 Welcome to this session with our big year. We're pleased to have you with us today and Coming to us from Nepal. So, um, I hope we'll enjoy this session on personal agility. I'm looking forward to it It's over to you a big year Thank you, John Good afternoon everybody Yeah, and I come from Nepal. So let me just start sharing my presentation first Okay, we go. So I'm gonna talk about personal agility today and I've named it personal agility a framework beyond frameworks So you'll get to know why I've named this the framework beyond frameworks. Yeah It's a small intro. Um, I've been in the telco domain for more than 11 years now So I've been serving in this domain and currently I am also Driving the agile transformation program in my organization and I'm a passionate Adjudist who is the passionate about driving in the people processes and tools in technology domain. So these are the these are the Community I am active in So you can see it over there. I'm not gonna spend more time over here Um, all right, I would like to start by asking you all this question Are you all leading the life? You've all just wanted to Just the thought I've come to this question later But I just want you all to think about this for maybe five or ten seconds We feel this way. Do we feel hopeless and overloaded? So we have a lot of errands to do We have the phones to answer. We have files of documents to check the emails appending The bosses expectations. They are never ending. So you you're working on different projects You might be taking up tasks that are like high priority that have tied that type deadlines So so you feel this way, right? You get a headache. You do not have time for yourselves You do not have much time to think and you just need to work work and work So, so what is what is missing over there then? Don't you feel like this sometimes like don't you feel like a donkey was carrying a heavy load on back, you know Like everything is a priority So do you think that when everything is a priority? Do you think that these things are really important to you? Well, everything is a priority then nothing is a priority Just take an example of a product owner If you're in your project team and he comes and says that I need all these Requirements to be delivered in the first sprint itself because everything is a priority So what would you do? I mean, that's that's something that's that would be terrible, right? So you cannot have everything I mean every aspect of your workload and everything as a priority So you need to segregate what is important and what is urgent and that's where the personal agility Framework will come into act and help you out So, yes, you're doing a lot of things. You're carrying a heavy load on your back So you are doing enough, but are you doing the right thing? You might be doing the things right, but just by doing the things right does not mean that you're doing the right thing And that's what I precisely want to talk about in this session today Um, have you ever come to a situation where you have had to say no to your work? Or do you think that you have ever been comfortable saying no? Your bosses come up with your is with some expectations. You have clear pressures Your colleagues want you to work on something You have or you have been assigned on on various projects where you have your deliveries But can you say it's no sometimes you're so much overloaded with work You have your family you have your kids you have your spouse and saying no sometimes it is Is is really a challenge Many times I'm not not only sometimes, but you know, most of the times saying no is is a problem because You do not want to take that risk. I mean, you know, you might be having a fear of losing your job if you say no to your boss Or you know, you might be having a fear of losing your project if you say no to Some assignment that you are delegated But like uh, tonic there said the art of leadership is insane Because it's very easy to say yes say yes to all the work. Say yes to all the priorities That's very easy. But the moment you step out and say no That's something that requires a lot of effort and that that's that's an art as well because it's really difficult to say no Well, this has happened to me as well. Um, a couple of months back when I was working on a very critical project and um, it was it was a clm project and I had the vendors on site So they traveled all the way from europe from india from australia And I had a workshop with them But at the same time, um The cxo he called me up and he said that aviglia you need to work on a project Which needs to be delivered within two weeks So it was a very critical project a government led project where I was expected to deliver things in two weeks So that came up to as a surprise to me First I was happy that my boss had faith on me that I could carry out of the work in two weeks Again, I had this workshop going on. Um, I could not say no at At all because of the expectation that he had on me So I said that okay fine. Um, I'll I'll I'll do I'll do this I'll take this project and I'll make sure that I deliver it on time Well, that was that was a scenario when I could not say no, but I was lucky enough that my teammates were very Very helpful that the The project leads, um, the technical leads the business deeds They were very helpful and I could hand my work to them and I could focus more on this new project That my boss had given but at the same time like if the team had not been helpful over there Then I would have had a very terrible situation and it is a common case for most of us It's it's very difficult for us to say no at time And this is where I mean, this is why I'm questioning you all are you leading the life you have always wanted to Because I did a survey some a couple of months back with uh with my peers my friends and family circles Working in different domains some in banks some in software industries or some in telco And this is the result that I got so this is in this is it in percentage so Well, it was not really surprising for me to see that most of them said that they were not able to balance their work and life Yes, in this. I mean we have worked working in such a fast-paced Environment that it's really difficult for us to say no So so if you just look at the answers Somewhat yes is it's a very low percentage. Maybe around seven or eight percent people who said yes but most of the people they would say that they would want to change their everyday routine or They had days where sometimes the life was very tough And some even said that they were doing things that are that are required or that are expected from them Just for their family. So they had a family. They had to run Their business and that's why they were leading the life But they were not really happy or they were not able to balance their life the way they wanted to beat A small disclaimer over here My talk has been is inspired by Peter Stevens Personal agility system. So he's the founder of this particular framework However, I'll be demonstrating my own personal experiences and You know, I'll be showcasing you. I'll be sharing with you how why I thought that this is an important aspect for us For for for us to you know, like incorporate in our daily lives So I'll be talking about that in the slides What is personal agility then So it's it's a simple framework that helps you prioritize your goals And it helps you or it allows you to do more of what matters to you Which has an impact in your life and discard less of the work that is of less importance So it's only about it's all it's about it's all about setting up your priorities and living it Living your life up to it. What are things that are important to you? What are things that are urgent? So it gives you a clear definition of or a clear understanding of what what are the things that are important to you Versus what are the things that are urgent to you? This comes from a survey that says that, you know, which talks about stresses at work workplace and employees leaving the the companies and They burning out. So I've got few points over here Which says that a generator generation x reported the highest level of stresses in workplace And thus have the highest risk of leaving the company So which which is true in in you know, in most of the cases And the reason why people quit is because they burn out. I mean, they're working on so many things that they burn out And they feel like their company only cares about profit and not their Well-being so many of the employees they even said that their job Had a negative impact on their health So with the cases of depression and anxiety That's that's coming up so much. I mean that's been booming these days We could compare it to a negative health impact that this level of stress or this level of Work pressure that's create that's that's creating this kind of negative health impact So the employees even said that they were unhappy at work And they didn't they felt like their bosses did not care about their happiness So they only cared about the profits and not not the happiness But we are lucky. I mean some of us maybe we are lucky that we have had We have flexible working hours Maybe some of our organization. They are not very strict in terms of You know the working times or the leaves that we have so in that case, I mean we we I mean I also might consider myself as a very lucky person because I do not have that I do not face that at work So maybe some of you also think that you are lucky in this case that you do not have more anxiety or depression work On this is This is my calendar outlook Before I started using the personal agility framework And sometimes it used to be even worse than worse than that because You know the number of hours that you spend in meetings Was like a way like, you know, it was like more than 60 or 70 of your working time you spend in meetings so if you also see that um as per research The average productive hour that an individual spends at work is Almost four to five hours So so that's only that's when you are actually working or you're executing your work And rest of the time you're spending on meetings or you're preparing reports So this is how my Canada looked as well However, like after I started using the personal agility system This is how it got reduced and it looks beautiful and I've been able to prioritize my work at least So I'll just show you this The way the human brain functions So if you're working on let's say multiple tasks, I have five tasks over here So this is the speed at which your brain would function quite slow Compared to this one I've removed two tasks from here And the speed is quite high So this this gives a clear example that uh, the more number of tasks you are involved in Your efficiency is going to be great Um, I have an example with me A colleague who was working with me on a project I've worked with him on several projects and he's a very efficient guy But um, then I mean he was working on I think five or six tasks, which was very critical And one day when we had this Rollout project Something happened that caused us lost of million millions of dollars And that was all because of a small mistake that this particular guy he forgot Press the commit button on the database that he was working on which caused a lot of transactions to fail And we have we incurred a heavy loss during this time So a very efficient guy who had been working with me on several tasks whom I relied on Very well Very efficient person, you know, like submitting such mistakes like just hitting one Commit button on the db and causing a huge loss is some is a is a good example of how your brain would stimulate if you are put into Multiple tasks or let's see like five or six or many tasks at one time because we all are humans We are not machines and we operate in some particular manner that you know, like we cannot be compared machines So what I came to know is Better the better you manage your time or the way I mean if you're doing the things right Then your productivity is going to increase The quality of work that you are delivering would increase which would eventually Lead you to a happy content and a successful individual So it could be at work or in your professional life So it's all about this tiny, uh, you know, the tiny tactics of time management of prioritizing your things Of prioritizing the prioritizing your work in such a way that you do the right things You not only do the things right, but you do the right things so that you can Deliver more you're more happy your content is you're you're a successful individual Uh, so I'm going to start my story over here. Uh, this is about how I came across the personal agility framework So a couple of years back. Um, I was uh, I was working on a million dollar project on a migration project where Some 20 million of the customers had to be migrated to another platform So it was a huge project and it had taken like some Eight or nine months and we've been working on this on it continues So once the project got finished, um, I decided to go on our holiday So I thought of going to, uh, Sydney Where I have few of my friends and uh, some of my cousins as well So I thought that I would go to Sydney. So I went there and uh, one fine day I thought that uh, I would go to the blue mountains Now if you've been to sydney to the blue mountains, you will know that this is a very famous place Some 50 kilometers west of sydney Where you can have where you can you've come across a very good scenic View of the eucalyptus forest You have good nice waterfalls over there and you have a bush walking trails as well So this fine day, uh, it was a week day and my cousins and my friends We went to work. So I set out on this journey alone I took the tour bus The tour the guide the bus driver was the tour guide and There were different points in this journey. So from point A to point B You would drop us from the bus and we could would spend like some five minutes in that point and then again We step into the bus and reach to another point where we again spent like some 10 15 minutes And we had a look around the forest the the waterfalls and everything the sea we had a scenic view and that's how we went um, this is this is a trail that followed and uh, there was a point like uh, there was a point where uh, this driver said that we could walk for 30 minutes or He would drop us in the bus Which would take maybe like two minutes But as we were as it was about to become being lunchtime. So it was nearly 12 30 We had an option to walk Echo point where there was a where you could have a scenic view of the three sisters The three sisters is actually the three cliffs That is very popular in the blue mountains. So you could have a scenic view of these three Mountains from this echo point and where the driver said that he would drop us So we had an option either we walk to echo point from this particular point or he would drop us in the bus So I thought that um walking, you know taking a walk for 30 minutes is fine Because I did not have anything else to do and I would enjoy the walk and I would just see things around So it said that um, just let me know the route and I'll just walk. So we just had to follow the trail And there was a french girl I met during this tour who was also of Similarly of my age and we gelled up quite well We started talking and we started chatting and both of us we wanted to walk instead of taking the bus So we we set out on this trail and we started walking um as we started walking, I would compare this to the Walkman stages of team performance where In the initial stage in the forming stage, you are very Excited about your journey or your new aspiration So you are optimistic of things about things you have nice plans and you're very excited So that's that's where I mean I would compare it compare it to that stage So we were in the forming stage. We were excited. We wanted to take a walk Walk for 30 minutes and reach the echo points. So we started started on this journey and as we started sending I mean as we started walking through the trails, we came across a giant stairway so it I mean I came to know that it had some thousands later when I came out of this jungle, but Then we did not know like there was a staircase that we have to take So we started going down and we started going down and down and down So this staircase, I mean it had some thousand steps This cliff the three sisters itself They are like some 950 meters tall One of them is like 920 meters tall and 1 950 is tall so three cliffs Some 950 meters tall with each of them having staircases of maybe thousand steps So we started descending down And it was already like 25 minutes, but we cannot see this echo point So we thought that maybe it would take him some more maybe five or ten minutes We'll have to walk. We thought that let's go on. So we you know, like we continued descending the steps so Probably we've already descended some 400 or 450 steps That's when we started that's when we started questioning ourselves Is this the right move? Are we going in the right direction? We had the maps with us. Um, we thought that we were following the trails as well because we could see these tiny, you know, like I mean we could see that it was marked that This is this is the way or this is forest is some five kilometers or this So we're following the trail and thought that we are going in the right path But you know as time passed we started questioning ourselves It was already 30 minutes past 35 minutes past 40 minutes past But we could not see anything. I mean we could not see echo point or anything close to that You know, like anything close to an habitable place anywhere around but Luckily, I mean after walking for maybe some 25 to 30 minutes We found some we found two more french guys who were also exploring in this forest and they were also lost So by then we knew that we four all four of us we were lost So this was a kind of fear that started generating inside me because I started fearing if I get lost in this jungle I might be dead and we all four we are foreigners And we do not know much about this jungle or we do not even have the emergency number So we did not know who to call or what to do and we could see our phones. We did not have any network So at this time it was like it was it was if you compare to the storming stage It was similar if we were in a similar stage. I mean we started questioning our moves We were like we thought that I mean we were hopeless and we thought that Whatever we're doing is not is what it's not correct or if you know, we've lost. I mean we're lost in the jungle So but but we do not have any option rather than to you know, follow the trail and Come out come out of the jungle. So we had a shared goal We had a question. We had a team. We had a shared goal that we had to come out of the jungle Otherwise we are dead We do not have any other options, but we are dead. We're completely dead if you cannot come out of the jungle And the jungles in australia. They're not, you know, like I mean you get you have dangerous you have enormous snakes and you have The scorpions and dingos over there. So it's it's not really safe for You know people who are not aware or we're not really used to this kind of bushwalking trails So it was not safe for us, but we do not have any option So we descended all those thousand steps we came down we came into the stark forest and We could see a signboard which said that There was a village ura village some one kilometers So we thought that okay if you walk for another one kilometer then we'll come across the village So that gave a sign up really so we continued walking and we came to this lura village It was nothing but it was just the hut over there and it was some it was a village there It was habitable some you know in the 18th century, but now there's nothing So we were again scared. I mean we were like we did not have any hopes We were like we were scared to death. I mean all four of us We thought that we would die and I started questioning myself then Why am I here? Why did I come to australia first? Why did I come to blue mountains And why am I here in this jungle? And if I get to come out of this jungle, then what are the things that I want to do? So that's when I started Realizing the importance of my life and I started thinking that I am here I had I am born for a purpose to serve some purpose and I'm not here to die in this jungle So I started questioning so what what are the things that I want to do? What are the things that's important to me if I come out of this jungle? So my family was important. My career is important What are what are the things? What are the other things that are real that really matters to me? And what are the things that I really want to do? So I started seeing this kind of difference, you know the Me I mean that was there 30 minutes back and the me that was there inside the jungle I could compare those two What do you see the behavior inside me or the feelings or the emotions inside me? And that's when you know, like we were lucky enough that we We had this global and then We gelled up quite well. We thought that we do not have any options Rather than coming out of this jungle. So we descended down from one place We walked for some maybe two or three kilometers and we came to the other cliff So it had three cliffs three sisters three cliffs So we had to climb up the other other cliff as well So another maybe probably around 1,000 steps we climbed up so we started ascending the the steps and As soon as we saw some kind of Sunlight we had a rear hope because we could see sunlight now and we were somewhere close to the roads so We started we I mean we continued our journey and we did not give up That was the most important thing that we did not give up With the fear that could be dead if we do not, you know perform So it was similar to a stage where you are norming and you're performing You do not have any options. You know that you have to get your work done You have a goal and you start performing And luckily after you know getting lost in this jungle for almost three and a half hours We could come out of it So so during this time, um, I have few lessons that I learned during this journey These these were the lessons that I learned. Um, what really matters to you? What are your priorities? So I started questioning myself Collaboration was really important because if I had been lost in that jungle alone Then probably I would not have been able to you know come out of it It was the teamwork and the collaboration and the way we gelled up as a team That made us come out of this jungle The change was really uncomfortable. It was really really uncomfortable coming out of your comfort zone and exploring the jungle and coming out of it So so that's that's really Uncomfortable, but it is really important that you say yes to the right moves to not give up And say yes to the right. Yes. We were lost. But you know, um Having faith that we would come out and And I'm sticking to our moves that we needed to come out of this jungle Was something that was important during this step and I realized that there are only fewer emergencies in life and Not everything is an emergency or you know, like not everything is equally important or urgent so I started um, I started having this uh, distribution between emergency and Importance things that are important might not be emergent or are urgent but There could be some urgencies in life which could be important which are important and These are the things that has that have to be dealt In a very you know in a short period and in a precise manner So prioritizing your work is important and setting up your long-term and short-term goals is equally important because Your long-term goals could be uh, you know, like you getting um, you know, like it's something that would serve you for a purpose So it's something that you want yourself to be seen in maybe 10 years time But the short-term goals are something that you want to achieve within a week or a day or a month And these things could be really important as well So the most important questions, uh, I've uh, I can correlate this from peter steven's Framework and I've taken this from his framework as well. So these important questions I mean, I use these questions before I start on a journey or a new task as well. So The important questions are what did I do last week? What could I do this week? Who could help me because at times I might I might need help from people to get some tasks done What do I want to get done? So what is the outcome or what is the goal that I am expecting? Um, what is important and urgent again? So have a clear Distinguishing between things that are important and urgent And what are the things that really matters because not everything is a priority to you There could be few things that are that that could really matter to you And maybe some of the things that you could discard And learn to celebrate even the smallest success that you achieve in life It does not need to you know, you don't really need to throw big parties when you you know finish A certain task or a computer on a certain project But you could just have a small celebration a pizza party or a coca-cola party So that's how you celebrate life. Don't forget to do that And as uh, as I am a project manager as well and I have been working in leaders project Um, I I use this model every day To map the things that I'm going to do the very next day. So I use this model every day. Um, what is the goal? What do you want to do tomorrow? What is happening? What are the options that I have what I could do and what I will do So let's say like if I'm working on four projects at the same time Then what is my focus for tomorrow? So this model helps me Identify my goals for the very next day. You could use this for you know, like your long-term goals as well or even if you are Working on some crucial task then also you can you can use this model, but I use this on a daily basis and This is where you know, like this is how I've structured my priorities I use the grow model. Uh, this is my long-term long-term Priorities that I've mapped. What are the things that I'm important to me or what are the things that matters to me? So family health and business This could be the case for many of us. I mean, I mean some of you might deviate from this This definition, but for most of us. Yeah, family is important. Our health is important. Our business is important So, um, so what is important then in terms of family? I do not want to bring my work to home. I want to spend more time with my kids I want to take them out. So that's that's an important thing for me In terms of health, I want to do some workout maybe some yoga or Get get into the treadmill or the cross trainer In terms of business or in terms of work, um, I might have some, you know I want to complete a cst or I I need to finalize a promotion list. So these are the things that are important But not what is what but but but what is important to you might not always be urgent So if you map the things that are urgent from the things that are important Then I say that yes, uh, taking my kids out Maybe this week is important Meeting this person for business. Let's see like some xyz for business is important in terms of health Doing taking a yoga class or practicing yoga tomorrow itself is urgent So with the things that are important, uh, here are like, um five things that are important But um, I've come up with you know, like only three things that are urgent So that's how you map your priorities And similarly you can do this for you entire week things that are important and urgent to you So what do you want to accomplish within this week? um, the health checkup certification exam taking your kids out. So that's how you map your You know, like your your weekly journey and you see what has been done overall last week You've done you've done with the promotional list. You're taking taking the kids out. So that's how you map certain things So if you look at this, uh, particular chart then um, you know before using this TAS the personal agility system There were so many things that mattered to me the morning exercise taking kids out cst health checkup bring no home Bring no office work to home. So there are so many things. Maybe we are probably nine or ten things that were important But when I started using this, um, the personal agility framework I see that only few things are really important or Really important to me and that really matters to me So I've come up. I mean I picked four things out of this nine. I mean ten or twelve list and Probably you could also use this For mapping your priorities and your long term and short term So this is how my pa wall look likes I share it with my hubby and I started using it with my hubby because both of them we work in In in temple sector and we are equally busy So and we have a kid who is now five years old So we need to take care of all we we have to make sure that we give her enough time As well as we want to perform well in our work piece as well. So that's how we map our um, our priorities for the entire week. So Monday Tuesday Monday to Friday I have this and Saturday Sunday is uh, is is uh, you know, like it's a break. So we do not map anything or we do not set priorities for Saturday or Sunday Or we do not have this kind of chart for that. But um You know, like after having this you can see that You know, you don't want to overlap your work with your husband's work So much people this positive work so much that you do not give enough time to your kids And the main objective of having this ball is having a work life balance Where we can give equal time to our families as well as to our work So nothing is hampered. So that's the main objective of using this chart And the sticky is they you know, like I have to have new stickies every day or every week So we do that we practice that and this has been helping Us a lot me as well as my hubby is also he started enjoying using this framework. So if it has helped us in some ways and This is the business model canvas, uh, which you could use or use which you could also use for personal agility canvas um Like I said that I'm also, you know, like I'm also hitting the agile transformation journey in my organization So I use this chart You know, like to to check on the things that that are that are needed So the value proposition is there. So what what is your value proposition? And how would you but not the team would add value to this particular task that you're undertaking What are your goals? How are you interacting with others? So, you know, are you able to trust people? Are you open to feedback? Can you take in criticism? So that's all about your interactions with people which is equally important The mark inside you so what are the impediments inside you? that is Stopping you from achieving your goals. That's one thing that you need to work upon or you need to think about And what are the desired changes that you want to see in a particular task that you have undertaken? Maybe you want to become more agile or you want to have an open mindset Or you have you have some behavior issues that you want to work upon So these are the desired changes that you want to see um The environment uh, how is the environment playing a vital role in all these things? The fears and concerns of course because if you're working on some tasks then You would always have some fears or risks or concerns So you could jot them over here at the same time you would have strengths in this particular area So what are your strengths and based on all these things? You come up with your action plan plan a and plan b. So what are the actions that are required? So you work upon them I mean you've got about about five minutes left Yeah, sure And this is I come I come to the last slide for this session. How do I cultivate personal agility? Adopting a growth mindset of course because If you do not have that mindset in you then you do not have the learning capabilities You cannot take criticism. You're not open to feedback. Then it's something that's that's going to be a hindrance Embracing change it is important and I read this statement in some restaurant It said that life begins at the end of your comfort zone So I think that's very true as well and the same thing when I was lost in the jungle in in australia So embracing change is difficult, but it might not be as scary as you think that it is So once you get into it, maybe it's not that scary So try to embrace change And of course lighten your work because you cannot be a donkey carrying a heavy workload With lots of priorities and when everything is a priority, then you cannot lighten your workload So it's really important for you to lighten your workload as well. So that's all I have to say for today Thank you very much. You could connect me on LinkedIn or you could write to me. Um, that's my that's my email address Thank you very much Taking them in Um, I will just jump into the qna section Personal agility like a personal Kanban. I don't find much difference. Can you please help me understand? Yes, uh, yes, um, this is a very interesting thing. Yes It is very much comparable to the Kanban that you use every day But the difference is the Kanban what would not really give you and you know, like It would not really say what are the things that are important to you or What are the things that are your top priorities or what is important and what matters to you? And this is where you know, you use personal agility where you have a framework which defines The things that are important or the things that matters to you So unlike the Kanban, which does not say the things that matters to you The personal agility system or the personal agility framework would talk about the things That matters Yeah, I hope after that Any other Someone's asking that but I'd love to get the link or reference to the personal agility board. Are you going to better share that with people? Yes, I would be sharing my presentation So that that should not be a problem And I already have q on in slight share So if you just go on slight share and check on the personal agility framework by Avika Pokhal then probably you'll have to be Does anyone else have any other questions? Any reference books? Yes, if you go and search for Peter Stevens on personal agility Then he has a very nice handbook as well. Um, I follow him as well I started following him after I got lost in the jungle and You know, like, um, I came to know about this term the personal agility framework So I came to know and I started following him on youtube. So if you go and check Lisa at kids maria materially and personal. I mean Peter Stevens on youtube, then you'll have a lot of Things that you could refer to and you have a handbook by Peter Stevens So you could go on google and search for it Someone else has asked what if there is no such intersection between the things that are important to me and urgent um well I mean, yeah, I mean There there could be an intersection or there could be there could be mutually inclusive or they could be mutually exclusive So there could be two different things things that are important at work Or things that are important to you in your personal life and things that are really urgent So let's say like, um, you need to deliver a project or you need to deliver a brd in um Maybe today so that is something that is urgent when it comes to work But when it comes to your overall, you know, like, um, with your work and life If you come to your long term or short term goal, then that might not be very important to you as An individual but when it comes to work, then you have to submit a brd is something that's urgent So they could be tasked which are not interlinked or they could be tasked which are interlinked. So it could it could be both ways This is just an example the brd is just an example