P4 Values , Paradigms and Principles

The P4 framework unites and integrates values ​​and principles from the areas of Lean, Agile and NewWork.

Pragmatic values

The basic values ​​of Lean and Agile also apply to P4:

  • Transparency enables continuous improvements
  • Respect, trust and personal security enable courage to improve and innovate
  • clear prioritization enables focus
  • intrinsic motivation (autonomy, perfection, sense) enables dedication and commitment

Pragmatic paradigms

  • Motivated and well-trained employees are the basis of any long-term success
  • One for all, all for one. Heroism and individualism are counterproductive.
  • Effectiveness first, then efficiency. Work flow and continuous value flows are more important than the aggregation of work packages
  • Avoid local optima, strive for a global optimum
  • A fully loaded system is clogged; River needs scope

Pragmatic principles

P4 extends and substantiates some of the principles from Lean & Agile:

  • The principle of separation of powers or the “trinity of agile management”: decision-making powers of areas are divided into
  • Consistent iterations and fixed periods (timeboxing & cadence)
  • Principle of reducing complexity by planning at the level of stable teams, not at the level of individuals
  • Principle of responsibility of teams , not individuals
  • Musketeer principle “All for one, one for all”: The overall success is above the individual success.
  • First principle of the workflow: work flows to stable teams, controlled by the Team Backlogs, not by the constantly recurring realignment of project teams
  • Second principle of workflow: cadence, prioritization and focus
    • Topics that need to be worked on, discussed or decided on are taken into the appropriate recurring event (depending on the topic and the group of people). A separate appointment is only organized if this is not possible or does not make sense. When introducing agile working methods in an organization, all previous meetings should ideally be deleted and the topics distributed to the P4 events.
  • Principle of the greatest possible self-organization , freedom and choice
    • Pull : Teams pull the work at their own pace.
    • Principle of local decision (inversion of the hierarchy pyramid): transfer of a large part (80%) of responsibility to the Working Teams and only a little (20%) to the next higher level.
    • Teams have the opportunity to choose their own tools
    • Customer / supplier principle: Application and system teams can choose which version of a Module (or technology) they use in a system. Module Teams therefore always support at least one older version of a Module when a new version becomes available. In extreme cases, application and system teams can also buy Modules externally if they are not offered suitable internal Modules.
  • Principle of reuse (knowledge, models, designs, drawings, Components, supplier relationships).
  • P4 organizations strive for trusting and long-term cooperation with suppliers.
  • Principle of the single locus of truth ( single-point-of-Truth ), also known as the principle of avoiding redundancy .
    • Note: It may make sense to manage backlogs or Kanban boards both digitally and analogously, as physical cards on a wall. It must be clearly agreed which representation represents the “truth” and that all other representations are only copies of it and are updated.
    • The same applies to the storage of information and decisions
  • Principle of self-similarity and simplicity : When scaling Scrum, several teams form a Cluster as a larger organizational unit. The organization is made up of several Clusters. All rules and relationships are still based on the Scrum principles; they are retained when scaling.
  • Principle of overlap : When self-similar (fractal) organizational structures are formed, representatives of the teams below form the groups at higher levels (also known as “Scrum-of-Scrums” in Scrum). This allows information to flow unfiltered from a team to a group and back to the teams. It is important that the group is formed by the team representatives (federalism from “below”, self-organization), not by division from “above”.