
Preston Chandler
Lean/Agile Evangelist and SVP Client Transformation at WPP
Kansas City, Missouri, United States
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Preston has a passion for finding the best ways to get things done. This passion has led him to study Lean and Agile, which he uses on a daily basis to help his teams deliver awesomeness to the client. Though he started his undergraduate career studying music, Preston quickly realized that his greatest joy did not lie in music but in seeing and helping others learn, grow and accomplish greatness. Not only does he love solving all sorts of difficult problems with elegant solutions, he also wants to empower and uplift others to solve any conundrum that arises.
Over the last 17 years, he has assisted more than 100 different groups and organizations in transforming their operations with Lean and Agile principles. He has worked in such industries as pharmaceuticals labs, electronics assembly, food production, furniture manufacturing, product development and supply chain management. The companies and groups he has helped include: HON, Pepperidge Farm, Novartis, International Rectifiers, Johnson and Johnson, Merck, Pfizer, YRC, VML, Ford and Sprint. Preston currently is SVP Client Transformation as well as a Managing Partner and Expert at Centered providing transformational coaching for Lean and Agile journeys.
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Principles, Systems and Tools (AKA Why Hammers Don't Fix Every Problem)
Understanding the differences between Principles, Systems and Tools is critical to successful Lean and Agile transformations. Without the proper understanding practitioners are likely to use a hammer on a screw.
Principle - a statement of value or fact that can be applied to virtually every situation and is usually generic in nature Tool - a specific application of one or more principles in a way that produces a desired outcome. System - a complex application of multiple tools that all work together to provide a desired outcome. Changing or removing one of the tools may not cause the system to fail, but it may cause the system to not be as productive or effective.
Participants will gain a greater respect for the underlying principles behind Lean and Agile along with appropriate ways to use Systems and Tools to their best advantage.
I Am An Enoughionist
“Simplicity—the art of maximizing the amount of work not done—is essential”.
This is perhaps the most difficult Agile principle to follow. My take on this principle is a new word… Enoughionism. It’s not really at the other end of the spectrum from perfectionism, but somewhere between it and disorder/insufficient. If you could find a definition in the Dictionary, it might be something like this:
Enoughionism (ee-NUF-uhn-ism) – The theory that for any given desired outcome there is a level of sufficient completion that satisfies the need without providing a perfect solution. Any effort past the sufficient level will result in diminished returns, wasted effort or features that aren’t needed. Great care must be taken to ensure that simple solutions are pursued.
This session will lead participants through a few simple steps to apply the principle of simplicity in both their personal lives as well as the work environment. We will learn how to determine desired outcomes, identify when enough has been done, and then focus on moving on.
Outcomes over Outputs
Have you ever sat there wondering why you were doing some bit of work? What value it actually produced? That may be because one of the least understood Agile values is "Working software over comprehensive documentation".
Both teams and leaders are constantly distracted by the tangible, yet limited value, outputs because they are easier to measure, provide a false sense of progress, and are more fully within their control. Come find out why outputs suck people in, how to shift focus to outcomes, and many of the small obstacles that get in the way. Outcomes refer to the impact or result of a particular action or effort, whereas outputs refer to the tangible products or services that are produced as a result of that action or effort. Outcomes are considered to be more important because they measure the effectiveness of the action or effort in achieving the desired result, whereas outputs simply measure the quantity or quality of the products or services produced. In other words, outcomes are a measure of success, while outputs are a measure of activity.
Over the last 17 years, I've been striving to guide teams and organizations in mindsets and behaviors. I've had the opportunity to work with both front-line workers as well as senior executives across small startups and multi-national organizations. My specific passion is creating human-centered organizations, leveraging my experience in both Lean and Agile. As part of the transformation initiatives that I lead, I regularly provide training, coaching and workshop facilitation on topics like: vision/mission definition, organizational design, teamwork, product design workshops, Lean/Agile training, team and leadership coaching. This talk will leverage my experience to help attendees better prioritize outcomes over outputs.
The Leadership Road to Hell
... is paved with good intentions, and most leaders have good intentions...
We all know of a well-meaning leader who competely destroys empowerment despite their best efforts. You can tell how much they want to empower, but then they end up micromanaging, not actually providing autonomy, or not communicating. Other leaders feel like they can't trust their people to get the work done... reminding me of a quote from the movie Ever After: "did you not first create the thief and then punish them.
Both current and aspiring leaders need to understand what empowerment really means as well as the signs that indicate epowerment isn't really happening. Join this session to learn signs to toll for and what you can do about it.
Over the last 17 years, I've been striving to guide teams and organizations in mindsets and behaviors. I've had the opportunity to work with both front-line workers as well as senior executives across small startups and multi-national organizations. My specific passion is creating human-centered organizations, leveraging my experience in both Lean and Agile. As part of the transformation initiatives that I lead, I regularly provide training, coaching and workshop facilitation on topics like: vision/mission definition, organizational design, teamwork, product design workshops, Lean/Agile training, team and leadership coaching. This talk will leverage my experience to help attendees identify and address well-meaning failures in themselves and others.
Is your transformation focused on the right things?
More than 70% of transformations outright fail to provid the desired change and another 22% are only moderately successful. With so much effort to change not providing tangible results, it's no wonder why most people greet change with a pessimistic and even fearful perspective. Surprisingly we find that the top 8% of transformations approach change from a very different perspective and are wildely successful. They find 30x the return on investment of the average transformation.
In this session we will explore the priority of change, factors that are related to successful change, and clear actions that you can take to make your own transformation more successful.
Over the last 17 years, I've been striving to guide teams and organizations in mindsets and behaviors. I've had the opportunity to work with both front-line workers as well as senior executives across small startups and multi-national organizations. My specific passion is creating human-centered organizations, leveraging my experience in both Lean and Agile. As part of the transformation initiatives that I lead, I regularly provide training, coaching and workshop facilitation on topics like: vision/mission definition, organizational design, teamwork, product design workshops, Lean/Agile training, team and leadership coaching. This talk will leverage my experience to help attendees be more successful in their transformations by focusing on the right things.
Everyone is creative... even you
We work in an industry where some people have been labeled as "creative". You may even think that you are not creative by nature.
The truth is that humans are creative creatures. Creativity is one of the key aspects that differentiates us from computers and artificial intelligence. Not only is every human being creative, we can also learn to be more creative. It's a skill or muscle to exercise just like writing code, managing projects, communication and documenting requirements.
Join this session to learn more about creativity, participate in some fun exercises to strengthen your creativity, and take away practical methods to inject creativity into your life.
Over the last 17 years, I've been striving to guide teams and organizations in mindsets and behaviors. I've had the opportunity to work with both front-line workers as well as senior executives across small startups and multi-national organizations. My specific passion is creating human-centered organizations, leveraging my experience in both Lean and Agile. As part of the transformation initiatives that I lead, I regularly provide training, coaching and workshop facilitation on topics like: vision/mission definition, organizational design, teamwork, product design workshops, Lean/Agile training, team and leadership coaching. This talk will leverage my experience to help each attendee bring out their innate creativity.
The myth of multi-tasking
Yep. It's a myth. Multi-tasking doesn't actually work for humans. Our brains can't do more than one novel or creative thing at the same time. So why to we persist in trying to do the impossible. Why do we continue to have multiple projects at the same time? Have multiple stories worked on by the same person at once? Bounce from meeting to meeting? Maybe people just don't understand the full cost of context switching. Through activities and discussions I'll work to convince any doubters that multi-tasking is evil, but also explore tangible approaches to avoid it.
Over the last 17 years, I've been striving to guide teams and organizations in mindsets and behaviors. I've had the opportunity to work with both front-line workers as well as senior executives across small startups and multi-national organizations. My specific passion is creating human-centered organizations, leveraging my experience in both Lean and Agile. As part of the transformation initiatives that I lead, I regularly provide training, coaching and workshop facilitation on topics like: vision/mission definition, organizational design, teamwork, product design workshops, Lean/Agile training, team and leadership coaching. This talk will leverage my experience to help attendees recognize the dangers of multi-tasking and choose a better way.
"Team" You keep using that word...
I don't think that it means what you think it means. There are many different types of teams, and many more things that are called teams. What is a team? What are the best types of teams? What does it take for one team to be twice as good as another? If you are struggling to get work out the door, hobbled by handoffs, or paralyzed by specialization, then chances are you have a problem that a high-performing team would solve.
Join this session to dive into the nature of teams and find out the difference between project teams, product teams and Agile teams.
Over the last 17 years, I've been striving to guide teams and organizations in mindsets and behaviors. I've had the opportunity to work with both front-line workers as well as senior executives across small startups and multi-national organizations. My specific passion is creating human-centered organizations, leveraging my experience in both Lean and Agile. As part of the transformation initiatives that I lead, I regularly provide training, coaching and workshop facilitation on topics like: vision/mission definition, organizational design, teamwork, product design workshops, Lean/Agile training, team and leadership coaching. This talk will leverage my experience to help attendees better understand the nature of teams and what it takes to be high-performing.

Preston Chandler
Lean/Agile Evangelist and SVP Client Transformation at WPP
Kansas City, Missouri, United States
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