Scrum in the trades
I recently read the Scrum book and have discovered it an excellent fit as a lot of the key points are things I currently practice through my own series of trial and error. As I am not in an office or professional environment I am wondering if I can get some tips from others on how to enact more of the Scrum methodologies.
I am a Supervisor who manages 2 - 20 people on jobs ranging from 1 day - 1 year. The larger the group, or the longer the job, the easier it is to implement the entire Scrum mindset. This is particularly useful when I assign each group lower level apprentices and even brand new tradespeople. If the group is motivated properly they are much more inclined to impart knowledge and include the younger ranks. Without a common goal, we train professional floor sweepers.
The area I am having problems in is the short and small jobs which are by far more common for me. A one week job with three people is to short to do a sprint and trying to do a daily sprint doesn't seem to be useful. Let me walk you through a typical day.
Everyone arrives on site, we discuss what we did last night/weekend while I gather the mandatory forms for the day. (I find this eliminates the daily chit-chat that distracts groups) I then hold a morning review with my crew and a client representative, in that meeting I lay out what needs to get done that day and who I am assigning to each task. I then ask each person to tell ME what they are doing that day and how long they think it will take. (this makes sure everyone was listening and gets them familiar with their own work speed/personal goals). I then dismiss the workers and I go over the paperwork with the client rep. During this time I let them know the challenges we faced in the previous days and recommend changes or ask for help to make things go smoother. (This is as close as I can get to removing impediments)
At the end of the day, we hold a close-out meeting, a client rep is usually involved. Each worker lists what they completed and what is remaining. They will also discuss what slowed them down or got in the way to complete the task.
From all this daily interaction I can get the velocity of each worker as a unit of production in my head. I struggle with quantifying that specifically which makes quoting jobs difficult as I can get an accurate number based on that metric in my head but when asked to quantify it things get vague.
With all this in place for the last year, I can proudly say that my team is 2.5x more productive at bringing in revenue than our nearest competitor!
Would you describe the crews or teams as being self- organizing, or do they report to you or otherwise need your supervision?
Also, do you think that measuring “each worker as a unit of production” is appropriate?
Would you describe the crews or teams as being self- organizing, or do they report to you or otherwise need your supervision?
They are pretty good at self-organizing. I prefer to lay out the big picture for that day/week, discuss the sub-tasks required and engage in how will we get there. Some groups require micro-management and hourly check-ins but they do not last long on my team. I would like to find a way to get them out of this mode and grow together but honestly the last few have just not had their head in the game. (I say they are here to work, not have a career).
Also, do you think that measuring “each worker as a unit of production” is appropriate?
This is something I am currently struggling with. I can look at a job and know how long it would take me, I then intuitively know how fast everyone else works comparatively. I have started making notes and trying to narrow it down into an actual production number or "unit". This is essentially measuring sprints. I am applying a different scale and after reading the book I am going to try the Fibonacci method as there are too many "feelings" involved.