Right to Left: The digital leader's guide to Lean and Agile

by Mike Burrows, John Buck (Foreword)

Do you see in digital technology the opportunity to meet customer needs more effectively? Do you recognise that this may have profound implications for how your organisation should work? Do you want to help bring that about? Regardless of whether you consider yourself a technologist, if your answer to those questions is “yes”, you are what we refer to in this book as a _digital leader._ If you can see yourself as a digital leader, aspire to be one, or think that sometime soon you might need to become one, then this book is for you.Or perhaps you’re here primarily to feed an existing interest in Lean and Agile. Whatever your current level of knowledge, this book is for you too, especially if you’re interested also in organisation design and leadership. You will find here both an accessible guide to the Lean-Agile landscape and through the Right to Left metaphor a helpfully challenging perspective on it. The book’s digital scope might not coincide exactly with yours, but it’s rich with authentic examples not only of Lean-Agile practice but of right-to-left (needs-based and outcome-oriented) thinking too.Topics covered in Right to Left, all viewed through a lens that puts needs and outcomes ahead of • Lean, Agile, and Lean-Agile • Key frameworks – team-level, scale-independent, and scaled • Governance and strategy• Leadership and organisation

Genres: Leadership, Nonfiction

174 pages, Paperback

Published August 20, 2019

Reviews

[Jordi · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5 stars
Fantastic introduction to lean, lean-agile and the right to left mentality, sort of speak. Think of outcomes versus output and you will start seeing things differently, mostly questions like "who needs this?, what's the value it brings to our customer?" will pop up for sure.
This book describes lean (kanban), agile (scrum, xp, devops) and the integration of lean-agile from a right to left perspective. I agree with the principle that we should think of outcomes when we deliver our work rather than just deliveries.
There are a few tips about coaching, servant leader and mentions about mission command to describe situations where teams are given autonomy and given directives of expected outcomes so that they can manage themselves to achieve the desired goals.
The only chapter that didn't resonate with me was the one related to Outside IN because it was not aligned to my current day to day activities. Still, the Wardley Mapping example was insightful and gave me a new perspective on mapping value chains and also the maturity scale (genesis -> custom ->product/service -> commodity).
All in all, I would recommend this book to anyone looking for more insight on lean and agile.

[Łukasz Lichota · Rating 4 out of 5]

One more great book from Mike. And again what you can expect is nice and concise integration of ideas from many fields with Mike's insights that makes you feel now everything makes sense together. Encourage you to draw from many sources, appreciate them and takes what's working, 'yes and', build on top.
I'm pretty sure it's 5 stars for many, I just was exposed to some of that following Mike and others before so kind of get used to the good ;).
First 3 chapters is review of Lean, Agile, Agile@scale landscape but from a perspective of extracting the essence in a refreshing way. Maybe not that interesting for a very mature agile/lean thinkers but for new, semi-advanced or experts exposed to unhealthy reasoning / explanations maybe great (and may never know where you fall :)).
Next couple of chapters are new view on many things including strategy and leadership. But stands out for me is wholehearted view of organization which as value/principle is very appealing to me so I recommend you take a look at https://www.agendashift.com/wholehearted

[Toni Tassani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Right to Left is understood as the discipline of considering outcomes and going backwards. Outcomes before solutions and ends before means, using the metaphor of the kanban board representing the work.
The book starts brilliantly defining Lean, Agile and Lean-Agile, from the right-to-left point of view.
Provides useful definitions for blocked and stalled work, defects and failure demand, and many others.
And uses the same paradigm to explore Design Thinkin, Theory of Constraints, frameworks for scaling Agile, touching other diverse topics as Wardley mapping, Liberating Structures, the GROW coaching model or Clean Language.
The excellent footnotes are a good way to find ways to continue exploring the topic.

[Paul Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think what was said could have been said in many few words and I don't think there is anything here which I have not seen before

[Mike Giannakopoulos · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a very dense and technical/processes book with examples. Couldn't read in long sessions, shorter reads of few pages.There are specific techniques mentioned over agile & lean progressively leading to a suggested method of organizing work. More like a handbook with good practices, will re-read, reference at some point.

[David Kurdadze · Rating 5 out of 5]

The current average rating of 3.9 can be misleading.

This book is packed with essential concepts and valuable references. Most importantly, it emphasises on how to approach ways of working (right-to-left) as it's meant to be, instead of the linear approach dominating the industry.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short read, great stating point for Mike's books on ways of leading, working and strategy.

[Steven J · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is what we miss too often in our change managed and certified approaches to our work. Right to Left connects current thinking on lean, agile, leadership, organisation design and strategy and encourages us to strive for wholehearted engagement across our entire organisation in its mission and development. Like a guide book to the territory of Digital Leadership, Mike points out what you might miss if you take a "practices and process" perspective the topics, and prompts us to deeper insight into the opportunities in our own work with questions to reflect on at the end of each chapter.

[Johan Dahlbäck · Rating 5 out of 5]

A clear and compact summary of the current state of methods and organisation needed for a successful digital business. What Mike Burrows does is putting words on what is important (in a body of knowledge that nowadays is huge) - and in a way that puts a strong emphasis on _how_ things need to work for the method and the delivery to be successful.

Even before finishing the book I was using the material - especially the generative images to start discussion about needed change. This is my new reference guide in my work as an enterprise coach.

[Sridhar Bandha · Rating 4 out of 5]

What i like
- the way terms like Agile, Lean, Lean Agile are defined
- Right to left perspective and way of thinking
- FOTO felt worth trying