Joyful and disciplined “agile” methodologies are the foundation on how Menlo Innovations have built their business culture. At this date, I am sure there is only limited seating left for this action packed day at Lean Frontiers outstanding training facility in Indianapolis, IN. In the August 26th session you will learn…
- how Menlo’s iterative design processes uncover root problems and provide a framework for adapting project requirements as needed
- the tactile methods Menlo uses to plan project tasks, ensuring transparency with project sponsors around project cost and timeline
- about the importance of estimation and actual in project planning
- about what it means to remove fear from your company culture and the impact on team communication around project deadlines and more
I had the pleasure of interviewing Menlo founder and chief Agilist, Rich Sheridan and discuss the Menlo WayTM below is an excerpt of the podcast where I asked him about the workshop.
Related and Podcast and Transcription: Foundations of the Menlo Culture
Joe: Tell me about the upcoming workshop. Who is it for and who will get the most out of it?
Rich: We’ve been offering workshops for years; pretty much since our inception. It’s always been our intention to have education as part of our offerings. I’ve gotten to know Jim Huntzinger’s team down at Lean Frontiers in Indianapolis. “Jim, why don’t we bring our intro to the Menlo way on the road and bring it down to your crowd in Indianapolis?” So, Jim was gracious enough to offer his space to bring this message on the road.
What it is, is a daylong exploration of the culture we’ve created and the processes that support that culture. What you’ll learn about in this Intro to the Menlo way is a bit of my history, how did I get here, why is this important (not just to Menlo but to the industry), and what challenges the industry is facing. There’s a bit of introductory material. Then we start walking through our process. How do we do planning? How do we do estimation? How do we do work authorization? How do we measure ourselves?
Our simple, repeatable, measurable structure here works on these five-day gears that turn (if you will) on the plan, execute, and measure cycle which probably sounds a lot like PDCA for the Lean folks. We just walk through all these pieces and parts. Quite frankly, a lot of the day, I will be leading this session. A lot of the day is people just peppering me with questions because there’s so much that we do that’s paradoxical that people just want to start digging in. They’re like, “Really? Two people on one computer? How is that more productive than two people working individually? What do you do when two people don’t get along and how do you find people who like to work like this? How do you interview and hire them?” What I say about each one of these sessions is that it’s very unique because it’s driven by the questions. I got way more than eight hours worth of material to share. The only way I can pair that down is to chase down the questions that people are asking me as I walk them through the structure of the day.
Joe: I think that’s a great way to put on a presentation. Interactivity instead of looking at a bunch of PowerPoints and being taught is the participation.
Rich: There is no workbook. There is no PowerPoint. It’s very visual. I’ll probably show a few pictures because it’s on the road. I’ll probably have a projector with some pictures of our space so people can actually visualize it because we’re not going to be in the room.
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