🧠 Your (org) journey Becoming♾️agile🌊🏄
This article has been written and shared by Mr. Brice Beard (APAC Head Global Markets Execution Technology, Business Agility Champion), UBS Hong Kong SAR. The whole article can be found in the following link.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/agile-manifesto-mindset-enables-business-agility-20-years-brice-beard/
Decide timely, commit late, fail smart and learn fast, deliver better solutions and experience to customers, challenge each other to improve: these are some aspects of agility that attract more and more organizations.
Organizations recognize the benefits they can harness from implementing agile ways of working to improve outcomes. But they often lack key practices and need to develop a culture that sustains agility.
So how can we progress on this agile journey? This article provides (aspiring) agile practitioners directions to explore and paths to try in their teams and organizations with diverse contributions from readers.
▬▬▬▬▬ 📖 TOC - TL;DR; go to 5.1 🔎(⌃/⌘+F+G)
1⌟ The Agile Manifesto and the Agile movement
1.1 Modernity of the Agile Manifesto
1.2 The Agile Manifesto for Business Solutions
1.3 Invitation to a journey (Agile Solutions poster!)
2⌟ Beyond the Agile Manifesto
2.1 Agile movement influences (📺 Lean & Agile origins)
2.2 Growth Mindset
2.3 Mindset building theory
3⌟ Becoming agile 🐛🦋
3.1 Metaphors, Quotes, Stories, and Conversations
3.2 Do agile to become agile (shuhari 守破離 🥋)
3.3 Be intentional
4⌟ The emergence of Business Agility
4.1 Apply agility to agility
4.2 Emergence
5⌟ Conclusion
5.1 Summary
5.2 Where to start
6⌟ YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS (just comment on the article!)
6.1 YOUR agility mindset/culture journey [ANTI]PATTERN
6.2 YOUR agility journey Improvement APPROACH 🆕
6.3 YOUR agility journey STORY, metaphor or quote 🆕
6.4 YOUR agility journey VALUE and PRINCIPLE
7⌟ Appendix
7.1 Other sources for Patterns
7.2 Other sources for Values and Principles
7.3 Related Manifestos
7.4 Agile Organizations 🆕
7.5 Agile training and certification
7.6 Book References (➊st comment)
7.7 Other References (➋nd comment)
▬▬▬▬▬ 📖 offline 🖨️pdf ▬ like👍! share! re-tweet!
1⌟ The Agile Manifesto and the Agile movement
1.1 Modernity of the Agile Manifesto
The Agile Manifesto celebrated its 20th Anniversary this year, so is it still relevant to how we approach agility today?
Figure 1.1 - Agile Manifesto (poster)
Some details have aged, such as the reference to placid delivery cycles in the third principle (𝘋𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺, 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙠𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙝𝙨, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘦.) when elite performers now deploy multiple times a day.
The reference to projects in the fifth principle (𝘉𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙨 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘴. 𝘎𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘫𝘰𝘣 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦.) is also at odds with the Lean-inspired focus on Product/Solution, Value Stream, and Flow which now permeates agile thinking.
Many things have changed in the last 20 years. However, the manifesto still feels incredibly modern, often giving a sense of premonition exactly because it focuses on values and principles.
« 𝘐𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘥𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘥𝘴. » ⏤ 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯 𝘍𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘳, 𝘈𝘨𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰-𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳
We actually need more reading and discussing and understanding of the Agile Manifesto because a critical problem the agile movement faces is the commercialization of "doing Agile" while ignoring the mindset and culture needed ( and don't try to impose a mindset either... ).
The manifesto is not there to guide the scaling of agility to the corporate world or guide leadership practices in the 21st century. It is the original distillation of the agile values and principles and the best vintage we have, foremost because it has Individuals and interactions above everything else!
This focus on the human side is what links Agile to Lean, and many other movements that postulate that developing people and teams is the necessary condition to improve products and outcomes. So how can we help share the manifesto with the whole company and nurture agility in our organization culture?
1.2 The Agile Manifesto for Business Solutions
« 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. 𝘈 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨: 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦, 𝘴𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘦, 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴, 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘦, 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘦𝘵𝘤. 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺. » ⏤ 𝘈𝘳𝘪𝘦 𝘷𝘢𝘯 𝘉𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘬𝘶𝘮, 𝘈𝘨𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰-𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳.
Figure 1.2 - Agile Solutions Manifesto (poster)
Following Arie van Bennekum's lead, replacing Software with Solutions in the manifesto makes it easier to discuss with the whole organization.
It highlights that agility is best suited to unique and emergent types of work: evolving products, solutions and services.
Agile development includes the entire cycle: Ideation, Pretotype (testing the business case), MVP, Minimum Business Increments of a solution until completion ( no longer used or changed significantly ).
It also creates a strong bridge between what happens "in IT" and what the company needs to un-learn to evolve a culture that supports agility.
1.3 Invitation to your agile journey 🗺️
So reading and discussing the Agile Manifesto is an excellent first step to get the basics of agility discussed across the organization. Maybe try and display the Agile Solutions Manifesto poster and invite people to discuss and sign it!
« 𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘵. » ⏤ 𝘈𝘨𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰
It is also an invitation to share our respective agile experiences, reflect on and share what we have learned so far and continue the journey.
2⌟ Beyond the Agile Manifesto
Before diving in, consider checking this animation from Barry L Smith, a great refresher on the origins of Lean and Agile.
2.1 Agile movement influences
Figure 2.1 - Simplified History of the Agile movement influences
Agile thinking has a long tree of precursors and early influences yielding the lightweight methodologies of the nineties, with XP and Scrum leading to the Agile Manifesto prominence.
The Toyota Production System (TPS), Lean, and Kanban have had a particular impact on Lean Software, customer service teams, and DevOps. All these influences have more recently been enabling a shift from project thinking to product thinking and a broadening of impact from teams to entire organizations.
This evolution has brought flow and continuous everything (delivery, monitoring, control, experiment, ..) center stage, underpinned by continuous learning and improvement.
Alongside new management approaches, agility is now emerging as a critical differentiator in the Digital Age. Organizations have to build their agile journey and culture from all these influences to tackle the challenges of emergent work and accelerating change.
2.2 Growth Mindset 🧠
« 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘥. 𝘕𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳. 𝘛𝘳𝘺 𝘈𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯. 𝘍𝘢𝘪𝘭 𝘈𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯. 𝘍𝘢𝘪𝘭 𝘉𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳. » ⏤ 𝘚𝘢𝘮𝘶𝘦𝘭 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘵 (1906-1989)
Agility is about adaptability and response to change, at the personal, team, and organization levels. The agile mindset is foremost a growth mindset that supports experimenting and improving.
As Linda Rising explains, our brain changes when we learn new things, so we need to support a culture that welcomes and grows with change.
By encouraging effort and learning, including failing better, you prime that growth mindset. But let's look at the theory of mindset building.
2.3 Mindset building theory 🧠
« 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴 » ⏤ 𝘋𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘥 𝘠𝘦𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘳 & 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘭 𝘋𝘸𝘦𝘤𝘬
It is not enough to expect that « the brain is like a muscle—it gets stronger (and smarter) when you exercise it », or explain that « You exercise your brain by working on material that makes you think hard »
Recent research by Dweck shows that building a growth mindset is a complex problem. Intervention on growth mindset needs to be customized to the group and only makes sense in context using an experimental approach, it needs agility!
So be clear that you cannot program an agile mindset as Dave Snowden warned. The focus needs to be on nurturing a culture of learning that enables and fosters agility.
3⌟ Becoming agile 🐛🦋
3.1 Metaphors, Stories, Quotes and Conversations 📝6.3
Learning about agility can be greatly helped by using metaphors and powerful quotes. In Speaking of Agile, Rich Brents compares agility to
the flow that goes to sea, overcoming obstacles, "I became one with the water"
finding your way with an automobile compared to taking a waterfall train
a gardener imagining his garden then tending to it every day, growing solutions and agility
Another metaphor comes from Mark Burgess: sailing to a new destination, correcting the course continuously to avoid drifting and unknown dangers along the way.
These metaphors are part of the narrative that accompanies the change in beliefs needed by agility, often a paradigm change.
They let people relate and open up to stories on agility and how it differs from what is currently being done. They help change the conversations and progressively change the culture (see Agile Conversations).
This is essential when learning by doing as it provides a shared understanding and the context needed for experimenting.
3.2 Do agile to become agile (shuhari 守破離 🥋)
As in martial arts, you learn by doing, ideally with a coach or two. The further goal is to go beyond the how (shu - follow the rules) and start to improve based on understanding and sharing the theory and practices (ha - adapt the rules) to eventually develop mastery and unique approaches based on context (ri - invent).
This is difficult when practices and underlying patterns and principles are not explicit, but essential to go beyond "doing agile". A good example is A Scrum Book: The Spirit of the Game, which has brought a wealth of knowledge through patterns on how to improve your Scrum setup (ha). With Essence, Ivar Jacobson goes further and is leading the way in helping teams adapt agile methods and frameworks to their context.
Shuhari approaches are even more critical for technical mastery. Agility only makes sense in the service of better business outcomes for customers and for staff. That requires technical excellence in solution delivery specific to the domain and context, agility needs to be in the service of craftsmanship.
Shuhari needs to apply at all levels of Leadership as well, learning how to teach and encourage teams towards agile approaches in a kaizen loop that measures progress from observed behaviors, practices and outcomes.
This means leaders help build values and principles aligned to a direction, without knowing the destination, a leading indicator of successful culture change.
3.3 Be intentional
Figure 3.3 - Intentional mindset
As a leader, it is then possible to start building a culture aligned to your goals (I'm including leadership here from team level to CEO!).
The relevant groups (for instance a department management committee or a Scrum team) need to come together to work out values, principles, patterns, practices that will help them achieve their target outcomes.
In his book, Gil Broza calls this an Intentional Mindset (follow the link for diagram source). Leadership needs to be intentional about the culture they want to create and be role models.
It is an invitation from the top and commitment at top and bottom to become agile and do agile in an environment fostering transparency, respect, safety and trust: Servant-Leadership supporting active engagement.
4⌟ The emergence of Business Agility
4.1 Apply agility to agility
Figure 4.1 - Becoming agile infinity double loop
Building this intentional mindset requires an experimental and incremental approach, you need to be agile at becoming agile. Know where you start from and embrace that while you have a direction, you have to discover your destination.
Beware of planned agile adoptions or transformations, a big-bang planned approach to Becoming agile is, at best, creating awareness on conditions for agility but change needs engagement and commitment that only come from a journey of experimenting, learning, and improving.
« 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘴. .. 𝘈 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴, 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥. » ⏤ 𝘋𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘭 𝘔𝘦𝘻𝘪𝘤𝘬
Patterns play a critical role in this journey as they allow substantial freedom when applying principles. They let you customize your practices for your context while being less divisive. Beware of context-free copying, practices need to be tailored to your organization based on proven patterns where possible.
Find the values, principles, and patterns that make sense in your context and at this point of your journey to guide teams: probe, sense, respond and start again as you nudge the organization towards agility.
4.2 Emergence
« 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱𝘴, 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦. » ⏤ 𝘉𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘛𝘰𝘳𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘵
Business Agility is emerging inside your organization but needs input from the wider community. In particular, a new leadership paradigm is emerging based on distributed autonomy and continuous improvement as pioneered by Bill Torbert and Harrison Owen with respectively Liberating Structures and Open Space Technology.
Two examples of recent approaches show the magnitude of the changes organizations are going through.
« 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘭. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮. » ⏤ 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘉𝘶𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘴
With Promise Theory, Mark Burgess has provided the foundation for the business agility patterns proposed by the Open Leadership Network. The use of Open Space Technology to drive agility is a key component.
In BOSSA nova, Jutta Eckstein & John Buck synthesize values across Agile, Beyond Budgeting, Open Space and Sociocracy. They show how to probe your own values and principles to support an 'optimize the whole' culture to emerge.
5⌟ Conclusion
5.1 Summary
Nurturing a growth mindset that sustains learning is a critical foundation for an organization hoping to become agile.
It starts with understanding the Agile Manifesto in the context of products and solutions delivered by the larger organization. It continues by sharing agile values and principles through metaphors and stories.
This agile mindset can then be seen as a growth mindset that seeks improvement through experiments, based on learning how to fail better.
On the journey, you will need to learn by doing and hone your technical skills to sustain your agility. You will teach by coaching, and apply agility to agility ( be agile at becoming agile ).
Building an agile culture to support autonomous stream aligned teams that focus on outcomes is a good direction, how to get there and beyond takes many paths with a few presented in this article.
Ultimately, organizations, teams, you and I, have to find our own values and principles applying patterns, intentionally and in context, to become agile together and optimize the whole.
Henceforth, the emergence of agility in organizations is helping to transform the very nature of work!
5.2 Where to start
We can all strive to develop our teams and ourselves in agile ways of working, but how can we help the whole organization on the journey to business agility?
Becoming agile takes many forms, particularly in large organizations; one size does not fit all. The need to nurture agility cuts across all initiatives and joining a Community of Practice is an excellent way to address that need across the organization.
Many directions are open such as building an online community, publishing articles or discussing Trust and Servant-Leadership, or sharing the experience of successful teams and leaders, or offering expert advice (coaching on Value Steam Mapping or Theory of Constraints..).
Organizing events will help along the way. Popular formats include debates, book clubs, and inviting external speakers (or even setting up an internal conference!).
Extending the community beyond the organization is critical for learning. You could join external groups or associations and support employees speaking on business agility at conferences.
By joining the conversation, you will help nudge the organization towards business agility and give critical support to early adopters. And don't forget posters and stickers; you'll soon be making videos and be well on your way experimenting with new approaches to Becoming agile!
Indeed a CoP is a unique way to gather energy and engagement, identify and support your agility champions and innovators and help the organization become agile, providing a space for learning and experimenting at the grassroots. It is all part of Becoming agile!
See the whole, Unleash Flow!
Thank you for reading, now it is time to contribute!
My sincere thanks to Mr. Brice beard (APAC Head Global Markets Execution Technology, Business Agility Champion), UBS Hong Kong SAR