email and Skype
• Distributed team at different locations, which has two regular appointments for a meeting per month and works together virtually via web sessions
• Meetings are often held in a neutral location, such as a café, between locations using mobile technology
• Opportunity to consult the best professionals around the world
• Locations in rural areas can access specialists from the main location
• Employees can be kept after the location has been closed (4 days home office – 1 day at the main location)
• Massive number of e-mails, notifications and other tool-internal messages often at the same time
• Often communication runs on more than one channel at the same time (notification via Skype that an e-mail has been sent)

Conclusion # Projektleiter2030

What can be derived from this for the project manager of the future? It is becoming apparent that the project manager will take over the control of projects using tools. All communication runs through a wide variety of channels (analogue and digital) at the project manager. In addition to massive emails and notifications, this also includes calls and personal conversations. Furthermore, the work seems to be more distributed. While experts worldwide communicate with the project manager and distribute this work using tools such as Jira or similar, he must certainly also meet stakeholders and project staff on site.
According to the results of the roundtable, the question of the project magazine can be answered: “Will the project manager become a generalist due to the growing complexity of the control center, the increasingly distributed and interdisciplinary teams, often from different organizations?” at least partially supported by arguments. The project manager will act in a mixture of analog and digital media with distributed teams and control them using tools via Jira or similar. Communication of all kinds will converge with him and he must be present in both virtual and analog space at the same time. One could almost assume that it is an interface between the analog and the digital world.
Reading tip: The digital workplace
Many thanks to the project magazine! With this article I won the first prize of the blog parade and I can look forward to an exclusive ticket for the PM Welt 2018!
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Der Beitrag Project manager in the context of digitization – # Projektleiter2030 erschien zuerst auf agile Companies.