Author: Peter Round
What exactly does maximising the amount not done mean?
I find people don’t quite understand or grasp the statement properly, and sometimes, it takes a bit to get to that point. It even took me a while to fully comprehend even though, in practice, I have used this agile principle perhaps without realising it.
I will transport back to a time when Holdens and Fords ruled the road, Nokia ruled communications and Gretel Kileen was on our TVs every night. At this time in my life, I was working at a service station whilst completing the last couple of years of a design degree. This was when service stations had pies being warmed all day, dodgy coffee machines, or hotdogs on a rotisserie and were primarily about selling fuel.
I used to work in a particular way, and it was effective. I would work out what the owner wanted, what he looked at, and further on what needed to be done in the event of a mystery shopper appearing out of the dark to catch me forgetting to upsell an extra chocolate bar or spying on a chip packet that was in the wrong place.
I used to go about my day-to-day, but I also spent time reading magazines or newspapers. At the same time, I served customers or dodged random people who thought they had found a friend. “Sorry buddy, I am talking to you because I cannot go anywhere while working!!”
This was fine; the owner was happy because he was getting the outcome he wanted.
I didn’t realise the significance of it until one hot Saturday morning, one of the other workers came in and saw me reading a magazine (I will get to my point soon!!), and he freaked out a bit.
With some surprise in his voice, he said, ‘How do you get away with that? Marco (may or may not be the owner’s real name) tells me off when I am doing it. I work the whole shift doing things.’
Now, in the back of my mind, I was thinking sure, mate, I have come in, and it doesn’t look like the place is tidy, but I asked instead. Well, what do you do, Jimmy (better than being called boring old Paul!).
He explained that he worked the whole shift cleaning and doing things. I responded by saying I only do about 3 hours in a 6-8-hour shift on top of serving customers, and perhaps you (Jimmy) need to do the right things that matter.
I was actually saying and only understood this later: ‘ You are not providing the value the owner is seeking, and you are doing things that don’t really matter or are just busy work.’
I was maximising the amount of work not done!
In the context of working in a shop, how was I doing this??
At the start of each shift, I cleaned one bay of shelves by removing the stock, wiping down the shelves, and returning the stock. I worked 3-4 shifts and washed the whole store in a month.
- I provided value by ensuring the place wasn’t dusty and dirty. Still, I was doing it at a decent pace, which was enough to ensure it was presentable.
- I would then go through the drinks and food items stock and restock as much as possible on the shop floor.
- This was providing value to the owner by ensuring the stock in the cupboards reflected what we still had, which made ordering more accurate and made the shelves look full, just in time.
- Next was outside; I would fill the window washers, empty any bins, and ensure nothing looked out of place.
- When Marco would pull up, the place looked good from the beginning, and it would instantly help keep him in a positive mood.
- After this, the only other thing I would do is always keep the shelves faced up so they looked perfect. If someone bought a packet of chips, I would move the other packets forward as soon as I was free so they were neat and presentable.
- One significant benefit of this was to see if people were stealing things, and I caught a few regulars this way. It also made the place look like it had just opened.
So, what was I doing that Jimmy wasn’t?
I listened and paid attention to the owner (customer) and what they wanted and needed – Removing assumptions and working out the essential ‘things’ the customer wanted through observation and experimentation.
I was working at a sustainable pace that met the owner’s needs by cleaning the shelves over a month and then starting again – Breaking work down into smaller, more focused pieces.
I was ensuring that on the surface, everything was how it should be, even if it took some manual steps in the background to make this happen, providing the customer with what they wanted on the surface – I was operating in the space that mattered to the ‘customer’ even if the backend required some manual tasks.
I wasn’t doing work just for the sake of working. I was doing things that had to be done to make the place and the shop (product) presentable and valuable. – I was avoiding gold plating by doing the essential things that the owner (customer) wanted
The other important thing I was doing was limiting work in progress. I did this by doing one thing at a time, in smaller sections, such as cleaning one shelf/bay at a time.
So, how was I maximising the amount of work not done? Focusing on the customer’s needs and making small changes or actions to maintain those needs provides the value the customer seeks. I was not doing a heap of busy work to look busy. I was doing the work that needed to be done…
And how does this apply to software development or data and analytics?
In the context of software development and data/analytics, the principle of “maximising the amount not done” can be applied to achieve efficiency and deliver value effectively through the following agile concepts;
- Understanding Customer Needs: Understanding user requirements is crucial in software development. If you need clarification on the customer’s needs and wants, it is essential to question and investigate further.
- Working at a Sustainable Pace: Software development requires working at a sustainable pace that meets the owner’s needs. This translates to adopting agile practices that allow for steady progress without burning out the team.
- Surface-level Presentation: Ensuring everything is presentable on the surface is directly related to delivering a polished product. This could mean an earlier focus on a user-friendly interface and efficient user workflows.
- Avoiding Gold Plating: In software development, this is akin to avoiding features or functionalities that do not add value to the end user or distract from the team’s goal.
- Limiting Work in Progress: Limiting work in progress in agile methodologies is comparable to doing one thing at a time in smaller sections. This ensures that each task is completed effectively before moving on to the next one. Multitasking is the enemy of getting things done.
- Observation and Experimentation: Just as I removed assumptions and worked out essential tasks through observation, software development benefits from an iterative approach and adjusting based on feedback.
In summary, the concept of “maximising the amount not done” can be applied to software development and data/analytics by focusing on customer needs, adopting sustainable development practices, delivering a polished product, avoiding unnecessary work, limiting work in progress, and continually providing value through observation and experimentation.