Agilification

Lately I'm hearing a lot about agile "processes" and teams that claim to be adopting an agile "methodology".  This sort of language speaks as if certain structures and procedures can be adopted which will make a team agile. This thinking is misguided at best, damaging at worst. When Kent, Bob, Ward and the other 17 "Apostles of Agile" crafted the Agile Manifesto, they did not publish a list of procedures or processes.  Instead they provided a set of values and priorities.

Are you part of a team that is striving to be agile?  If so, ask yourself, what is the primary driving force behind your efforts?

• Structures
• Procedures
• Processes
• Methodologies

or

• Values
• Priorities
• Principles

Do we need structures and procedures?  Absolutely! They are the context in which we perform concrete actions in order to fulfill the values and priorities to which we are committed. However, it is the ability to adapt these structures and procedures that makes an Agile team. When methods and structures are rigid and unchanging, agility has ceased.

Agile is not a process, but it is about how we create, shape and adjust our processes. The real question to ponder is this: "Do current structures, procedures and metholodogies enable us to maximally operate according to our values, priorities and core principles?" This is the question of alignment (a concept I will explore further in future posts). If the answer is "no" then are you willing to do something about it?

Tags: agile, process, scrum

Curiosity killed the cat - Eugene O'Neill

What is true for the cat is completely untrue for the agile team member.  The best agile teams place a high value on learning.  Curiosity is the catalyst for knowledge acquisition and creativity.  It helps us remain dispassionate about personal preferences and can unlock our potential for divergent thinking. Often it seems that curiosity is reserved for R&D or design processes, but the best way to maximize its potential is to stay curious throughout the entire product development lifecycle.

Curiosity when planning.  This is a vital element in a design process.  We need to stay curious about potential features and requirements.  We need to stay curious about resource allocation possibilities.  We need to stay curious about platforms, tools and technologies.

Curiosity about processes.  There is no perfect process, but there are processes that fit better for a particular context or situation. We should not simply assume that what worked before will work now.  We should not simply assume that what is new is better.  We should continually mold and shape our processes for maximum effectiveness.

Curiosity about personalities.  Our curiosity can be applied beyond the particular task at hand by extending it to the consideration of organizational culture, people, relationships, interactions and influence.  This can enable us to work better together and to maximize the potential of our teams.  This can also help us diffuse conflict by minimizing presumptuousness and assumption, and instead choosing to remain curious about why other team members are acting in a particular way.  

Curiosity when pondering.  Retrospection is reflecting on what worked, what didn't work and what could work better in the future.  Curiosity helps us to look deeply into our processes, our planning efforts, and our personalities to learn the lessons that will help us hone our skills and achieve better results as we move forward.

So if your goal is to effectively function as an agile team, reflect often, ask a lot of questions, and seek to learn from every possible facet of every possible situation.  Place a high value on staying curious.

Tags: agile, scrum