Marcus is the author of Salvation: The Bungsu Story, a book we here at the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast are helping to publish. This book is inspiring, and will definitely move you to action.
In this episode, we discuss some of the many techniques Marcus used in Indonesia while he was helping the team at The Bungsu Hospital literally save the hospital from bankruptcy. And that’s not an over-statement!
Click to liste to the interview and read more about the topics of this episode.
How it all started
As Marcus walks to The Bungsu Hospital he sees that the roof is no longer standing, but the worst was yet to come. Not only had the roof collapsed, but the rains had infiltrated the whole hospital and water was now dripping on the X-Ray machine on the first floor. Something had to be done, and quickly!
Marcus shares the story of the first day after this disaster and goes on to talk about many of the changes that needed to happen for the hospital to recover from this disaster.
Visualizing the problem had a transformative impact
One of the many techniques that Marcus brought with him to the hospital was the visualization of the most important number, or “Single Most Important Metric”. In this episode, we discuss how that came about as well as some of the aspects that are critical for us to use that approach in our own context.
Visualization is a powerful technique that, in the case of The Bungsu Hospital, really transformed how the staff there looked at the goal for their work and even inspired Ibu Butet, a part-time receptionist, to come up with an idea that made The Bungsu famous in its province of Indonesia.
You can read more about the Visualization technique in the book and in this blog post by Marcus: The Power of Visualization to Drive Action and Manage Work.
Many more inspiring stories in this episode
Salvation: The Bungsu Story is full of inspiring stories, and in this episode we review a few more. From the impact of slack time on Ibu Elsye’s life (which includes a video of the impact), to the “incremental” delivery of the second floor at the The Bungsu (even construction work can be done incrementally!!!), to the insight that David Marquet (author of Turn the Ship Around! And previous guest on the podcast) got from reading this book. A simple change in management approach that can have a major impact!
This episode is full of emotion, and great stories, but the real deal is the book! You can now purchase Salvation: The Bungsu Story on Amazon (Kindle and print). So go get it, and get inspired!
The Bungsu Story is a fascinating account of a real-life crisis, and how Agile, Lean and Kanban saved the Hospital from bankruptcy! Twice! Get ready for the journey, it’s going to be a bumpy ride!
About Marcus Hammarberg
Marcus is a Software / agile consultant from Sweden who was on IT-sabbatical leave in Indonesia, working for the Salvation Army hospitals there. And yes, using techniques from agile in that work even in non-software environments. He talks about that experience on this episode of the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast.
One of those approaches he is using is Kanban, as Marcus is the author of the book Kanban in Action with Joakim Sundén
And now he’s completed yet another book about his adventures in Indonesia: Salvation: The Bungsu Story which we are publishing together with Marcus.
You can link with Marcus Hammarberg on LinkedIn, and connect with Marcus Hammarberg on twitter.
