Surveys for Continuous Improvement

Summary

• Well-designed surveys can provide data and other actionable insights in support of continuous improvement.
• Surveys can be used to collect employee feedback, measure team engagement levels, and gauge the overall agile maturity of an organization. 
• The PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Adjust) cycle provides a framework for incorporating surveys into the continuous improvement processes within teams and organizations.

Surveys can be a useful tool for continuous improvement by enabling team members to share ideas and suggestions for improving work processes, problem-solving, and innovation. This can help organizations adapt to change more quickly and effectively, and can lead to a more engaged workforce.

Well-designed surveys can be an effective way to collect the data needed for data-inspired improvement.

The PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) Cycle (or Deming Cycle) is an effective model for continuous improvement. The Check step in the cycle is where we perform the collection and analysis of data including the gathering end-user or team feedback. This data-driven approach enables informed improvement actions to be taken based on objective information and insights. PDCA is a continuous improvement framework that helps teams and organizations improve the effectiveness of their operations. The acronym stands for the four steps of the process: Plan, Do, Check and Adjust:

• Plan: The planning step involves setting goals and objectives. For example: Repeatably deliver 90% of all planned User Stories in every sprint.  
• Do: The Do step is where the planned activities are executed. This is where the strategies and actions defined in the planning step are performed. 
• Check: Determine if the implemented actions have achieved the desired outcomes. Analyze the collected data and survey feedback and comparing the outcome against pre-established objectives. For example, we delivered < 50% planned stories. Identify the root causes of variances to the plan. 
• Adjust: Make improvements to the process to further converge on goals.

The cycle needs to be repeated until objectives are achieved. At which point the improved process often becomes the new baseline (aka raising the bar), and the overall process may be restarted with a return to the Plan phase.

Using surveys for continuous improvement

Well-designed surveys can be a useful tool for continuous improvement. Here are some recommendations for adopting this approach:

• Define your objectives. Before you start designing your survey, think about what you want to learn from it. For example, you might want to know about a team’s experience with maintaining a sustainable work pace.
• Keep the survey short and focused. Shorter surveys are more likely to get higher response rates and better completion rates. Focus on key areas that align with your objectives and keep the number of questions manageable.
• Collect feedback from multiple sources. This means everyone on the team, including the loudest and the quietest. Make sure you get a balanced view of opinions, preferences, and pain points.
• Use the feedback to improve. Use the information gathered to drive improvement towards your objectives.  For example, you could use employee engagement survey results to make changes to training programs.
• Communicate the results. Keep the individual responses anonymous to preserve trust. However it is important to share the findings with relevant parties, such as key stakeholders whose help may be needed for any changes needed to help teams achieve their goals.

Agile Team Effectiveness Survey

Here is an example of a survey designed to evaluate an organization’s agile delivery capabilities in 3 fundamental areas. What we are surveying:

• Backlog Creation: have we established the ability to create product backlog items that represent incremental value?
• Team Formation: do teams have all the skills and structure to deliver the backlog items without bottlenecks in their workflows?
• Product Delivery: Is the output of every sprint a working valuable increment of the product meeting a Definition of Done?

Category	Question
Team	The team understands how their work aligns to the strategy.
Team	Team members are dedicated to a single team
Team	The team is sized to enable agility (7 +/- 2 people)
Team	The team has all the skills to create working product increments
Team	Team members feel they are operating at a sustainable pace
Team	The team is empowered to make decisions on how best to do the work
Team	Team members value collective success more than individual achievement.
Team	Team members are committed to agreed-upon goals and decisions.
Team	The team consistently achieves its objectives.
Product	A Vision or Product Goal has been defined for the product
Product	The Product Backlog is the single source of work for the team
Product	The Product Backlog is owned and managed by a single Product Owner
Product	There is a Definition of Ready for Backlog Items
Product	Backlog items meet INVEST criteria
Product	Product Owner collaborates with team to refine Backlog Items
Increment	Each Sprint/Iteration has a clear goal
Increment	Completed backlog items meet Acceptance Criteria
Increment	Completed backlog items meet a Definition of Done
Increment	Majority of Backlog Items can be brought to Done in 1-3 days
Increment	The team delivers working tested product increments each Iteration

Each question can be presented in a Likert-style formulation, for example:

Survey Results can be reviewed and actions determined to address areas in most need of attention.

Data Aggregation: Surveys allow for the collection and analysis of quantitative data, making it easier to identify trends and patterns over time. Survey results can be sampled say quarterly, and progress towards goals measured.

In this example, the team has made progress on all fronts, however backlog management seems to have stalled based on the most recent survey. This is worth exploring further to identify what is impeding progress and appropriate actions identified.