Flow Recap
It's been a busy month! Here's what you might have missed in Flow Engineering in October!
MY FAVORITE MISTAKE Podcast
Hosted by Mark Graban
In this episode, I share my journey of improving workflows and the lessons learned from my favorite mistake. It’s all about making assumptions, being distanced from value as a contributor, and failing to see the big picture. Coincidentally, all things I’ve been very passionate about since, and all things woven into Flow Engineering :)
Mark and I also discuss "failure debt," the role of psychological safety in learning from mistakes, and how flow engineering can enhance collaborative workflows.
Key Topics:
My favorite mistake - assuming my own needs were the same as other developers, leading to wasted time.
Importance of customer feedback and validation in technical projects.
The Abilene Paradox and how it relates to satisfying multiple stakeholders poorly.
Learning from mistakes over time, especially in leadership roles like CTO.
The impact of public accountability in lessening the sting of failure.
Definition and application of flow engineering to improve collaborative workflows.
The relationship between mistakes and flow, and how speed and quality work together.
The role of psychological safety in creating a learning organization.
Concept of failure debt and how unaddressed failures can accumulate, leading to bigger issues.
How Flow Engineering was written iteratively, applying lessons learned from my career.
Have a watch/listen of the full chat here!
Flow Engineering Maps Template
Created By Harry Tucker
I wanted to share this great Miro template that Harry Tucker created to help facilitators and flow fans work through the 5 Map of Flow Engineering. If you’ve been hesitating to dive in because of a blank page, this will get you started! At each step you'll find descriptions, tips, and examples to help you along the way.
FLOWTOPIA
Registration is open!
Flowtopia is back for its third year running and registration is open! This year, the conference will be online for 12 hours on November 19, so everyone can join us from wherever they are.
Join me alongside an incredible lineup of brilliant speakers hosting talks, workshops, and opportunities to boost your VSM practices. Even better - tickets are FREE! There's also a leaderboard with scavenger hunts, giveaways, offers, and prizes from us, our sponsors, and our community partners.
You could WIN:
A pair of Brilliant Labs frame AI glasses
VSMC Enterprise Team memberships
A bundle of books by Gene Kim
A free lunch with UberEats
And much more!
Your ticket will give you access to Flowtopia On Demand until the end of November. After that, you'll need to be a Value Stream Management Consortium member to access this, as well as 100+ hours of other amazing VSM content—including the market's leading Value Stream Management Foundation Course—and be part of our incredible community of VSM practitioners.
Upcoming Conferences & Talks
The final conferences of the year…
I’m excited to be speaking at The DevOps Conferences in both Copenhagen and Stockholm. The event is back for its 12th edition, this time in person in Copenhagen on November 5th and Stockholm on November 7th.
I hope to see some of you there!
There are 60 days left in 2024 - let’s make the most of them! If you’re looking to get a Flow Engineering effort underway in 2025, let’s start planning it now!