This post provides an introduction to team retrospectives and a guide on how to run them. Intro to retrospectives What is a retrospective? A regular meeting for the team to reflect on past performance and identify ways to improve. Why bother? Good teams continuously improve their product. Great teams also continuously improve how they work […]
http://alaniswright.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/logo1-300x138-300x138.png00Alan Wrighthttp://alaniswright.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/logo1-300x138-300x138.pngAlan Wright2023-03-12 14:41:512023-03-13 22:54:00How to run a retrospective
Premortems help us identify and reduce risks before they happen. They are a great exercise to run before launching a product or feature. What is a premortem Product teams often use postmortems to understand what caused a problem and how to reduce the risk of it becoming a problem again. Premortems are the opposite. You […]
http://alaniswright.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/logo1-300x138-300x138.png00Alan Wrighthttp://alaniswright.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/logo1-300x138-300x138.pngAlan Wright2023-02-28 19:09:002023-03-04 00:14:30How to run a premortem
OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) is a goal setting system that was popularised by Google. To summarise, the objective defines what you want to achieve and the key result defines how you will measure progress towards achieving the objective. In this blog post, I share my thoughts on how to write good OKRs. I focus […]
Makers time and collaboration time are two metrics that I have started using to help teams to measure the amount of quality time they have available to do their best work, and to make improvements over time. In this blog post I explain what they are and when/how to use them.
http://alaniswright.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/logo1-300x138-300x138.png00Alan Wrighthttp://alaniswright.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/logo1-300x138-300x138.pngAlan Wright2022-03-07 12:15:252023-01-07 21:44:03Makers time and collaboration time: two metrics that help teams improve the timing of meetings to increase team health and productivity
“Too many meetings” is something I’ve said or heard over and over again in every organisation I’ve worked. Since lockdown began, this problem seems to have gotten worse for two main reasons: There are more meetings: ‘Watercooler’ conversations and informal chats around the team space have been replaced with scheduled video meetings. Meetings are more […]
http://alaniswright.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/logo1-300x138-300x138.png00Alan Wrighthttp://alaniswright.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/logo1-300x138-300x138.pngAlan Wright2021-05-12 16:32:072023-01-07 21:44:03Better meetings for remote teams
Show & tell is a chance for teams to show their work to stakeholders and to get feedback. It’s a crucial form of governance for agile teams that keeps everyone up to date by allowing them to see the team’s progress first hand. Before you read this, you might want to check out my other […]
I was recently asked to share some best practice on running effective show and tells. This led me into a semantic rabbit hole on the differences between show & tells, sprint reviews, team reviews, end of iteration reviews, sprint demos and showcases. These words are often used interchangeably to describe similar things. In this post, […]
In this blog post, I explore how assigning economic values to objectives can help organisations and teams make more effective prioritisation decisions. Organisations start initiates to help them achieve strategic objectives. They often produce tables like Table 1 below to aid in prioritisation and ensure they have a balanced portfolio of work. Table 1 indicates […]
http://alaniswright.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/logo1-300x138-300x138.png00Alan Wrighthttp://alaniswright.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/logo1-300x138-300x138.pngAlan Wright2019-06-24 20:46:012022-01-20 21:01:34Not all objectives are created equal
Healthy teams, happy people and mature agile ways of working are good leading indicators of organisational success. Getting these things right is key to unlocking long term sustainable delivery of value. In this blog post, I summarise some of the approaches I have used to measure and improve ways of working.
http://alaniswright.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/logo1-300x138-300x138.png00Alan Wrighthttp://alaniswright.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/logo1-300x138-300x138.pngAlan Wright2019-04-28 17:29:132019-04-28 17:45:49Measuring and improving ways of working on digital teams
Over the past year I’ve been learning a lot about cost of delay. In this blog post I explain what I’ve learned so far, and how it can be used by teams to prioritise work. My focus is on teams that are following the UK Government Digital Service Standard, but it can be of use […]
http://alaniswright.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/logo1-300x138-300x138.png00Alan Wrighthttp://alaniswright.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/logo1-300x138-300x138.pngAlan Wright2018-12-12 19:50:462018-12-12 20:02:17How Government digital teams can use Cost of Delay to prioritize work
In most digital teams the vast majority of budgets are spent on people. People are our biggest assets. Almost all of our value is produced by them. Small changes in our ability to reduce the number of resignations and motivate them to work have an exponential impact on productivity.
Firebreaks on GOV.UK are similar to Google’s 20% time or Spotify’s hack week. For 1 week every 3 months, teams disband and everyone is given a chance to have some self-directed time to improve GOV.UK. We’ve had 3 firebreaks now: June, September and December 2017. This blog post explores why we do them, how they work and the […]
GOV.UK is relied on by millions of people every day to access vital services and information. Material published on GOV.UK can move financial markets. GOV.UK is a vital part of our national infrastructure. But GOV.UK differs from most other pieces of national infrastructure in one respect: we built it and we run it using agile. […]
http://alaniswright.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/logo1-300x138-300x138.png00Alan Wrighthttp://alaniswright.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/logo1-300x138-300x138.pngAlan Wright2018-04-26 21:31:002023-01-07 21:35:50GOV.UK: a journey in scaling agile
In this post, I’m going to explain my system for keeping myself organised and productive. This system has been working well for me for the past two years, and I have helped a number of people to set it up for themselves.
http://alaniswright.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/logo1-300x138-300x138.png00Alan Wrighthttp://alaniswright.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/logo1-300x138-300x138.pngAlan Wright2018-04-22 16:15:202023-03-18 12:05:42How I stay organised using Trello, Kanban, GTD and Inbox Zero
http://alaniswright.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/logo1-300x138-300x138.png00Alan Wrighthttp://alaniswright.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/logo1-300x138-300x138.pngAlan Wright2018-03-07 17:17:182023-01-07 21:40:18How we do team selection on GOV.UK
Kaizen, Kanban, Kaikaku. We can’t get enough of these Japanese words in agile! Here’s a lesser known one: Kata. Kata is a term used by Mike Rother to describe a set of routines that Toyota use to ingrain a culture of continuous improvement in their organisation. Each routine is practiced and repeated so that it […]
http://alaniswright.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/logo1-300x138-300x138.png00Alan Wrighthttp://alaniswright.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/logo1-300x138-300x138.pngAlan Wright2018-02-24 19:50:162023-03-18 12:00:27Using Kata to help teams deliver value faster
GOV.UK was recently restructured to help us achieve our 2017/18 roadmap. As a delivery manager, I oversaw the formation of 2 new teams under the new roadmap: Content History and Worldwide Publishing. The aim was to build happy, motivated and productive teams with a strong culture of agile user-centred delivery. This blog explains the steps we went through […]
http://alaniswright.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/logo1-300x138-300x138.png00Alan Wrighthttp://alaniswright.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/logo1-300x138-300x138.pngAlan Wright2017-04-17 23:05:362023-01-07 21:39:54Starting up a new team
Teams at GDS are free to pick the processes and tools that work for them. On the GOV.UK Publishing Platform, our Kanban process is supported by Trello. This is a follow-up to my blog post on How we use Kanban on the GOV.UK Publishing Platform team, and explains how we use Trello to support our Kanban process.
http://alaniswright.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/logo1-300x138-300x138.png00Alan Wrighthttp://alaniswright.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/logo1-300x138-300x138.pngAlan Wright2017-03-13 22:57:002023-03-18 12:05:12How we use Trello on the GOV.UK Publishing Platform team
At GDS, we believe that self-organising teams create the best results. So we give each of our teams the autonomy to pick the delivery approach that works best for them. On the GOV.UK Publishing Platform, we use Kanban to help us manage the work we do.
http://alaniswright.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/logo1-300x138-300x138.png00Alan Wrighthttp://alaniswright.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/logo1-300x138-300x138.pngAlan Wright2017-02-15 22:48:152023-01-07 21:38:58How we use Kanban on the GOV.UK Publishing Platform
Wunderlist is a free-to-use task management tool. Available on desktop, web browsers, smartphone and more recently the Apple Watch, it allows you to stay organized wherever you are. Initially created in Germany it is one of my favorite productivity tools, and after it’s recent acquisition by Microsoft, it should be around for a while to come. Here I explore […]
http://alaniswright.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/logo1-300x138-300x138.png00Alan Wrighthttp://alaniswright.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/logo1-300x138-300x138.pngAlan Wright2015-08-28 08:40:202023-03-18 12:06:02Getting things done with Wunderlist
How to run a retrospective
/0 Comments/in How to run meetings, Team Ways of Working /by Alan WrightThis post provides an introduction to team retrospectives and a guide on how to run them. Intro to retrospectives What is a retrospective? A regular meeting for the team to reflect on past performance and identify ways to improve. Why bother? Good teams continuously improve their product. Great teams also continuously improve how they work […]
How to run a premortem
/0 Comments/in How to run meetings, Team Ways of Working /by Alan WrightPremortems help us identify and reduce risks before they happen. They are a great exercise to run before launching a product or feature. What is a premortem Product teams often use postmortems to understand what caused a problem and how to reduce the risk of it becoming a problem again. Premortems are the opposite. You […]
Writing good OKRs
/0 Comments/in Product, UX & Strategy, Team Ways of Working /by Alan WrightOKRs (Objectives and Key Results) is a goal setting system that was popularised by Google. To summarise, the objective defines what you want to achieve and the key result defines how you will measure progress towards achieving the objective. In this blog post, I share my thoughts on how to write good OKRs. I focus […]
Makers time and collaboration time: two metrics that help teams improve the timing of meetings to increase team health and productivity
/0 Comments/in How to run meetings, Team Ways of Working /by Alan WrightMakers time and collaboration time are two metrics that I have started using to help teams to measure the amount of quality time they have available to do their best work, and to make improvements over time. In this blog post I explain what they are and when/how to use them.
Better meetings for remote teams
/0 Comments/in How to run meetings, Team Ways of Working /by Alan Wright“Too many meetings” is something I’ve said or heard over and over again in every organisation I’ve worked. Since lockdown began, this problem seems to have gotten worse for two main reasons: There are more meetings: ‘Watercooler’ conversations and informal chats around the team space have been replaced with scheduled video meetings. Meetings are more […]
Running effective show & tells
/0 Comments/in How to run meetings /by Alan WrightShow & tell is a chance for teams to show their work to stakeholders and to get feedback. It’s a crucial form of governance for agile teams that keeps everyone up to date by allowing them to see the team’s progress first hand. Before you read this, you might want to check out my other […]
Show & tells, sprint reviews and showcases – what’s the difference?
/0 Comments/in How to run meetings /by Alan WrightI was recently asked to share some best practice on running effective show and tells. This led me into a semantic rabbit hole on the differences between show & tells, sprint reviews, team reviews, end of iteration reviews, sprint demos and showcases. These words are often used interchangeably to describe similar things. In this post, […]
Not all objectives are created equal
/0 Comments/in Product, UX & Strategy /by Alan WrightIn this blog post, I explore how assigning economic values to objectives can help organisations and teams make more effective prioritisation decisions. Organisations start initiates to help them achieve strategic objectives. They often produce tables like Table 1 below to aid in prioritisation and ensure they have a balanced portfolio of work. Table 1 indicates […]
Measuring and improving ways of working on digital teams
/0 Comments/in Team Ways of Working /by Alan WrightHealthy teams, happy people and mature agile ways of working are good leading indicators of organisational success. Getting these things right is key to unlocking long term sustainable delivery of value. In this blog post, I summarise some of the approaches I have used to measure and improve ways of working.
How Government digital teams can use Cost of Delay to prioritize work
/0 Comments/in Product, UX & Strategy, Team Ways of Working /by Alan WrightOver the past year I’ve been learning a lot about cost of delay. In this blog post I explain what I’ve learned so far, and how it can be used by teams to prioritise work. My focus is on teams that are following the UK Government Digital Service Standard, but it can be of use […]
People over resources
/0 Comments/in Team Ways of Working /by Alan WrightIn most digital teams the vast majority of budgets are spent on people. People are our biggest assets. Almost all of our value is produced by them. Small changes in our ability to reduce the number of resignations and motivate them to work have an exponential impact on productivity.
Firebreaks on GOV.UK
/0 Comments/in Team Ways of Working /by Alan WrightFirebreaks on GOV.UK are similar to Google’s 20% time or Spotify’s hack week. For 1 week every 3 months, teams disband and everyone is given a chance to have some self-directed time to improve GOV.UK. We’ve had 3 firebreaks now: June, September and December 2017. This blog post explores why we do them, how they work and the […]
GOV.UK: a journey in scaling agile
/0 Comments/in Team Ways of Working /by Alan WrightGOV.UK is relied on by millions of people every day to access vital services and information. Material published on GOV.UK can move financial markets. GOV.UK is a vital part of our national infrastructure. But GOV.UK differs from most other pieces of national infrastructure in one respect: we built it and we run it using agile. […]
How I stay organised using Trello, Kanban, GTD and Inbox Zero
/0 Comments/in Personal Productivity, Tools /by Alan WrightIn this post, I’m going to explain my system for keeping myself organised and productive. This system has been working well for me for the past two years, and I have helped a number of people to set it up for themselves.
How we do team selection on GOV.UK
/0 Comments/in Team Ways of Working /by Alan WrightThis post explores how we plan who works on which team on GOV.UK, and how that process has evolved throughout 2017-2018.
Using Kata to help teams deliver value faster
/0 Comments/in Product, UX & Strategy, Team Ways of Working /by Alan WrightKaizen, Kanban, Kaikaku. We can’t get enough of these Japanese words in agile! Here’s a lesser known one: Kata. Kata is a term used by Mike Rother to describe a set of routines that Toyota use to ingrain a culture of continuous improvement in their organisation. Each routine is practiced and repeated so that it […]
Starting up a new team
/0 Comments/in Team Ways of Working /by Alan WrightGOV.UK was recently restructured to help us achieve our 2017/18 roadmap. As a delivery manager, I oversaw the formation of 2 new teams under the new roadmap: Content History and Worldwide Publishing. The aim was to build happy, motivated and productive teams with a strong culture of agile user-centred delivery. This blog explains the steps we went through […]
How we use Trello on the GOV.UK Publishing Platform team
/0 Comments/in Team Ways of Working, Tools /by Alan WrightTeams at GDS are free to pick the processes and tools that work for them. On the GOV.UK Publishing Platform, our Kanban process is supported by Trello. This is a follow-up to my blog post on How we use Kanban on the GOV.UK Publishing Platform team, and explains how we use Trello to support our Kanban process.
How we use Kanban on the GOV.UK Publishing Platform
/0 Comments/in Team Ways of Working /by Alan WrightAt GDS, we believe that self-organising teams create the best results. So we give each of our teams the autonomy to pick the delivery approach that works best for them. On the GOV.UK Publishing Platform, we use Kanban to help us manage the work we do.
Getting things done with Wunderlist
/4 Comments/in Personal Productivity, Tools /by Alan WrightWunderlist is a free-to-use task management tool. Available on desktop, web browsers, smartphone and more recently the Apple Watch, it allows you to stay organized wherever you are. Initially created in Germany it is one of my favorite productivity tools, and after it’s recent acquisition by Microsoft, it should be around for a while to come. Here I explore […]