From Challenges to Transformation: The Data Services Organization Dojo Tale

[michael_basil]

"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." ~Einstein 

What is the value in reading this blog?

The value is in sharing the story of a team’s transformation journey. It is the story of a team willing to be vulnerable and share their experience, so that others can learn from it. It is a story of a team that tries to cope with a never-ending stream of changing priorities, scarce product resources, and little product management, while simultaneously transforming into an Agile organization. It’s also a story of leadership. Particularly the story of a leader who prioritized how the organization worked, stack ranked alongside tactical deliverables. The teams within the organization eventually went on to overcome obstacles and discover new methods of working together with the assistance of the Dojo from SAP. They discovered how to trust being vulnerable and open to working in new ways. 

Taking a step back, the organization was dealing with changing priorities every day. These frequent changes in prioritization made it hard to deliver products because they were always busy solving one crisis after and had little time for innovation. Due to assorted reasons, the lack of support with risk management, prioritization, and planning was affecting the various teams in the organization.  Also, a recent organizational change brought together more business lines for the teams to service.  With already limited resources, the teams quickly realized that the way they had been working was no longer sustainable.  It was time to change. 

According to one team lead (a Dojo Senpai [6]), “…we were completely devoid of resources for project management …we were floating free on the ocean... and there was no resource available to fill that void. So, what I did individually was reach out to the Dojo. It taught me to grab and work with what we can control and how you can turn a challenge into a functional way forward.”  That functional way forward was also being considered by the vice president of data services. 

The catalyst for change

When asked about the catalyst for the change, the vice president of data services mentioned that it would be a year of change for the organization. They were transitioning away from a traditional siloed approach and “redesigning our operational model and coming together truly as one team… and getting away from those LOB (Line of Business) tracks, so to speak ... bringing people together in complete collaboration.”  The dedication to developing new work habits was there, the teams just needed to take the first step. 

That first step was to reach out and interact with the Dojo [1], with the hope that it might offer some diverse ways of thinking. According to a team lead engineer, “the opportunity to reach out and interact with a process like the Dojo that might offer some different ways of thinking was a no brainer for us. We were challenged ... with missing resources [and] processes that were failing. The future was uncertain about how we were going to handle this. The Dojo was like a welcome point of contact to start asking questions about how we handle this and that's exactly what it did. The exercises helped us answer a lot of questions about how we handle all the challenges that were in our way…” 

The teams within the organizational pillar were encouraged to participate in the Mindset [2] and Agile [3] domains to help drive their transformation. The immediate objective was clear. The teams were to achieve their green belts [1, 2, 3] in both domains and prioritize that effort along with their daily work efforts. Leaderships’ hope was that this approach would support a growth mindset and assist individuals to become open to change and create fresh social networks, as well as have an agile mentality to be able to handle whatever came their way. Time was already a constraint for the various teams, but leadership was willing to take a chance on an innovative approach and soon the benefits would start to surface. 

Some of the immediate benefits noticed after starting their Dojo journey were in personal growth, learning & development, and mindfulness [5]. Overall, the sentiments expressed were predominantly positive, with users expressing gratitude, enthusiasm, and satisfaction with their learning experiences, the materials provided, and the insights they had gained [5].  

According to the organization’s primary Agile coach, “I always find it interesting how well the teams are doing after going through this ... how coherent they all are on the back end. They've never talked to each other before, but they all just [started] ... aligning together.” 

Transformation is not all sunshine and rainbows

However, the Dojo experience was not smooth sailing for everyone. The teams had to overcome some obstacles and difficulties along the way, such as adapting to new ways of working, coping with technical issues, and managing time and expectations. 

The Agile coach went on to mention that “The teams faced challenges such as balancing personal goals with familial responsibilities, adjusting to new working methods like pair programming, implementing Agile and Scrum due to shared resources or large team sizes, and dealing with the fear of process failure. Some users also encountered technical difficulties in completing certain tasks, like creating and uploading introduction videos to the dojo.” 

So, what made the benefit of changing (and changing in uncertain times) outweigh the cost? It was because they had no choice. They saw that change was unavoidable and they understood that there would never be an ideal time for it. The benefit of doing it now was the support system they had. The Dojo was a place where they could try new things, challenge the status quo, and engage in collective learning. The cost of changing was lower than the benefit because there was no other option…they had to.  

It is important to elaborate on the support system mentioned above. The Agile and Mindset domains have a lot of community involvement. Every week, both domains host community meetings [2, 3] so that anyone in the company is free to join and participate. They call these meetings Circle calls. It is where community members come together for help, feedback, or general knowledge sharing. Sometimes, community members will go to a Circle call if they do not know how to deal with a problem within their team or to learn new practices to support principles they are working on or creating. Learning together is appreciated in the Circle calls, and often the discussions are very insightful and can lead to diverse ways of applying practices. 

One could also say that the Data Services Organization helped the Dojo evolve.   

The Dojo from SAP innovated as the Data Services cohort began its Dojo experience. Artificial intelligence had become a part of the company. Leaders, engineers, and project managers were eager to experiment with it. While the Data Services teams had their story, there was also another one that was surfacing. The Dojo was getting ready to explore the benefits of artificial intelligence. 

The Dojo Sensei could now reflect on experiences and test intuitive assumptions on a large scale with minimal human resource consumption. They were excited about the potential to evolve their existing model and offer value driven workshops. Artificial intelligence could now provide insights over larger sample sets of reflection. The intent was to leverage this data as focal points in the future workshops. They also mention that the next phases of execution are key for the Data Services pillar. The existing Mindset and Agile Circle community calls stand ready to help support productive continuous transition. 

According to one Dojo Sensei, “With the advent of AI we now can reflect on an individual, group, or department experience to test our intuitive assumptions, (in a respectful manner relative to data privacy). Before AI, the impact of the Dojo experience(s) was more anecdotal in nature. One had to experience it to really understand it, like riding a bike there is only so much justice intellectual description can do. That is still true, but with what we have been and are now able to do, the game has changed, making things more democratic and safer to explore!  In this case the pillar lead was hoping for 25 to 40% of the individuals to go through at least the Mindset Green Level experience. We were able to locate 48+ (and counting) belt claims across Mindset and Agile and critical mass has formed between the innovators and early adopters. The methodology we use for analysis integrates data insights between GitHub and OpenAI (via BTP) in the form of a Python program. I’m excited because now we have the ability not only to objectively gather data-driven insights to support our existing model, but to help evolve it.” 

What is the next step for the Data Services organization?  

According to the organization’s primary Agile coach, the next steps for the teams are to “continue to nurture and curate the transformation seed that has been planted.” He mentioned that he would be supporting team members who have yet to experience the Dojo.  

Additionally, according to one Dojo Sensei, “It is clear now that we have a formulaic method which is flexible enough for individuals going at their own pace on one end of the spectrum, and on the other we are poised to take groups and organizations through structured (and potentially time-bound 2-to-3-day) Agile Mindset Intensive programs. Consider how that could positively impact Continuous Change Environments in corporations such as SAP. Time will tell on correlating to tangible business outcomes and moreover we need to be mindful that no result is guaranteed. We have proven an increased potential and probability so far with this specific case.  Point blank, the next phases of execution are key for the Data Services organization... the Agile Mindset Dojo community stands ready to help support productive transition.” 

Finally, a team lead states, “The team members are now stepping up and being leaders, and they will have the opportunity to take the next step in their career to follow what they want to pursue and take that to where they want to go in the future.” 

Core Change Agents 

• John Mazzolini
• Michael Basil 
• Ryan Uttech 
• Bill Westfall
• James Manzzullo 

Further Exploration

1. Dojo Model (sample): Homepage 
2. Dojo Model (sample): Mindset 
3. Dojo Model (sample): Agile 
4. Dojo Model (sample): Stats 
5. Dojo belt claim analysis available as attachment
6. From Learner to Leader: The Power of Senpai 
7. Cultivating InnerSource at SAP
8. OMG! I Am a New Product Owner. Help!!!