{"id":4799,"date":"2018-10-08T23:12:17","date_gmt":"2018-10-08T23:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/?p=4799"},"modified":"2018-10-10T20:53:22","modified_gmt":"2018-10-10T20:53:22","slug":"weeknote-38-evening-classes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2018\/10\/08\/weeknote-38-evening-classes\/","title":{"rendered":"Weeknote #38 \u2014 Evening classes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I knew when I was putting things in the diary a little while ago that this would be a busy week, and so it proved. The process of getting the budget done at work has brought our critical work into focus, and I took the opportunity to reboot our daily \u2018standup\u2019 team meeting. I now have a small set of graphics for the team to look at each day to remind us of our key goals, how many weeks we have until December when the whole of South Africa seems to go on holiday (eight) and until the end of March when we need to deliver (261<\/a><\/sup>). The graphics also show what our immediate and upcoming milestones are that we need to hit. It will take some getting used to \u2014 a couple of times this week I stopped discussions about items that aren\u2019t aligned with our key goals \u2014 but I can already see the effect on the team as we push to meet the deadlines in front of us. I also plan to include Cost of Delay<\/a> metrics in the graphics so that the whole team has an understanding about what being late will mean in real terms; hopefully citing these will lend weight to requests we make to teams across the organisation.<\/p>\n

We had our first Full Governing Board meeting of the year on Wednesday. I\u2019m both very happy and slightly sad to say that I now have \u2018Vice\u2019 in front of my title of Chair of Governors, having handed the main role over to a colleague. She is going to do an excellent job and I am very happy that she is willing to take on the work. It\u2019s been a real pleasure and a privilege to have the Chair\u2019s role for the past three years. I had stepped up to it with some reluctance given that I work full time and it has been a struggle. I love the work of supporting the school through governance and I am hoping that a reduced role will give me the opportunity to do a better, more focused job.<\/p>\n

Liberating Structures<\/h2>\n

On Monday evening I went along to the Digital Project Managers London meetup<\/a> to learn about Liberating Structures<\/a>. It had been a while since I attended meetup and the description pulled me in, promising \u201csimple rules for groups, designed to include everyone in shaping the future\u201d which \u201charness the creativity and intelligence of everyone in the room, whilst having more fun\u201d. I wasn\u2019t disappointed.<\/p>\n

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Great fun pairing up with @agileIwona<\/a> tonight to share #LiberatingStructures<\/a> with the Digital Project Managers London meetup. We tried out Triz, Troika consulting and W3. Some great insights and reflections shared. More info at @LibStructLDN<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/JcOjsJXiK7<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/AjMDsg8pOF<\/a><\/p>\n

— David Heath (@dgheath21) October 1, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

In a nutshell, Liberating Structures are tools and techniques, \u2019microstructures\u2019 and constraints, that can be applied to group situations to get people to participate, leading to better outcomes. Yes, I was sceptical too. But by the end of our first exercise I could immediately see their value and wanted to learn more.<\/p>\n

\"The

The Liberating Structures menu<\/p><\/div>\n

The first exercise we did was Triz<\/a><\/em>. Heaven knows where the name comes from but it does make it easy to remember. Here\u2019s what we did:<\/p>\n