Hot Seat

The Hot Seat is a fantastic way to teach people the Lean Change Engine. Here's how to do it:[ml][ol][li indent=0 align=left]Have people write down specific problems they’d like to find a solution for on sticky notes[/li][li indent=0 align=left]Use Dot Voting to choose a problem[/li][li indent=0 align=left]Options:[/li][ol data=2][ol data=2][li indent=2 align=left]Don’t allow people to vote for their own[/li][/ol][li indent=1 align=left]Use Democratic Dot Voting (write a number on each sticky produced and have people vote by writing the number(s) they want to vote for on a sticky. This shows people how to use Dot Voting when they suspect there might be influencer bias at the beginning of the voting, or when they suspect the person that goes last is going to decide on the topic.[/li][/ol][li indent=0 align=left]Whomever’s problem is chosen sits in the Hot Seat (bring them up to the front of the class, have them face the group)[/li][li indent=0 align=left][b]Collect Insights[/b]: Set a timebox (I use 4 minutes), and have the group ask questions to clarify the problem. I scribe important notes as I hear them. You can also have participants volunteer to be scribes.[/li][li indent=0 align=left][b]Collect Options[/b]: Have the person in the Hot Seat face away from the group, give them stickies and a marker so they can write notes as well. Set a timebox (I use 4 minutes) and have people throw out ideas. There is no debating the ideas, and the person in the Hot Seat cannot respond to them.[/li][li indent=0 align=left][b]Explain the Cost/Value chart[/b]: I draw out the Value/Cost chart and take one of the Options that is actionable and ask the person in the Hot Seat how valuable it might be. Then I ask how much it would ‘cost’ (Cost is $$$, effort, and uncertainty. IE : if the Option requires you to get 200 people in a room, it’s costly!)[/li][li indent=0 align=left]Options:[/li][ol data=2][ol data=2][li indent=2 align=left]Explain planning poker and relative sizing (Essentially that’s what we’re doing)[/li][/ol][li indent=1 align=left]Explain any other method of making a cost/value tradeoff[/li][/ol][li indent=0 align=left][b]Classify a few other Options[/b]: I usually go through 4 or 5 stickies to demonstrate what going through Options will look like. The goal is to get to a couple of Experiments that we’d actually work on.[/li][li indent=0 align=left]Draw an Experiments Kanban board using with “Backlog, Next, Prepare, Introduce, Review, Done” columns.[/li][li indent=0 align=left]Demonstrate how you would pull Experiments through the Kanban.[/li][/ol][/ml][b]Options[/b][ml][ul][li indent=0 align=left]split the entire room in half after doing the ‘Insights’ part and see what’s similar or different about the Options they came up with[/li][li indent=0 align=left]have each table group participate in their own Hot Seat exercise[/li][li indent=0 align=left]do a silent brainstorm after the Insights portion, have each table group present their Options board and describe their cost vs value conversation, then get feedback from the Star[/li][/ul][/ml]