CAPED (Complexity Aware Planning, Estimation, and Delivery) continues to have a positive impact across more companies. Its origin was simple–take the techniques we’ve used for years to help get the promised benefits of an agile approach and make them an easily understood system. We’ve been delighted to see how it’s changing outcomes for the better. Here are a few recent examples.
Using CAPED in Organizations
One client used CAPED to do complexity mapping on a new key business system. They identified places to probe early, rather than just letting the vendor build it in one big project, only to discover issues later, as had happened on previous big initiatives.
With another client, we helped facilitate CAPED Phases 1 and 2 in a hands-on way. Their CFO asked IT to help improve the department’s use of automation and AI. Since the initiative was complex and high-risk, the IT department decided to use CAPED. We partnered with two of their trained CAPED Practitioners to facilitate Core Complexity Mapping and Feature Mining with participants from all levels of the finance department and IT.
Complexity Mapping created strong alignment across all levels of the department on the initiative’s key assumptions and risks. Feature Mining sessions identified great first slices that will lead to immediate high value and learning. Instead of hiring consultants to automate everything and hopefully see benefits in a year or so, they’ve identified early-value slices that will show them where the real opportunities for big efficiency gains are. They are already seeing how a CAPED approach delivers massive value and frees up their people to do less drudge work and more interesting strategic work.
We love hearing (and participating in) stories like this because they demonstrate that CAPED offers a clear narrative that addresses the real tensions between planning and adaptability. The systematic use of CAPED helps companies find breakthroughs when everyone sees the benefits.
CCC Workshops
Last week, we ran our second Certified CAPED Consultant (CCC) workshop.
These workshops are picking up momentum! One organization that sent three people to the first workshop also enrolled two more in the second, as CAPED becomes their default operating model. This is the kind of adoption we hoped for: CAPED as a shared language and a repeatable way of making better investments, not just a one-time workshop.
CAPED: From Idea to Impact
CAPED began with an individual client’s request to visualize all the patterns we’ve used in our work over two decades to deliver results that stand out from the crowd. We analyzed our personal playbook of patterns and tools, visualized how they grouped together, and clarified how to communicate about them to stakeholders at all levels. The result was CAPED, a systematic approach to repeatably do what Richard and I did intuitively.
CAPED represents the techniques we’ve used for years around agile teams and within those teams. It’s a mental map of how to make work more fit for humans and humans more capable of doing great work. Seeing it resonate with others and then spread through real use, not hype and big marketing initiatives, has been deeply rewarding.
Learn More
If you want to learn more about CAPED, here are some steps you can take:
Use the free resources at humanizingwork.com/CAPED/ to strengthen part of your existing approach. A long-time Humanizing Work community member shared that they are using the freely available content, like our Feature Mining guidance, to improve how a major Silicon Valley company does discovery.
Schedule a free coaching session to discuss implementing CAPED in your organization.
Or send people to our next CCC workshop in May and give them the tools to bring a more complexity-aware approach to planning, estimating, and delivering in your org.
And if you’re new to CAPED or want to help others understand how it works, we have a free webinar scheduled for April 14 at 1:00PM MDT.
We hope every organization will use CAPED to reach its goals with greater alignment, faster learning, and a faster time to value.
Last updated