{"id":3614,"date":"2024-03-19T20:55:51","date_gmt":"2024-03-19T20:55:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keypractices.viagointernational.com\/?page_id=3614"},"modified":"2024-03-19T20:55:51","modified_gmt":"2024-03-19T20:55:51","slug":"system-boundary-application","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/keypractices.viagointernational.com\/?page_id=3614","title":{"rendered":"System Boundary Application"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tuesday nights were one of Eric\u2019s few chances to relax. For years now, he and his work friends had been meeting up one night a week to play board games, chat, and generally focus on something different than the ordinary stresses of life, and for Eric, these were the stresses of implementing process improvement initiatives at work. Exactly which night they meet up might change, and which games they played varied depending on their mood and what new game someone had picked up most recently, but it was always a bit of a break from the rest of the stuff that piled up at work and home and so on. This particular Tuesday night, however, Eric was finding it hard to relax.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI mean, it\u2019s not as if I mind,\u201d he said, opening the box for the game they were playing that night \u2013 something about building settlements on a weird hexagonal island. \u201cIt was my idea in the first place, right? So, of course, I\u2019m glad it\u2019s going to get a trial. It\u2019s just that\u2026 well, where does it end, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, I know,\u201d Aria agreed. She was sorting all the resource cards into piles, but nodding as Eric described his situation at work. \u201cYou want the project to succeed, so you need to show value to your boss who is paying for the project, which means you have to fix everything, everywhere, for everyone. But you also need to show results quickly, so you have to focus your efforts on one bit of the business. Common problem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blair frowned in confusion. \u201cHang on a second,\u201d he said, brow wrinkling in confusion. \u201cI think I missed something. What\u2019s going on, Eric?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Eric sighed and shook his head, getting the terrain tiles out of the box. \u201cOh, it\u2019s work stuff,\u201d he explained. \u201cI\u2019m one of the team leaders at Sugarcube Software \u2013 because we make pretty sweet stuff, heh heh \u2013 and there\u2019s this new development tool we\u2019re going to be rolling out across all the teams. I\u2019m the one who found this tool and suggested it, so I\u2019m in charge of the rollout. The idea was to just do one team first, see how it went, and then do the rest, but it turns out that deciding what bits of the business the tool gets used in first isn\u2019t easy to figure out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDoes it really matter?\u201d Charlie suggested. \u201cYou could just pick whatever team you like, couldn\u2019t you? I mean\u2026\u201d She gestured at the hexagonal map Eric was placing the terrain tiles in. \u201c\u2026like that. An arbitrary border of inclusion, but it works.\u201d But Aria was shaking her head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot really, Charlie,\u201d Aria said. \u201cEric needs this project to show that the tool is valuable, so there\u2019s pressure to include all the teams involved in one of their major products in this first phase. But if it does, then he\u2019s going to struggle to get support from all the different team leaders, and the project won\u2019t show results quickly.\u201d Aria picked up the dice from the box and rolled them, making a face at the result. \u201c3\u2026 I guess I won\u2019t be getting the first turn. Anyway, if Eric focuses the project more tightly to show results sooner, it might only affect one team. And if it only affects one team, and doesn\u2019t help the business as a whole, it\u2019s going to look like the tool has weak value. Like I said, this comes up pretty often.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eric nodded, picking up the dice and rolling them. \u201c7. See if you can beat that, Blair. Yeah, Aria\u2019s right. I need to get results quickly, but I also need to show the value this tool adds when it is integrated across the teams, so where do I draw the boundary for the first phase? I mean, the business analysts provide input to the development teams, so should they be part of this project? And the output from the dev teams goes through QA, so should they be included?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAhhh\u2026 I see.\u201d Blair rolled the dice. \u201cAnother 7. Your turn, Charlie. So\u2026 it\u2019s figuring out the scope of this project that\u2019s giving you trouble, is that right?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s right,\u201d Eric agreed. \u201cIf you\u2019ve got any ideas, I\u2019d love to hear them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, my idea is that I rolled an 11, so I\u2019m going to take the first turn,\u201d Charlie grinned and placed her first two game pieces on the map. \u201cAfter that\u2026 hmm. \u2018Follow the money\u2019 is my advice. Who\u2019s paying for this project, and what do they care about? Fit the project around that, and only that, and there\u2019s your boundary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blair shook his head. \u201cI think that might be too simple, Charlie. I mean, you\u2019re not wrong, but there\u2019s going to be things that affect the performance of that\u2026 system, I suppose we can call it a system. Yeah, they affect it, but they\u2019re also not part of it. And there\u2019s also going to be things that your boss, who\u2019s paying for all this, cares about which are affected by this project, but aren\u2019t direct outputs of the system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThen they should be part of the system!\u201d Charlie replied. \u201cEric can put his system boundary wherever he wants, right? C\u2019mon, Blair, put your pieces down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeeeaaahhh\u2026\u201d Eric grimaced. \u201cI sort of can, but there are limits to what I can control, and if I put the system boundary outside of them, I\u2019m just setting myself up for failure. Blair, did you have to put them there? That\u2019s where I was going to go!\u201d Eric turned to Aria. \u201cOK, Aria, place your pieces, then we can start.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t rush genius,\u201d Aria said, frowning at the map. \u201cWith how you guys are placed, I\u2019m gonna have to\u2026 actually, that might work\u2026\u201d She placed her pieces and turned to Eric again. \u201cSorry, I haven\u2019t been following. Too busy figuring out my inevitable victory. So, what are you going to do about your system boundary?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eric shrugged. \u201cThe way I see it, there\u2019s three things I need to do. First is to set the system boundary around the areas that Dave \u2013 my boss, and the one paying for this \u2013 cares about. Second, make sure the system boundaries include any other Sugarcube Software teams that directly limit performance in those areas and any third-party teams whose output Dave is particularly focused on, and which are affected by those areas. And third, make sure it\u2019s all things which I can actually affect or control.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Blair looked over the top of the rulebook at Eric. \u201cAnd what do you expect to see when you do that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cThere\u2019s several likely benefits,\u201d Eric explained. \u201cI am pretty confident that the individual teams will go faster, and if we can include all the teams in the product line, then there\u2019d be a big jump in performance that will show in Dave\u2019s board reports.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCool.\u201d Blair nodded and went back to reading the rulebook. \u201cSounds like you\u2019ve got it sorted out, then.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wish, but no, I am worried about having to make compromises,\u201d Eric said as stared at the game board. \u00a0\u201cThe thing is that I need all the departments to play ball so that the wins will be recognised as real, but Dave is in charge of the dev side of things, not the business analysts. And without them playing ball, we won\u2019t be able to fully realise the improvements. I\u2019ve spoken to Fran, the business manager, and let\u2019s just say \u2018she doesn\u2019t see things the same way\u2019 and wants to modify the trial. I need to measure the touch time on the jobs to prove that this tool is actually making a speed difference, but Fran says that the margin of each job completed is what\u2019s important, and there\u2019s no way she\u2019s going to get her business analysts to reduce their billable times.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUgh,\u201d Charlie groaned. \u201cCan you just leave them out of the system for this trial? Don\u2019t you have a stockpile of jobs that you can work from without needing the business analysts to do anything different? Seriously, Eric, this is a trial\u2026 you need to be able to run it without it falling over because someone in a different department won\u2019t cooperate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aria shrugged. \u201cThat might work for a trial, but it still leaves the issue unresolved \u2013 different departments prioritising different things. Your boss, Dave, might have to go up to the CEO to get a metric change agreed upon. Maybe you can maintain a small inventory of the analyst\u2019s finished inputs so you can decouple from them. Still, I agree that for purposes of the trial, make it so you do not need to worry about that particular assortment of problems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cThanks, guys, I appreciate you talking it over with me. This has been a tremendous help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFeel better about this system boundary of yours now, Eric?\u201d queried Charlie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think I do!\u201d Eric grinned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Charlie waved her hand dismissively. \u201cIt\u2019s no problem. We\u2019re always happy to help out. Right? That\u2019s what friends are for! Besides, it distracted you while we were setting up our pieces!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eric\u2019s eyes went wide, and he stared in earnest at the game map. Blair had control of most of the hills and mountains, Charlie had several good forest and field combos, and although Aria didn\u2019t have a lot of land, she did have a lock on two of the ports, as well as being in an advantageous position to take another couple. Despite all that, though, Eric didn\u2019t feel too bad about the situation. He now had a plan for his system boundary problem, and he was feeling more relaxed than he had since\u2026 well, since this time last week, actually. Eric grinned and reached for his pieces. Maybe it was time to try to put a boundary around Aria and her board game shenanigans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tuesday nights were one of Eric\u2019s few chances to relax. For years now, he and his work friends had been meeting up one night a week to play board games, chat, and generally focus on something different than the ordinary stresses of life, and for Eric, these were the stresses of implementing process improvement initiatives …<\/p>\n

System Boundary Application<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3614","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/keypractices.viagointernational.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3614"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/keypractices.viagointernational.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/keypractices.viagointernational.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keypractices.viagointernational.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keypractices.viagointernational.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3614"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/keypractices.viagointernational.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3623,"href":"https:\/\/keypractices.viagointernational.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3614\/revisions\/3623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/keypractices.viagointernational.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}