Knowledge sharing between teams during our "Chapters Come Together"

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Last Tuesday, our team members gathered for our quarterly Chapters Come Together: an evening of collaboration and knowledge sharing. Read more about the previous one here. These chapters are designed to foster cross-functional understanding and share knowledge among project managers, analysts, scrum masters and Agile coaches of various ACA teams.

Kick-off of the first chapter come together of the year the team during a brainstorm session

Kanban Flow Simulation

Team member Kris Vandebroek (Agile and Kanban coach) introduced us to the core concepts of Kanban through a Flow Simulation Game. Our team members experienced sustainable pace, bottlenecks and flow. The activity involved 3 teams competing to fold paper boats—a seemingly simple task that mirrored real-world challenges in a fun way. As the boats took shape, so did insights into limiting Work In Progress and optimizing flow. Little's Law came to life before their eyes, demonstrating the impact of efficient workflow management.

Kris Vandebroek showing how the activity is done The team during the kanban activity

* we were not party'ing 🎉 - this was actually part of the activity.

Through the interactive session, the teams gained valuable insights into improving Lead Time, identifying bottlenecks, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement. By creating Slack time to address challenges head-on, they not only enhanced efficiency but also elevated the quality of their work—a win-win for both internal operations and client satisfaction.

I never thought that folding paper boats could lead to so many insights. :-D

— Dorien Desair , Business Analyst / Project Manager at ACA Group

Dorien Desair - Business Analyst / Project Manager

New quarter, new Chapter Come Together

Each quarter, a team member will take a deep dive into a specific topic of relevance to our industry. From Agile methodologies to emerging technologies, these sessions provide invaluable opportunities for skill enhancement and professional development.

aca team tijdens de kanban sessie

It was a pleasant evening among colleagues from diverse roles, where we learned something new about controlling the amount of 'Work in Progress' in Kanban boards - a valuable key to efficiency and success.

— Tom Claus , Project Manager at ACA Group

The Kanban training indicated in a playful and educational way that reducing the work-in-progress does not result in lower output. And what's more, it even leads to a shorter ticket turnaround time, which improves workflow and ensures that stories go to production faster.

— Mathias Luyten , Data Analyst at ACA Group