Let’s take a look at an example of continuous improvement practices at the company Atlassian.
Atlassian, a software company that offers products to product managers and development teams, has successfully created and sustained a culture of innovation and continuous improvement. Atlassian achieves this in a few different ways.
Firstly, to drive innovation, employees are given 20% of their allocated work time to spend on personal projects. [1] This is modelled on Google’s innovation strategy, where personal projects often can be transformed into creative new features or products for the organisation. This strategy requires Atlassian to allow their employees the time to work on these personal projects, which is an expensive risk for the company since 20% of employees’ time is given away to experimentation. However, to ensure that this time is used productively, employees focus their personal projects on the team, how it operates, and what they do.
Secondly, Atlassian cultivated a culture of continuous improvement to support innovation. Specifically, Atlassian split their employees into small teams and encouraged them to own their career path by embracing and identifying challenges and strengths. What they found was that successful teams handled challenges differently to other teams, so to help those who struggled, Atlassian implemented a workshopping resource called the Team Playbook. They gathered the practices that successful teams used and created short, purposeful workshops and exercises that enabled teams to learn and adopt these practices. [2]
For example, Atlassion’s Health Monitor [3] helps teams to assess their strengths and weaknesses. Once some weaknesses have been identified, teams and employees can use other plays to strengthen these areas.
Instructions: How do you implement continuous improvement practices?
Taking dedicated work time to innovate and find continuous improvement opportunities can be an expensive cost for an organisation. Considering what you have just learned, complete the following:
- Explain in a brief paragraph:
- How might you go about implementing effective continuous improvement practices?
- What might you do differently to Atlassian?
1. To implement an effective continuous practice, i would say; by considering employee ideas and indulging in the continuous improvement process.
2. The thing i will do differently, is working closely with my teams to ensure improved productivity,increased product quality and good communication skills.
To implement effective continuous practices, I would start by fostering a culture that encourages innovation and experimentation. This involves allocating dedicated time for employees to work on personal projects aligned with organizational goals, similar to Atlassian’s approach. However, I might introduce more structured feedback mechanisms to ensure that personal projects are contributing to overall improvement efforts effectively. Additionally, I would emphasize cross-functional collaboration and knowledge sharing to leverage diverse perspectives and insights. Moreover, I would tailor the continuous improvement framework to suit the specific needs and challenges of my organization, taking into account factors such as industry dynamics, company culture, and available resources. By customizing the approach while maintaining a focus on innovation and learning, I aim to maximize the impact of continuous improvement efforts.
To implement continuous improvement in my organization, I’ll strive to create a culture where team members are encouraged to freely share their ideas and suggestions. While Atlassian’s 20% time model for personal projects works for them, I’ll explore alternative approaches that align better with our goals and size, perhaps with structured workshops, innovation labs, and mentorship initiatives where experienced team members can guide others in exploring new ideas and implementing improvements.
Tracking key performance indicators will help measure the impact of changes and evaluate our success. By celebrating wins and recognizing team contributions, I’m positive that we’ll be able to create a positive environment that encourages continued improvement.
I think I’ll put the four processes for continual development into practice.
Market research is the most important tool for a product manager when it comes to learning about a product and how customers are responding to it. I’ll get in touch with the development team after the data analysis is complete so they can use the data. After the product is completed, it is crucial that they perform a customer check to gather final input and proceed with the final production by adding the features that are still lacking in order to satisfy the customer.
Bringing the development team, marketing & promotion team, and sales team together and giving them a sense of belonging to add their quarter to the product decision-making process is another thing I would do differently.
I think I will adopt the four processes of continuous improvement.
A product manager can not do without market research, this is the most vital of them all, it will enable me to gather the information that I need about a product and customers’ reactions to it after which I will analyze the data and communicate with the development team so that they can work with data and when they are finally done with the product, it is very necessary to conduct a customer check to get final feedback and work on the final production by fixing in the missing features required so to meet customer satisfaction.
Another thing I will do differently is to carry everyone along, the development team, marketing & promotion team as well sales team, and give them a sense of belonging to contribute their quarter to the decision-making process on a product.
Making things better all the time doesn’t have to break the bank!
Instead of giving employees a big chunk of time for personal projects (like Atlassian), we can set aside smaller amounts of time to brainstorm ideas that directly improve our current work. This way, we encourage creativity but stay focused on making our existing projects even better.
We can also learn from Atlassian’s “Team Playbook” idea. By capturing best practices from successful teams and sharing them through workshops, everyone can learn and improve without the extra cost of everyone working on separate projects. This teamwork helps everyone get better, without breaking the budget.
Taking into cognizance the plan do check and act pillar I would say continuous improvement practices can be implemented by small teams which means close knit teams in which team work is essential for innovative ideas.
Continuous improvement practices can also involve acting on ideas and checking for measurable targets so as not deviate from set targets
For effective improvement practices will make sure customers feedbacks are gotten ,addressed and changes effected.I will also ensure that employee’s ideas are treated with releavance. lastly will ensure that changes are increamental,timely,inexpensive and easy to implement. Atlassian did a great job as their practice can lead to births of ideas,but for me time is very important as such I suggest that atlassian should have had a particular time weekly for brainstorming,here idea are written down individually and the best of the best are picked collectively and worked on. Also,a suggestion box can be placed in the central areas in the office to allow for ideas collection,and lastly,awards or gifts can be allocated on weekly or monthly basis to encourage idea generations
Continuous improvement practices can be implemented by setting clear goals and objectives, define what you want to improve and establish measurable targets.
and gather relevant data to identify areas for improvement and track progress. Also
encourage employee participation in identifying problems and generating improvement ideas, test and implement solutions to address the identified issues and regularly review the effectiveness of the changes and adjust as needed and ensure to communicate and celebrate successes.
ASAOLU OLUBAYODE
To implement effective continuous improvement practices distinctively from Atlassian, an organization could prioritize fostering a universal culture of innovation and openness, encouraging every employee, not just those in tech or development teams, to contribute ideas for efficiency and growth. This could involve integrating diverse methodologies like Kaizen, Six Sigma, and lean principles across all departments, including HR, finance, and customer service, to ensure a holistic approach to improvement. By leveraging data analytics for comprehensive insights and promoting cross-departmental collaboration, the company could achieve a more rounded and inclusive strategy for continuous improvement, potentially revealing opportunities overlooked in a more technology-focused model.