Boost Your Team's Performance with the Right Mix of Red Work and Blue Work
Sep 4, 2023
auto_awesome
Delve into the dichotomy of Red Work and Blue Work in any business environment. Explore different working styles of makers and managers and how to strike the right balance. Learn practical tips on time boxing and efficient facilitation to prevent productivity loss. Discuss the importance of a product owner in Agile Scrum. Address performance issues with quality metrics. Overcome challenges of recurring sprint iteration and improve productivity. Scale up, manage time, and create a quality index to identify ineffective practices.
Balancing red work and blue work is crucial for achieving high team performance, considering the different working styles of makers and managers.
Establishing a structured schedule for blue work meetings and using timeboxing techniques can prevent blue work from overshadowing red work and improve team productivity.
Deep dives
Red Work vs Blue Work
The podcast episode discusses the concept of red work and blue work in the context of Scrum. Red work refers to the actual value-creating work, such as coding, testing, and document creation. Blue work, on the other hand, involves discussions and activities related to getting the work done but not actually doing it, like backlog refinement, sprint planning, and retrospectives. The episode highlights the importance of balancing red work and blue work. It points out that red work is typically done by makers who prefer long periods of focused work, while blue work is often done by managers who are used to context switching. The podcast emphasizes the need to give teams adequate time for red work while also managing blue work effectively.
Managing Blue Work Across Multiple Initiatives
The podcast explores the challenge of managing blue work when teams are involved in multiple initiatives. It discusses a situation where each team is working on five different initiatives, each needing its own refinement and planning. This leads to developers feeling overwhelmed with meetings and lacking time for actual work. To address this, the podcast suggests establishing a structured schedule for blue work meetings across teams, with specific time slots for refinement and planning. By creating a time-boxed approach, teams have dedicated time for blue work while ensuring that it does not overshadow red work. This approach has been found to improve productivity, satisfaction, and predictability in teams.
The Importance of Efficient Blue Work and Balanced Scheduling
The podcast highlights the significance of efficient blue work and how its proper management can enhance team productivity. It emphasizes that blue work should not be seen as wasteful meeting time but rather as necessary discussions for enabling effective red work. The episode discusses the common tendency for blue work to become ritualistic and recommends that organizations focus on making these meetings productive and efficient. It suggests using techniques like timeboxing, facilitation, and visualizations to optimize the efficiency of blue work sessions. The podcast also emphasizes the need for managers to be aware of how their time slicing decisions can impact the work of makers and encourages finding the right balance between blue work and red work to maximize overall team effectiveness.
In this episode, Erik, Ricardo and Ian delve into the dichotomy of Red Work and Blue Work, two distinct types of work that exist in any business environment. We discuss the importance of striking the right balance between the two for achieving high team performance. We explore how understanding the different working styles of makers and managers can help create a structure that respects and accommodates these differences. We also share practical tips on how time boxing and efficient facilitation of meetings can prevent Blue Work from overshadowing Red Work and leading to productivity loss. Tune in for these insights and more.
Tune in to discover how you can boost your team's performance. And don't forget to subscribe at www.ianbanner.com to get more insights on agility, leadership, and Agile Lean Portfolio Management.
Get the Snipd podcast app
Unlock the knowledge in podcasts with the podcast player of the future.
AI-powered podcast player
Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features
Discover highlights
Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode
Save any moment
Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways
Share & Export
Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more
AI-powered podcast player
Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features
Discover highlights
Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode