Tips on Shifting Left

"Shifting left," the practice of involving people in later stages earlier in the product development (and other) processes, has emerged as a popular strategy to deliver “better” products. However, despite its undeniable benefits, many organizations find it hard to embrace this approach. Let's explore some of the reasons why, and how we can overcome them.

?? No Clearly Delineated Handoffs ??

One of the main hurdles in shifting left is the absence of clearly delineated handoffs between roles and responsibilities. Traditional workflows often involve strict handovers at specific stages, which provides perceived clarity into responsibilities, but leads to teams working in silos. The lack of structured collaboration can feel messy for those who love defined processes.

?? Perceived Burden and Delays ??

Including someone else in your process earlier may initially seem like an extra burden, with fears of adding delays and scheduling conflicts. ?

?? Myopic Managerial View ??

Managers may fear that early collaboration will distract team members from their immediate tasks. This short-sighted view assumes that individual output will be decreased, and task focus will outweigh the benefits of early collaboration.

?? Shifting Left Improves Outcomes ??

It's essential to recognize that the perception of delays and distractions is often unfounded. In reality, embracing a "shift left" approach can significantly enhance overall effectiveness, quality, team happiness, and customer satisfaction of the end product. By involving more contributors earlier, challenges and risks are identified and resolved sooner, reducing rework and costly last-minute discoveries and changes. Additionally, the collective input and diverse perspectives contribute to innovative solutions and better decision-making.

?? Tips for Successful Collaboration Earlier in the Work Cycle ??

1. Invite More Communication: Establish open channels for communication among team members, fostering an environment where sharing ideas is encouraged and welcomed.
2. Clear “Why”: Set clear understanding of why early collaboration is desired (e.g., we believe that earlier collaboration will reduce defects, leading to reduced rework, happier teams, and happier customers).
3. Collaborative Tools: Utilize collaborative tools and platforms that facilitate real-time collaboration, shared understanding and alignment, and seamless communication.
4. Experiment: Implement "shift left" in a few areas and run some experiments (with a hypothesis and a way to test it!). ?
5. Leadership Support: Garner support from leadership to reinforce the value of the "shift left" approach and promote a culture of collaboration.

?? A Story: How this could work in practice??

A few years back, we implemented a shift-left approach with our QA staff. Instead of acting as testers, the staff began to act as quality consultants, pairing up early with the development team instead of waiting till the end. The staff would pair up with someone as they were about to work on a story; share how they’d test it; what they would look for; and talk through how the story would be implemented.

Despite a VP of Engineering expressing concern: “If the devs know how the QA person will test it, they can code around them…” the idea was very successful. The data was clear: the stories that had been pair tested had many fewer defects (and not because the devs had coded around the QA folks ??).

While the "shift left" approach may feel counter-intuitive at first, the long-term benefits it offers in terms of alignment, productivity, innovation, and product excellence make it an indispensable approach. By breaking down silos and fostering early collaboration, we empower our teams to achieve remarkable results together.