{"id":442533,"date":"2019-05-02T16:09:21","date_gmt":"2019-05-02T20:09:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/?p=442533"},"modified":"2023-01-14T01:17:41","modified_gmt":"2023-01-14T06:17:41","slug":"measuring-agile-workplace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/culture-talent\/measuring-agile-workplace\/","title":{"rendered":"Measuring the Agile Workplace"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Tracy Brower, Ph.D., MM, MCR<\/p>\n

After creating our new space for Steelcase IT<\/a> professionals in support of agile manifesto-based work, we didn\u2019t have a ribbon cutting, and we don\u2019t plan to. Of course, we\u2019ve had plenty of celebration about the new space since our June 2018 move-in, but a ribbon cutting tends to imply a finish line and we are committed to ongoing learning and continuous improvement of the space\u2014and hence no finish line. Agile is a journey and likewise, we want to sustain our great new space by continuing to learn how people work and how the workplace can be improved over time.<\/p>\n

Our research efforts will continue, but we\u2019re excited about our early findings. For example, velocity has increased by 36%, trust has increased (in particular, 9% fewer people are concerned about misunderstandings among colleagues as compared to their reports prior to the spatial changes) and 18% fewer people are concerned about access to equipment and tools. We\u2019ll share more on our complete results later in this article, but first, here\u2019s more on our process toward learning and research.<\/p>\n

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As our results suggest, our transformation hasn\u2019t only been about the space, it has also included efforts toward shifting the culture and the process as well. We\u2019ve taken a holistic approach with an overall goal of IT seeking to become a better partner to the business and to become more strategic within the context of overall digital transformation.<\/p>\n

Measurement planning<\/h3>\n

Our journey to measure results began at the same time we started to plan for shifts in culture, process, and place. Led by our WorkSpace Futures and Applied Research + Consulting (ARC) groups in collaboration, we began with the overall goal (become a better partner to the business) and embraced the IT guiding principles<\/a>\u2014particularly the primary importance of the customer needs and the importance of succeeding as a team\u2014as our true north. We identified the behavioral attributes of the principles\u2014what would we see people doing and hear them saying if the principles were taking hold. Once we had clarified the behaviors, we identified the ways it would be possible to measure them and then prioritized based on the effort they would take and the impact they would have. Ultimately, we established plans to measure results that were both qualitative and quantitative and that included measurement activities before the change<\/a> and after the change, and on an ongoing basis so we could compare results over time.<\/p>\n

Importance of engagement<\/h3>\n

\"Measuring<\/p>\n

In addition to the value of measurement in demonstrating results, it has also been important to the process of engaging people in the change. Our IT staff reports they feel like the change wasn\u2019t done to them but with them. The methods of prototyping<\/a>, asking questions, seeking input, and discovering more about key elements of the work provide for key \u2018pre\u2019 information to compare with \u2018post\u2019 experiences, but also involves people in the process. (Learn more about our overall change management efforts here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Ultimately, we mined multiple sources of data to arrive at our initial findings: from workshops and focus groups to interviews and observation data and from surveys and project management data to Workplace Advisor and Microsoft Analytics data. One caveat: We completed a wide swath of research efforts which was right for our purposes. You don\u2019t necessarily have to do as much in order to have a compelling measurement approach. We recommend completing the amount of measurement that is right for your unique situation\u2014enough to demonstrate results and inform improvements while also taking into consideration the resources necessary to support the measurement efforts.<\/p>\n

Early findings<\/h3>\n

In addition to the changes in culture and process, spatial changes have been significant with the design based on urban planning<\/a> which include neighborhoods, a business district, a town square and garden areas for both collaborative and individual work. This approach was a platform to host the shifts in both process and culture. The results below demonstrate the shifts following the transition to the new space, and were measured approximately 3-5 months following our June 2018 move-in:<\/p>\n

Agile Work<\/strong>
\nWe\u2019ve found the agile mindset is embedding and taking hold. The best evidence of this has been an increase in velocity\u2014an agile measure of the amount of work completed during each sprint (cycle of work). To-date, velocity has increased 36%.<\/p>\n

Residency and Fluidity<\/strong>
\nPeople are working together and connecting in new ways supported by choice, privacy and places for rejuvenation. In particular:<\/p>\n