Talk by Dr Laurie Young from New Bamboo at Skills Matter.
- Different mindsets and interpretations of agile
- Understand differences to make communicating about them easier
- Understand what mindset is best for your company
Two mindsets
Aim: escape chaos and rejection of process.
Scientific management
- Improve results by analysing work practices
- Managers should have control over practices
- Upside: it works, better than chaos
- Downside: Low employee motivation
- Downside: Slow to respond - data is gathered at the bottom of the org chart and needs to trickle up to enable a decision
- Downside: Communication doesn’t happen hierarchically up-down, people across departments/levels talk to each other
Complex systems / empowered teams
- Adapt to their constraints/changes in their environment
- Behavior is emergent/unpredictable
- Behavior is unstable
Examples:
- Ant colonies
- Stock market
- A team of people
Differences between the mindsets
Origin of Agile Software Development: run projects better by joining planning and implementation
Agile manufacturing: measure waste in production, JIT manufacturing -> Kanban
Lean startup: Test hypotheses as you go along rather than developing big business plan up front
Corporate governance: lots of silence, separate departments, little communication across teams
3 Common uses of the word “Agile”
- A way of building projects with empowered teams
- A way of working with empowered teams
- A way of working that doesn’t involve managers and hierarchy
Summary
- 2 or 3 mindsets for how a company works
- Progression: Chaos -> Scientific Management -> Empowered teams