Lean Change Management Blog Archives

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20232022
  • Clarifying Values and Principles with Perspective Mapping (Featured, Stories)
    The Perspective Map helps us explore the similarities and differences people have about the change. It is important to understand the perspective of the organization, leaders, and people in order to move the change forward.
  • Inside the Pressure Cooker to Make Teams Better (Stories)
    Dmitry joined a large game development company as a Development Director. He was tasked with helping to build a new studio for them in a new location. The team he had to work with had already been working in this organization for 9+ years. That meant structures, connections, rituals, ways of working were quite set. The team had been used to building PVP (Player vs Player) experience products for 9+ years.
  • Why embodiment matters for change agents (Featured)
    Whilst leading change at a large media organisation in the UK, I led a review of an Open Space-style event that I had suggested and orchestrated. We were working our way around the Zoom grid. People were effusing about how interactive and energising they found the meeting. They loved the openness and the fact that […]
  • Six Tips for Facilitating a Kick-Ass Lean Coffee Session (Featured)
    Lean Coffee is an amazing tool for creating meaningful dialogue. Here are six awesome tips for super-charging your lean coffee session.
  • How Lallia Earned Her Storytelling Badge (Stories)
      Lallia Cherif is the newest recipient of our Storyteller badge!Learn how she understood that she is the first person that must change and used the Lean change Storytelling canvas, Lean coffee and the ecosystem of change on her change journey as an agile coach. How it all started During her journey as an agile coach, […]
  • OMG, She’s Listening to Us! (Featured, Stories)
    This is Sarika's story that earned her the Lean Change Management Storytelling credential!
2021
  • A Look Inside Lean Change Management Part II: Practicing What We Preach (Featured)
    In Part II of a Look Inside LCM, we'll show you how we solved our collaboration challenges and how we run things day to day.
  • The Day I Resisted Change (Stories)
    Fore score and twenty years ago, I had a change inflicted on me. And I didn't like it. Here's 6 ideas the 'change people' could have used to avoid my resistance.
  • A Look inside Lean Change Management (A Look Inside)
    Over the years, I’ve talked to a handful of business advisors, personal coaches, peers and entrepreneurs because when you’re a solopreneur, it’s hard to bounce ideas off yourself! The interesting thing about those conversations is most of those folks seemed to be clinging to an archaic view of what a business is supposed to be. […]
  • The Inner Game of Change Podcast (Featured)
    In this interview, I talk with Ali Juma of The Inner Game of Change about Lean Change Management, how change management is changing and more.
2020
  • The Meaning of Co-Creation (Change Management)
    Today is the first day of school, and while it’s usually a time for parents to crack open a bottle of wine in celebration, today, we’re cracking open a bottle of wine because they’ll only be in classes for about 5 hours a week. I’ve received twenty-one emails since late August when the back-to-school plan was announced. […]
  • Co-Creating a Better Future for Humanity (Stories)
    Eight years ago, in 2012, I went to the first Lean Startup Machine event in Toronto where our team won first prize by validating our idea and selling our prototype for $50. At the time, I was working as a product owner, and my company was looking to be the first to offer iPad applications […]
  • Episode 5 – A Return to Humanity (Public Lean Coffee)
    LCMA Lean Coffee #5 This week I chat with Dawna Jones and Colin Mulholland about this being the perfect time to return to humanity. That means a shift towards purpose over profit, a return to community values, and this being a trigger point for generational change. Show notes and links Dawna: twitter | website Colin: […]
  • Lean Coffee #4 – New skills, Humane Workforces and Feedback Loops (Public Lean Coffee)
    LCMA Lean Coffee #4 Will the workforce become more humane? Will we move from “so how’s the weather?” to meaningful conversations? Show notes and links Lean Coffee Table Zoom running live and recorded tutorials Core Protocols – check-in’s, thumb voting and more     (Visited 17 times, 1 visits today)
  • Lean Coffee #3 – Will Organizations Act Differently in a Post-Covid world? (Public Lean Coffee)
    LCMA Lean Coffee #3 More remote tips using Zoom breakout rooms, virtual lean coffee and lean coffee table. We chatted about how to help humanity and what might be different in a post-COVID world. Show notes and links Lean Coffee Table Zoom running live and recorded tutorials Will your industry be disrupted? (IE: what shape […]
  • LCMA Virtual Lean Coffee #1 (Public Lean Coffee)
    LCMA Lean Coffee #1 How can we help the world? Shownotes: – www.collaborationsuperpowers.com : a great place to learn about remote working – www.leancoffeetable.com : the tool we use to run virtual lean coffee – Focused Conversations – help leaders with having conversations that matter – online retrospective tools https://miro.com , https://limnu.com/   (Visited 17 times, 1 visits today)
  • Lean Coffee #2 – Remote Tips, Stalled Changes and Humanity! (Public Lean Coffee)
    LCMA Lean Coffee #2 Remote working tips, stalled changes and humanity!   Show notes and links Remote tools: www.collaborationsuperpowers.com (tons of great remote working tips, books etc) https://funretro.io/ (looks to be nothing more than Trello?) https://www.retrium.com/ (bunch of tools like lean coffee, 4L’s retro etc…) https://miro.com/ (virtual whiteboard) https://personifyinc.com/ Make ‘weather person’ style videos for […]
  • The Evolution of Digital Credentials (Featured)
    Certifications continue to appear weekly in all sorts of knowledge work. Since late 2018, we've been providing digital credentials and here's what we've learned, and what's next.
2019
  • Creating Certainty in an Uncertain World (Featured)
    Agile says 'embrace uncertainty'. A better idea is figuring out how to reduce it.
  • Modernizing Change Communication (Featured)
    change communication is almost always training and newsletters…what would it take to shift towards modern practices that enable meaningful dialogue?
  • Change and Agile Leadership (Change Management, Interviews)
    Leadership has existed since the dawn of humankind. History shows us great leaders adapt to their context so what does 'agile' really change about that?
  • Making Time for Change (Change Wall, Lean Coffee, Stories)
    We’re almost a month into the New Year which means 80% of people have abandoned their resolutions. In this Inc.com article, the two main reasons include being unreasonable about your resolution, and the word resolution itself. I didn’t have a New Year’s resolution this year, and generally haven’t for some time. It used to be […]
  • Change Management: A Look Back at 2018 (Stories)
    What changed about change management in 2018 and what's in store for 2019?
2018
  • Triggering Meaningful Dialogue with Storytelling (Featured, Stories)
    If you’ve ever seen a Disney movie, you know what great storytelling looks like. The hero gets a call to action; turns it down, or fails, or runs away; finds meaning in what they were asked to do through a mentor; and finally, they come back and are successful. Annelise de Meyer recently posted about […]
  • Support Structures for Change Agents (Featured)
    A few years ago when I was working in a large organization helping a 1600-ish person department with a change, I had a few of those days that I think we’ve all had at some point. I had a day of meetings scheduled and every single one was canceled by the time I got to […]
  • Change Readiness and Setting Expectations (Perspective Mapping)
    As we close out November’s Lean Change Management Association (LCMA) theme, this article ties in what we sometimes forget about: expectations of the change agent. In the first article, I showed how to use a simple grid to do a change readiness assessment, and if you’re an LCMA member, you would have seen the short video […]
  • Are You Ready for Change? (Featured)
    “Hi Jason, we’re looking for a <change agent, agile coach, consultant> to help with our agile transformation. I wanted to setup a time for you to come in and chat with my VP about it.”, said Biff. I replied with, “Thanks for reaching out! Tell me a bit more about this transformation. When did you […]
  • Digital Credentials over Certifications (Featured)
    The debate about certifications will always exist. There are those that feel becoming certified in any knowledge related field after sitting in a class for 2-days is ridiculous, and on the opposite side of the table, there are those that support certifications as an entry point into a field of knowledge. It’s largely a matter […]
  • Impact Matrix – 4 Categories of People Affected by Change (Accountability Box)
    Benjamin Franklyn said, “All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move.” We know not everyone affected by the change will be impacted by, or respond to, the change in the same way or with the same intensity. Lean Change Agent Facilitators Annelise De Meyer and […]
  • Finding Influencers…at the Bottom of Your Org Chart (Interviews)
    We underestimate the power of influence networks in our organizations. Here are 5 tips for finding influencers at the bottom of the org chart, along with a podcast I recorded with Tamara Kleinberg of Inside Launchstreet.
  • Ritual-based Change versus Continuous Change (Change Management)
    This year when the New Year came around, my 11 year old daughter told me that resolutions were pointless because it’s just another year, same as any other. I remember thinking that when I started becoming entrenched in all-things-agile, I thought it was smart to improve when necessary instead of thinking we couldn’t change something about […]
2017
  • Happy Anniversary Lean Change Management! (Announcements, Featured)
    Last month marked the 3rd anniversary of the 2nd edition of Lean Change Management. 5th anniversary if you include the terrible Leanpub version, and 8th anniversary if you consider the blog post that started it all. Much has happened since then: ~10,000 copies of Lean Change Management have been sold factoring in all distribution channels […]
  • Creating a Community of Change Agents with Lean Change (Stories)
    Lean Change Agent Facilitators Charlotte Mawle and Ro Gorell recently interviewed Melanie Lunny about her experience using Lean Change Management tools to create a community of change agents.  Listen to Melanie Lunny describe her experiences of applying Lean Change.  Her insights and experiences will be sure to encourage you to take action.  Melanie demonstrates what […]
  • LCM Podcast 16 – Debugging Bureaucracy (Podcasts)
    In this podcast, we hand over the hosting reigns to Lean Change Facilitator Richard Atherton – one of the leaders of Lean Change in the UK. Richard first discovered Venkataraman on LinkedIn in 2016 and was attracted to his incisive writing on organisations. In this episode they explore: What do we mean by bureaucracy? How […]
  • Lean Change Management in Action (Canvases, Change Wall, Experiments, Stories)
    This is the story of the journey to integrate change management into a continuous delivery model, from the perspective of 4 people and their respective roles as Change Managers (Portfolio and Project Level), Scrum Master and Agile Coach.
  • LCM Podcast 15 – What’s it Like Living Through a SAFe Rollout (Podcasts)
    This is the final podcast as I put the podcast on hiatus for a bit to focus on other activities. Most of the stories we hear about agile transformation, or a rollout of <insert the method name here>, it’s from someone selling something, or from the consultants, or leaders who were responsible for the rollout […]
  • Reshaping our View of Agile Transformation (Agile Transformation, Change Management, Presentations, Videos)
    We didn't intentionally plan our way into a situation that warrants an agile transformation. We need to undo the damage through small, consistent interventions over time.
  • LCM Podcast 14 – Meaningful Change at National Leasing (Podcasts)
    In October 2015 National Leasing started a big change. A year later they shared their progress on this blog. In this episode, I talk with them about what happened now that the change program has been completed.
  • LCM Podcast 13 – Sociocracy with Jerry Koch-Gonzalez (Podcasts)
    We underestimate the importance of psychological safety, and meaningful conversations when it comes to running our organizations. In this episode, Jerry Koch-Gonzalez explains the 3 structures of sociocracy, why organizations are choosing it, how they're getting stuck, and what's getting them past those sticking points.
  • LCM Podcast 12 – Agile Change Management Lessons from the Field (Podcasts)
    Nowadays, the word agile has baggage. Despite the amount of information out there, some still think agile means no planning, no process, and no documents. If you feel you have an agile mindset, it can be extremely difficult to work with those who “don’t get it”. If you look at the 4 values and 12 […]
  • LCM Podcast 11 – Brains and Ears (Podcasts)
    There are more change frameworks out there than you can shake a stick at. We all have our favourites, but how necessary are they? We know change is hard, and we know the debates about why change fails have been circular over the last decade or perhaps longer. Yet here we are, inventing, and reinventing more […]
  • LCM Podcast 10 – How Organizational Change Mimics Social Movements (Podcasts)
    In 2001, the Agile Manifesto was created and along with it, a movement for a better way to build software. Since then over 40 methods, tools, frameworks and more have been created as the software world learned that 4 values and 12 principles alone were not enough. 16 years later, and some feel that we […]
  • LCM Podcast 9 – Society’s Effect on Organizational Change (Podcasts)
    10 years ago you’d be laughed out of the building if you used words like love and vulnerability in the boardroom. Today, there seems to be a trend towards stripping away the noise as leaders understand that meaningful change isn’t going to happen through the $4 million worth of buzzword-filled documents that big consulting firms […]
  • Combining Innovation Games and Lean Change Management (Agile Transformation, Change Management)
    We often hear, “People don’t like change.” This is not true. What people don’t like is change which is forced on them, especially where the perceived pain outweighs the perceived gain. When this kind of change is forced on people, they resist. When people co-create change, they are more likely to be invested in a […]
  • Alternatives to Change Management Certifications (Change Management, Stories)
    In 1998 I became an HP Certified Printer Repair person because I demonstrated the ability to replace PIU;s (Paper Input Units) at an alarming speed. It’s also been about 15 years since I received my first MCP (Microsoft Certified Professional) designation for using Microsoft Front Page. Funny thing is, I’m still certified in it! Ron […]
2016
  • The Change Before the Change (Agile Transformation, Change Management)
    In a recent post, I wrote about how to apply Agile techniques to change readiness assessments by using Perspective Mapping. What happens when there is the desire for change, but the organization isn’t ready? Further, what if the perception that the organization isn’t ready is simply my perspective? As much as we like to think change […]
  • LCM Podcast EP8 – Letting Go of Control (Podcasts)
    I was fortunate to be interviewed by Ro Gorrell and Charlotte Mawle for their upcoming Change Ignition podcast. In this episode we talk about simple solutions for integrating change management and agile teams, as well as how letting go as a change agent helps you keep your sanity, and helps people realize you're there to help, not to push change on them.
  • How to Make Change Matter using Change Canvases (Canvases, Change Wall, Stories)
    Telling people about the change doesn't have a strong enough impact – you need to get the people affected by the change involved in the design of it. Here's how National Leasing used Change Canvases to trigger co-creation of change.
  • Is Your Organization Ready for Agile Change? (Gathering Insights, Perspective Mapping, Stories)
    Change readiness assessments aren't a new idea...but there's an easier way to go about them!
  • EP7: The Happy Melly Ecosystem with Elizabeth Plouffe (Podcasts)
    I was recently interviewed by Elizabeth Plouffe on her Across the Desk podcast. This is a re-broadcast of her podcast! In this episode we talk about the Happy Melly ecosystem is helping people understand the importance of workplace happiness, how we can focus on understanding what in our system is affected when we want to […]
  • Is Your Change Stuck? (Featured)
    [et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”4.5.5″ hover_enabled=”0″ background_color=”#ffffff”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.5.5″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_column _builder_version=”4.5.5″ _module_preset=”default” type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”3.27.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] I recently visited an organization that used humor as a way to avoid deep conversations.  While the leadership team didn’t have an issue with talking about problems, there came a time when the conversation was teetering […]
  • There’s No Such Thing as Change Resistance (Change Management)
    During my first Agile consulting gig, I was working with a pilot team that had 5 developers, 2 testers, and me, as the Scrum Master. We had another external technical coach who was working with us as well. We were using a technique called planning poker to size up 3 different projects and one person […]
  • Why Agile Breaks Your Organization (Featured, Stories)
    A while back I was helping a marketing department with Agile, and that’s a story for another day. This story starts with a comment from a VP who was sponsoring the problem that this marketing team was working on. He said, “we tend to make it hard on ourselves to get work done with all […]
  • Minimum Viable Change Process (Agile Transformation, Change Management)
    There are easily 40 change methods out there. If there was a best practice, shouldn’t there just be one? Throughout the last few decades where change managers roamed the world, haven’t we figured out the one process that works? I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again. We *know* we need good communication, a […]
  • Creating Alignment for Enterprise Transformation (Accountability Box, Stories)
    Read any article about how to ensure successful change (or why changes fail), and you’re likely to see these patterns: we need communication, top-down support, strong leadership, a reason why (urgency), motivated individuals, and the right change method to follow. There are enough change methods, models, and frameworks out there to shake a stick at, […]
  • Untangling the Organizational Hairball (Agile Transformation, Blast Radius, Change Management, Videos)
    Change managers, OD people, and Agile Coaches all love our frameworks, tools and models. We like to "invent" things to help our clients make sense of their environments. What ever happened to facilitated conversations? Here's some ideas for how you can untangle the hairball that is your clients organization.
  • Using Creative Visuals to Show Progress (Agile Transformation, Stories)
    In the project management world we take big projects and break them up into smaller pieces so they are less overwhelming to the people doing the work. This also makes it so we can track our progress. In Agile, we break them up into short iterations so we can create feedback loops to improve quickly. […]
  • Successful Agile Transformation through Community Building (Agile Transformation, Change Management)
    I’ve worked with enough large organizations to see patterns in how they typically approach Agile Transformation: Someone gets excited about Agile for some reason, and people who get agile, run with it. Someone in the existing hierarchical structure becomes responsible for it. Rollout team is created. Rollout plan is created. Organization becomes paralyzed by how to […]
  • Removing the Mumbo-Jumbo from Change Management (Stories)
    A couple of weeks ago Thomas Cagley interviewed me for his SPaMCAST podcast. Oddly enough, a few days later, I had an opportunity to try another experiment using storytelling. That will be a post for another day! [button link=”https://tcagley.wordpress.com/2016/03/20/spamcast-386-jason-little-storytelling-in-change-management/?platform=hootsuite” type=”big” newwindow=”yes”] Listen Now![/button] Topics we discussed: Storytelling in change management, what is it, and how […]
  • Cause and Purpose, or Urgency for Change? (Change Management, Featured, Stories)
    "Change or die!! Innovate for become obsolete!" This is the false urgency that Kotter warns about. Knowing the difference between urgency and false-urgency can be difficult. Maybe change agents should be focusing on something else to help organizations change.
  • LCM Podcast EP6 – Are Centralized Change Teams a Good Idea? (Podcasts)
    The Guiding Coalition - Kotter's 2nd step...but it is an outdated concept in change management or merely executed poorly by organizations? On this week's podcast, I'm joined by enterprise agile coach, Ty Crockett where we debate the pros and cons of centralized change teams.
  • Knowing Where to Look (Agile Transformation, Change Management)
    Change certifications won't go away anytime soon...unfortunately...but these are 5 simple things you can try today that certification programs won't teach you.
  • What Shouldn’t You Change? (Agile Transformation, Change Management, Gathering Insights, Stories)
    In today’s world, the organizational lifespan is shrinking, and established organizations are trying to figure out how to remain relevant. Sometimes that means change, but sometimes it means keeping something that's working.
  • Using Storytelling in Change Management (Perspective Mapping, Stories)
    Urgency for change is an outdated concept in change management. Cause and purpose for change is a more compelling way to help people align to transformational change. Learn how you can incorporate storytelling into change management by using a Storytelling Canvas.
2015
  • Integrating Cultures with Lean Coffee (Lean Coffee, Stories)
    What happens when your organization is acquired and you have overlapping roles? Brock Argue tells us a story about they approached this problem, experiments they ran and what happened.
  • LCM Podcast EP5 – The Great Organizational Culture Debate (Podcasts)
    In EP4, Eric Lynn and I talked about changing culture and the concept of 'buy in'. A few people had their own thoughts about these topics! This episode is a response to EP4.
  • How much does change really hurt? (Stories)
    Sometimes there is more going on for people when change is introduced. This week's guest post comes from Lena Ross who is a change consultant, speaker and facilitator. She writes about how brain research is helping us understand more about how people process change.
  • 3 Tips for Simplifying Change (Interviews, Stories, Videos)
    Sometimes we over complicate change and put the focus on following our favourite model, tool, framework or method. In this interview with Richard Atherton, I suggest 3 simple things that can help you move your transformation forward.
  • LCM Podcast EP4: Culture – Can you measure it? (Podcasts)
    This week's podcast features Eric Lynn, founder of Culture Q's. We discuss culture change via conversations, whether you can measure culture and more!
  • People Must Be Told What To Do (Agile Transformation, Change Management, Stories)
    "We have to tell our teams what to do or they just won’t do it." How many times have you thought this? How many times have you had a conversation like this?
  • LCM Podcast EP 3: Pop Psychology, Organizational Coaching and Agile + Org Dev (Podcasts)
    This week we feature a rebuttal of Episode 1 with Paul Gibbons. What did people think of the 1st show? Have a listen as we debate pop psychology, agile and OD and more!
  • LCM Podcast EP 2: Solving Wicked Problems with The Hot Seat (Hot Seat, Podcasts, Stories)
    This episode features Salah Elleithy, Agile Coach, Trainer and founder of Spark Agility. Salah joined an open session with me at Agile 2015 where myself and a few other people tried out a technique called The Hot Seat. Salah recently tried this out with a client and in this episode we chat about why he wanted to try it, how he did it and what happened.
  • Lean Change Management Podcast (Podcasts)
    The first Lean Change Management podcast features Paul Gibbons, the author of The Science of Successful Organizational Change. In this episode we talk about what the Agile community can learn from the organizational development and change management communities.
  • The Marriage of Agile and Organizational Change Management (Change Management)
    The Agile community groans when late adopters discover it as being the greatest thing ever. I'll wager most Agile practitioners don't realize everything in Agile has been stripped from ideas that are decades old. It doesn't matter where these ideas came from, let's merge ideas from Agile, OD, CM and HR in order to build resilient organizations.
  • Using Change Canvases – A Story from Agile 2015 (Canvases, Stories)
    Teams often feel they have had Agile pushed on them and they simply have to go along with whatever is pushed from above. Change canvases help people in teams take ownership of their changes that align with the organization's purpose.
  • Navigating Organizational Complexity at Agile 2015 (Agile Transformation)
    Agile teams can fly under the radar until they bump up against the organizational boundaries. At that point, 'being Agile' and 'Agile mindset' discussions become useless for moving forward.
  • A Lean Change Starts with Insights (Gathering Insights, Interviews, Resources, Stories)
    People process change differently. Sometimes you can be explicit about how people are affected by change and use that in your retrospective to provoke powerful discussions.
  • Getting Agile in Change Management (Experiments, Stories)
    When faced with a desire to produce a big plan when introducing change, you have a choice. Here's how I dealt with this choice.
  • What every change agent needs to know about change (Stories)
    When it comes to managing any type of organisational change there is usually a focus on the plan.  And yet, how often do things go according to plan? There is a huge elephant in the room when it comes to managing workplace change:  people are unpredictable.   And yet many processes and models of change work on […]
  • The Shelf-Life of a Change (Change Management)
    One of the people in this week’s Lean Change Agent workshop in Perth asked a great question about using Lean Coffee to create open dialogue about a change initiative. The question was: “Does the time come when it stops being useful and you stop doing it?” At the time I thought it was an interesting […]
  • The New Change Managers (Change Management)
    Change Management is a relatively new profession. And it's changing rapidly. The more we learn, the more we realize that adapatability is the key, not blindly following a method. The New Change Manager is someone who understands what change management is all about.
  • 3 Reasons Why You Should Build Your Own Change Method (Change Management)
    Many practitioners cling to the method of choice, yet the creators of those methods like to say that change fails 70% of the time. In this post I explore why you should create your own change method.
  • Perspective Mapping in the Enterprise (Agile Transformation, Change Management, Perspective Mapping, Stories)
    How do you know the changes you're working on are the most important to the organization? In a large enterprise, this can be challenging. I sat down with Joanne Stone, Agile Evangelist for TELUS to hear her thoughts about applying Perspective Mapping in her 40,000+ organization.
  • Creating Alignment for Agile Change at Agile and Beyond 2015 (Canvases, Change Wall, Options, Stories)
    Listen to April Jefferson's story about how she helped two teams and their management team transition to Agile by using strategic and team-level canvases that provoked deep conversations.
  • Announcing the First Lean Change Agent Facilitators! (Announcements)
    Become a Lean Change Agent facilitator and get on the path to bring meaningful change into the lives of people all over the world.
  • Making Sense of Change with LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY™ (Canvases, Change Management, Stories)
    I'm often asked which tool or artefact to start with when it comes to kicking off a change initiative. Well, it's not about the canvas, it's about the conversation! Here's a story of how a couple of people used LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY™ to start the alignment process around a change initiative.
  • The Change Equation is Wrong (Agile Transformation, Change Management)
    Is there a change equation that, when followed, ensures successful change? I don't believe so, but read on and let me know what you think?
  • How HolidayCheck Got Started with Lean Change Management (Change Wall, Experiments, Stories)
    Find out how HolidayCheck started their journey with Lean Change Management. It can be much more simple than you might think!
2014
  • Change VS Transformation (Agile Transformation)
    We believe that change happens continuously and mainly should be owned by the people who do the work, thus the responsibility of the work, managing the work and managing how to work shouldn’t be separated. So we recommend to use the tool in a joint session with everyone who is affected by the change. - Stefan Haas
  • Inspiration Behind Lean Change Management – An InfoQ Interview (Interviews)
    Lean Change Management is inspired by a variety of practices and many communities from agile to organizational development and neuroscience. Check out my recent interview with InfoQ about my upcoming talk at Darefest in Antwerp, Belguim.
  • Thinking Like a Change Architect (Agile Transformation, Change Management)
    Architecture is a fixture in software and construction projects, but what can change agents learn by applying ideas from architecture to organizational change?
  • How Do We Get “Those People” To Stop Resisting! (Change Management)
    Ah, the age-old question: How do we manage change resistance? This is the one and only strategy I know of to manage this problem.
  • Organizational Renovation (Agile Transformation, Change Management)
    "Transformation" is vague term. It sounds good to say "we need to transform" but it doesn't prepare people in organizations for what they're going to need to tolerate while "construction" is in progress.
  • 7 Wastes of Change Management (Change Management)
    In manufacturing and software, "waste" is considered to be a bad thing. But what about change management? Is something that is more unpredictable and uncertain affected by the same types of waste?
  • Executing Change Initiatives with Agile Practices (Change Management)
    “So would you consider that a failed transformation?”, was the question from a current client of mine during a conversation about a previous client I worked with. I had mentioned that a few people I talked to a couple of years later said they ‘went back to the old way for the most part’. “Well, […]
  • Tools for Visualizing Complex Change (Agile Transformation, Blast Radius, Canvases, Change Management, Perspective Mapping)
    If all you have is hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Cute, but false. A hammer is just a tool, it doesn't tell you how to use it. Here are 4 tools and visualizations you can use to help you make sense of complex organizational changes.
  • Building Your Own Change Management Framework (Agile Transformation, Change Management)
    People generally cling to what's familiar to them when it comes to choosing a change management framework. Of course, that preference might not be the right tool for the job. Here are some ideas for how to build your own change management framework.
  • Managing Change in Today’s Digital World (Change Management)
    Today's change management practices are not equipped to facilitate change in today's digital world. Learn 2 simple, yet powerful techniques for creating alignment for change by modernizing your change management practices.
  • Why Changes Should Be Called Experiments (Change Management, Gathering Insights)
    Change agents have biases. Sometimes we make the changes we think makes the most sense. Sometimes those aren't the right changes though. Thinking about changes as being time-bound Experiments is a more effective way to manage change programs
  • How to Create Your Own Change Canvases (Canvases)
    Lean Change Management will be released soon! Get a sneak-peek at some of the bonus material that will accompany the book!
  • Becoming a Lean Change Agent (Announcements)
    “A lot of shared practical experiences – by Jason and through given time for group discussion and cool group exercises helped me to understand the Lean Change Management cycle of – Insights – Options – Experiments. +1 for Lean Change – the workshop inspired me!” – Sebastian Radics Last week marked the first two Lean […]
  • Continuous Change (Change Management)
    It's time to stop running change initiatives like projects with a start date, end date and budget. Can we enable continuos change to manage today's pace of change?
  • Changing How We Think About Change (Change Management)
    Is the way we approach organizational change fundamentally broken? It's time to stop planning changes behind closed doors and co-creating it with the people affected.
  • Agile Transformation and Organizational Change Management (Agile Transformation)
    The Agile Community and Change Management communities have similar reasons for why change fails. Is there a relation between them? What can Agile learn from Change Management and vice versa?
  • Using Agile Practices with ADKAR (Agile Transformation, Change Management)
    There is much change management can learn from the Agile community, and vice-versa! Learn how you can apply Agile practices within the ADKAR change management model.
  • Standardizing Change Management? (Agile Transformation, Change Management)
    Standardized change management processes is what has gotten us into this mess. Can a better standard help improve how organizations change?
  • Managing the Chaos of Organizational Change (Agile Transformation, Change Management)
    Organizational change is hard. It'll be a whole lot harder if people on your change team are more concerned with being right than doing the right thing. Learn how to create alignment with your team.
  • Creating Alignment for Agile Transformation with Canvases (Agile Transformation, Canvases)
    From the Lean Canvas to the Business Model Canvas, there are many variations on "1 page plans" to help organizations solve business problems. This post will show you how to use canvases to manage your Agile Transformation.
  • Modernizing Change Management with Agile (Announcements)
    We are in the age of complexity. The organizational life-span is shrinking, the pace of innovation is the highest it’s ever been and it continues to accelerate. For organizations to remain relevant in today’s world, they need more effective and adaptable processes for managing change. Heather Stagl of Enclaria will be interviewing me on her […]
  • Navigating Organizational Change (Agile Transformation, Change Management)
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  • Change is Messy (Agile Transformation, Change Management)
    “We’re doing it this way because I said so!” said Peter. I left out the expletive Peter used right after “we’re” and just before “doing“.  Use your imagination! “No Peter, this isn’t a good change, this is a big problem!” replied Mary through the speaker phone. This time replace “big problem” with “cluster” and append […]
2013
  • Acceptance Test Driven Book Writing (Announcements)
    Writing a book is much more difficult than I thought. Learn how I used storymapping to help write the second edition with the help of a structural editor.
  • A Custom Change Canvas (Canvases)
    People I've talk to about Lean Change and organizations I've used Lean Change with all seem to love the idea of change canvases. For me, I like to use them as thinking and sense-making tools. They make planning for change a whole lot faster and they do what they are intended to do. Provoke conversations.
  • How Lean Change Management Helps Traditional Change Management (Agile Transformation, Change Management)
    Learn how Lean Change Management can help traditional, plan-driven approaches to change.
  • Vote on the Next Cover Image for Lean Change Management! (Announcements)
    Green? Yellow? Pink? What colour should the next cover of Lean Change Management be? Vote!
  • A Peek at the 2nd Edition (Announcements)
    I’m excited that Happy Melly Express is my new publisher for the 2nd edition of Lean Change Management!   Happy Melly Express brings a new and refreshing approach to publishing by helping authors reach more people and with the creation of higher quality content compared to traditional and self-publishing methods. As a reader, you get […]
  • Building Capability with Transformation Design (Interviews)
    Lean Change Management is focused on helping organizations develop capability with respect to understanding and managing change.  Traditional approaches are focused on big-plan-up-front thinking and typically are run change managers or consultants.  Lean Change Management is one approach for moving the slider away from plan-driven approaches and more towards feedback-driven approaches through focusing on 2 […]
  • Lean Change at Agile 2013 (Announcements)
    I’m happy to announce that Lean Change Management will be available at the Agile 2013 bookstore!   I’m also pleased that Neil LaChapelle had finished copy editing the first chapter which will be released before the conference starts.  If you’re interested in hearing about a story of Lean Change in use at a public sector […]
  • Interview with Jason Little About Lean Change (Agile Transformation, Videos)
    I was pleased to be asked to be part of Dawna Jones‘ video podcast about Lean Transformation.   Dawna is part of the global Stoos movement, author, blogger and is a strong proponent of moving organizations towards stewardship. I recently sat down (virtually!) with Dawna to talk about Lean Change and how to help organizations […]
  • Agile Transformation with Lean Change (Agile Transformation)
    Ask 10 people what Agile Transformation is and you’re likely to get 10 drastically different answers.  Some say you must change your organization’s culture.  Some say you must adopt less-disruptive processes and let change unfold naturally.  Some say you must rip off the bandaid and reorganize your organization to support cross-functional teams. Which approach will […]
  • Version 1 is Released! (Announcements)
    I’m proud to announce Version 1.0 of Lean Change has been released!  This release contains all chapters of the book and some tweaks to the existing material.  Now that V1 is completed, I’ve added a Trello board where you can add feedback and vote on upcoming updates to Lean Change. Don’t forget to check out […]
  • Chapter 5 is Now Available! (Announcements)
    MVC’s and Strategy Boards are the focus for Chapter 5.  Here’s a preview of the chapter! A Minimum Viable Change (MVC) is the smallest and least disruptive change you can introduce to prove your hypothesis.  Keep in mind that what you consider to be a ‘minimum viable change’ can be perceived as a massive change […]
  • Perspective Mapping (Gathering Insights, Perspective Mapping)
    Once I was working with a team that was struggling to deliver one of those death-projects where no one understands why they’re building what they’re building and everyone, including management, feels powerless to stop.  Sometimes it’s easier to muddle along and deliver something than to spend extra effort into killing a project that doesn’t make sense. […]
  • Chapters 3 and 4 Now Available! (Announcements)
    From Insights to Options, chapters 3 and 4 show how you can use organizational development, change management and Agile models to feed your Insights. We’ll show you examples of Insights and Options we’ve used and we’ll dig a little bit into the softer side of change.  While many (all?) change management models are primarily plan-driven, […]
  • Lean Change at Agile and Beyond 2013 (Presentations)
    Gerry Kirk and Jason Little presented Lean Change Management at Agile and Beyond in 2013. Check out the presentation here.
  • Lean Change on Lean Pub (Announcements)
    Get Lean Change: Evolving Change Management on Lean Pub!  We’ve released 2 chapters and encourage all feedback!  The first 10 purchasers who use the code FREE will get lifetime free updates so grab it now before it’s gone! In this first release you’ll discover what Lean Change is and see some examples from the IT […]
2012
  • Hacking a Conservative Organization with Lean Coffee (Culture Hacking, Lean Coffee)
    This post originally appeared on Biz Culture Hackers on November 18, 2012. Culture: Highly conservative public sector organization, average employee age of 47, strong status quo and intentional as well as un-intention hiding of information throughout the organization. In this organization the cube-farm is alive and well and there is strong separation between departments and […]
  • Lean Change at LESS 2012 (Presentations)
    These are the slides I presented at LESS 2012 chronicling the evolution of Lean Change Management. This talk won best talk for the Lean Startup track in Tallin, Estonia!
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