Emel Yayla / Allianz Türkiye - Agile Coach
Not every meeting goes as planned. Some meetings take longer and longer, some end at a different point from where they started, and some do not have positive results. Thanks to Liberating Structures, the duration, topics, purpose of the meetings, in short, everything is clear. Hence, success is inevitable. As in HEY!
At HEY!, we continue our work in a Fast and Efficient way that everyone is Empowered from A to Z. But getting here was not easy. Because there were features that needed to be fixed or improved. After switching to a system, you can further perfect that system with the improvements you make at various levels. Again, we have such an example.
Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless tackled problems in this field by developing applications to be used in meetings and interviews, which are the most important parts of daily working life. In this study, which they call Liberating Structures, there are 33 practical and easy-to-apply methods.
What you need to do is simple: try it, see the results and keep trying.
Everyone is involved in the practices in Liberating Structures. The common features of the structures are as follows: Versatile, easy to learn, does not require expertise, result-oriented, short and fast, multi-scale and enjoyable.
Most of the 33 applications take between 10-30 minutes. In this way, no one can escape by saying "I don't have the time" (A wicked laugh will be added here). It can be better understood if we review some examples. Let's take a look at a few common Liberating Structure practices, shall we? Let's see.
1-2-4-ALL
What is that?
This is a very simple and powerful microstructure. We start individually and then move on to pairs and groups so that the best idea comes naturally out of the group.
How is it done?
We initially identify the problem or challenge, then share it with our group.
Minute 1: Ask everyone for quiet reflection.
Minute 2: Ask everyone to share their ideas in pairs.
Minute 4: Ask couples to share their ideas with other couples. Tell them to pay attention to the similarities and differences. Thus, groups of four were formed.
Minute 5: Ask each quartet to share the idea that stands out or feels important.
Why is it used?
You can also use this method during Sprint Retrospectives to address challenges faced by Scrum teams and to refine the Product Backlog.
Impromptu Networking (~ 20 minutes)
What is that?
Used to quickly gather important observations and ideas from a large group.
How is it done?
Prepare a question. For example: “What obstacles did you face in this sprint?” Then ask people to stand up and form pairs.
3 minutes: Introduce the question and have the pairs answer the questions.
3 minutes: Now it's time to form new pairs and have them answer the same question again.
3 minutes: Again, we will form new pairs and answer the same question. Here we will ask them to focus on similarities, differences or patterns in the three rounds.
5 minutes: Ask everyone in the group to share some observations or patterns.
Why is it used?
It is used to spread ideas, make personal connections and understand what is important to the group.
25/10 Crowdsourcing (~ 30 minutes)
Why is it used?
It benefits from the expertise of a large group to come up with creative ideas in a short time.
How is it done?
Çözüm bulmak istediğin soruyu veya zorluğu grupla paylaş. 5 dakika: En cesur çözümlerini ve bu yoldaki ilk adımlarını bir not kağıdına yazmalarını iste. 3 dakika: Etrafta dolaşıp, başkalarıyla not alışverişi yapmalarını söyle. Herkes kartları sessiz şekilde ve hızla gözden geçirsin, sen söyleyene kadar herkes dolaşmayı sürdürsün. 1 dakika: Şimdi sıra, karttaki fikri okuyup, 1-5 arasında puan vererek kartın arkasına yazmada… 10 dakika: Yukarıdaki iki turu dört kez daha tekrarla. Her kart en az 5, en fazla 25 puan alacak böylelikle. 5 dakika: En yüksek puanı alan kartlardan başlayarak fikir ve ilk adımları okumalarını iste. 10 fikir bulana kadar devam et.
Why is it used?
It's a fun, dynamic and fast way to gather lots of ideas from a group. Everyone has an equal say, as both idea generation and scoring are anonymous. It can be used to gather new ideas for the Product Backlog and identify areas for improvement.
How does the process become easier when implementing Liberating Structures?
Watch out for time: It may be tempting to prolong the time, but the way to go deeper is to repeat the structure. This will be more efficient.
Steer: Gently lead the group as you move on to the next step.
Time: If you're going to do a series of exercises one after the other, give the group time to refresh their energy in between. Let go: You don't define pairs and groups, people do it themselves.
Don't do it alone: Build a team to manage large groups.
I wish all meetings to be fruitful in your HEY! Journey, and I share the address where you can find the table of all Liberating Structures:
http://www.liberatingstructures.com/
P.S. You can contact us by clicking here to share your experiences and ask questions about the agile working method.
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