2024 Weeknote 33 : A season for changes

August 12 – 18

My “weeknotes” capture events, thoughts, and other items from the past week, mostly focused on work.

[1] New “Seasons” model for Delivery Services projects

As part of our Delivery Services “reboot” meetings this past week, we discussed how to bring some structure and predictability to our project work. This is vital for a couple reasons. First, there’s a chaotic nature to what the team does because they are working with disparate resource teams, vendors, and all manner of stakeholders. Second, driving action is difficult when everyone is distracted, so deadlines arranged in step-by-step models help focus people and catch situations where work may not be happening sooner rather than later.

Bringing structure to projects is a key job for Delivery Services. So we considered… could we adopt a model similar to what the GX Foundry started earlier this year? The GX team created a “Seasons” model that breaks up the year into chunks where we plan the work, do the work, then reflect on and celebrate the work. In their case, they adopted an 8-week model, with 1 week of prep, 6 weeks of work, and 1 week of wrapping things up. It’s worked well so far.

6 weeks? 8 weeks?

Our “seasons” concept (based on a TV streaming service metaphor) is a repackaging of Agile and Lean notions in general and is a specific repackaging of the “six-week cycle” advocated by the Basecamp team in their awesome book Shape Up. (Their 6-week cycle also has prep and wrap weeks, but they don’t consider those to be part of the core cycle.)

Excerpt from **Shape Up** by the team at Basecamp.

When we discussed the possibilities, the Delivery Services team came to the conclusion that a 6-week cycle (1 week of prep, 4 weeks of work, 1 week of wrap) was the better option because not all of the projects are software projects, and shorter timeframes would be beneficial in pushing resources and clients to focus and get things done.

A new calendar

So we mapped out the remainder of 2024 and 2025 as well, in a calendar that starts up very soon (Mon, Aug 26) with a shortened “pilot” to get things rolling. Draft calendar designs are shared below for reference:

NOTE: The “tagline” on these posters is not official. We’re trying out some different mission/mantra styles, trying to find what fits best with our team. So “Impact. Designed and delivered.” is not a final wording for us. But it hints at the direction.

Why we use TV terminology and how it maps

We don’t use “Agile” terminology because that can draw you into religious wars over who’s doing it right or wrong. We also don’t use classic Project Management terminology (like PMI’s stuff for the PMP) because it feels too heavy, too pedantic, and not very much fun. And we don’t use the Shape Up terminology because we’re not fully in control of what we create or the conditions in which we create it, and we run more than software product development efforts. So that’s why we don’t use those.

But we use the TV seasons model in part because… it’s fun! And why not inject a little whimsy into work that can grind you down, if you let it. Government technology projects are hard for all kinds of reasons that aren’t technical. Read Recoding America and Hack Your Bureaucracy if you need more evidence of that.

Since we’re doing something unique, and using the TV metphor, we had to map the terminology ourselves. Below is a (draft) glossary for what we’re doing. Kinda requires knowing a little bit about how TV shows are created, but we think most folks have at least a sense of how that works, or they can learn…

Delivery Services: DS+ Seasons Teminology

Delivery Services is “DS+” — a streaming service with multiple SHOWS
Each work effort that passes through Analysis or Delivery is a SHOW
Each SHOW has SEASONS (6-week periods)
- Each SEASON is composed of 4 EPISODES (1 week each)
- Each SEASON has a PREVIEW (prep) week and a FINALE (wrap) week
EPISODES can be grouped into 4×1 or 2×2 STORY ARCS (sprints) if desired
EPISODES and STORY ARCS blend
- characters (resources)
- situations (products, customers)
- and plots (tasks)
- in a narrative (timeline)
- that builds meaning and impact (business value)
Each Business Analyst is a WRITER for the SHOW
Each Project Manager is a SHOWRUNNER
Project Resources are CHARACTERS in the SHOW
All Stakeholders are VIEWERS of the SHOW

Will it work?

Very likely. Why am I confident (when I’m usually not)? Because it’s already made a difference for the GX Foundry team. They produce more now than they did, and they seem to be enjoying it — this model has a built-in “celebration” phase that lets us remember and highlight the stuff we did. (We have one coming up this Fri, Aug 23). It’s easy to forget what you did in the tech world because it’s all so ephemeral by nature. Now we don’t.

But to make it work, we need support and participation from across our organization. The GX Foundry team could pretty much adopt this model on their own. But the Delivery Services team has to embed this in our operations across multiple teams. I doubt our customers will care — they just want what they want, and they want it now. The mechanics of how they get it doesn’t matter much to them (nor should it, really).

We’re planning to start evangelizing this in a little over a week. We don’t really need our resource teams to do a ton more than they do now. We just need them to understand it at least a little, and play along. We’ll take care of the rest as we go.

I, for one, and excited to get this rolling. And I think the team is, too. We might just have to take this to a conference in the future if it works, and teach others how to put on a show.

[3] Miscellanea

Delivery Services Reboot: Complete
Our Delivery Services (business analysis and project management) team completed a 5-day marathon of meetings (spread over 2 weeks) as part of “resetting” our culture and practices. The result? More work to do (of course)! But it was good to connect, share time, and talk about our mission, the ways we work, and how we will integrate with our IT services teams across the broader organization and our customers. This team’s function has really been only partially-effective and partially-integrated for many years, and we believe by reinvigorating the team we can make a huge impact on the organization and our customers.
Storytelling teacher David Hutchens had a fantastic post this week on LinkedIn about why friendships are so difficult to find as an adult. These are some really key insights that resonated with me.
Our GX Concourse team finally got approval for wireframes for the new countywide website we are developing with Granicus. Took a long time because there’s a lot of hand-wringing over this change, which is understandable. We just need to get decisions makers focused on getting us through key decision points smoothly, rather than tripping up on all the feelings of the thing. We must acknowledge and honor the feelings, but we cannot stop the project in hopes of avoiding the feelings. Feel them. Intensely, if needed. Then we move ahead.
Thankfully a colleague that had an accident 3 weeks ago finally made it home from the hospital. That was good to see. It was odd to be faced with that kind of accident, given my experience in 2019 with my wife’s own near-fatal accident that landed her in the ICU for a month. While this happened at a “professional distance” it felt more personal for that reason.
Personally, the wife and I are starting to work on our fall vacation plans again. Pet/house sitter is already arranged. Flights are done. Now we’re nailing down cities, lodging, and activities in Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff, and Sedona, Arizona.

[4] Watch This

[5] Internet Funnies

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