Agile crisis. What to do?
Key points
"Agile agile agile agile agile agile agile agile".
Mantra? Not really, although it may cause an altered state of consciousness.
“The answer to the main question of life, the universe and all that?” (Douglas Adams, “A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy”). Maybe, depending on who you ask.
')
These are homonyms. Words that look and sound the same, but have different meanings. As this is a grammatically correct sentence, consisting of three completely different words: "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo", Dmitry Borgmann, "Beyond the limits of language: a journey of words and thoughts" frighten other buffalo buffaloes. ”- Lane.
The risk of excessive homonymization lies in the fact that words begin to mean everything and everyone, at the same time not meaning anything concrete. This is a psychological phenomenon known as “semantic saturation,” a form of mental fatigue .
As psychologist Leon James describes:
Today, “Agile” means everything and everyone. Increasingly, it means nothing. Many organizations have become difficult to tolerate or are immune to the term, as in the sentence “Agile agile agile agile agile agile agile agile”.
And the situation is even worse. “When words lose their meaning, people lose their freedom,” Confucius. In some organizations, the term Agile has come to mean “command and control”. Kent Beck expresses alarm experts:
This is a good and important question. And it raises other important questions, for example, “What to do next?” Recently, Ron Jeffries presented a very real opportunity :
No matter what we decide, let's start with a confession: many of us Agile activists exacerbate the situation. As Pogo said to Porkipine: “We met the enemy - and it turned out that it was us” (Walter Kelly, “Pogo”). Martin Fowler put it this way at the Agile Australia 2018 conference:
Agile Industry Dark Agile. Fake Agile. Zombie Agile. And it gets worse. Here is what my friend, an organizational psychologist, says:
What?
Oh. I did not dare to tell her that "coaches" are also appointed after two days of courses. Recently, I heard one of these “trainers” ask: “Do you need a very good project manager for Agile?”
“Yes, of course, we need a first-class project manager, an iteration manager, a scrum master, whatever you call him, who speaks quietly, but walks with a very big stick!”
Just tears in my eyes well.
One of my clients, having studied the extensive certification landscape, opened his own service. Now dozens of scram masters and product owners proudly show it in their offices: Agile Yahoo.
What's next?
Domestic policy is a broad and comprehensive strategy, or a concrete plan, or even a simple principle of managing internal affairs.
In the era of the expansion of Agile - business transformation - let's first clarify what we mean by "Agile agile agile".
To formulate what should be obvious, here is a simple principle: any Agile must explicitly or implicitly refer to the four basic values ​​and 12 principles of the Agile Manifesto . It should contain Agile “hints”.
We have to go back to the basics. Agile needs a reboot. “Flexible” teams should regularly review the Manifesto and 12 principles: what does this mean? How are we doing? How to keep moving in this direction?
In part, this means constantly limiting your own flexible practices so that they remain flexible. “Simplicity is imperative” (12 principles) is the “key” of Agile, and we must follow our own principles.
Everything is really simple, very simple, says Dave Thomas:
Similarly, Aleister Cockburn's Heart of Agile is an agnostic approach based on a simple structure: collaborating, delivering, reflecting, and improving. Modern Agile Joshua Kerievsky is based on four simple principles: to make people amazing, to make safety a prerequisite, to quickly experiment and learn and constantly benefit.
Foreign policy is a broad and comprehensive strategy, or a concrete plan, or even a simple principle of managing external affairs.
In the era of the expansion of Agile - business transformation - let's first clarify what we mean by "Agile agile agile".
When groups of people, such as Agile activists, go to other countries, a clash of cultures inevitably occurs.
The first expeditions of Agile were characterized by gunboat diplomacy. For example, the conquest of Project Management is almost complete.
Now we are confronted with strange new countries, such as Human Resources, and we meet with groups of people who call themselves organizational psychologists, and they have more certificates than we do.
What is our diplomatic policy? Do we consider ourselves raiders or traders?
Let us beware of the naive — and doomed to failure — of colonialism, which assumes that we are superior to the aborigines, whom we should cultivate for their own good and profit.
Moreover, one should beware of their own assimilation, like the once formidable Vikings who disappeared in the mist of legends. For example, I belong to the growing global movement for Agile integration with positive self-help psychology (Appreciative Inquiry) and Solution Focused Brief Therapy, my article on Agile Solution-Oriented. At the same time, more and more of my colleagues remove the word “Agile” altogether, since they were completely assimilated into another world.
In general, our foreign policy is to work not in a melting pot, but in a mixture of components.
This approach is illustrated by a simple conflict resolution matrix (adapted from here ). Our position is not to compete (Agile wins) and not to succumb (Agile loses), but to cooperate (business wins).
This is an example of the action of the Medici effect. The 2006 eponymous book by Frans Johansson strongly influenced my thinking. The Medici effect, named after the 14th-century Italian family that caused the European Renaissance, mentions breakthrough thinking and breakthrough innovations that are often formed from the big bang at the junction of various disciplines, cultures and industries. I immediately caught the idea, because I conducted experiments with explosions with a set of young chemists in childhood.
The effect of the Medici answers a question that is sometimes asked to me: why do I rarely attend Agile events? The agile community is important. But the Medici effect made me constantly go beyond what I already know. And I quickly discovered that for me, enlightenment and breakthroughs were more often caused by interaction with military officers, religious leaders, poets, philosophers, biologists, and psychologists. Most of the work in my life has been connecting points between these related, sometimes unrelated disciplines and experimenting with new and different ways of working.
Interdisciplinary research, principles and practice is the future of Agile. That is why it is so important not to lose touch with the roots while we continue to use the word Agile. Please stop this “Agile Agile Agile blah blah blah”.
- Many organizations are tired of Agile
- Part of the problem - in the existence of a large commercial industry Agile
- We need to go back to the basics: the simplicity of the Manifesto and 12 principles
- Examples of basic and simple frameworks: Heart of Agile and Modern Agile
- Many lessons can be drawn from such human sciences as positive psychology, directed self-improvement, and decision-oriented therapy.
"Agile agile agile agile agile agile agile agile".
Mantra? Not really, although it may cause an altered state of consciousness.
“The answer to the main question of life, the universe and all that?” (Douglas Adams, “A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy”). Maybe, depending on who you ask.
')
These are homonyms. Words that look and sound the same, but have different meanings. As this is a grammatically correct sentence, consisting of three completely different words: "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo", Dmitry Borgmann, "Beyond the limits of language: a journey of words and thoughts" frighten other buffalo buffaloes. ”- Lane.
The risk of excessive homonymization lies in the fact that words begin to mean everything and everyone, at the same time not meaning anything concrete. This is a psychological phenomenon known as “semantic saturation,” a form of mental fatigue .
As psychologist Leon James describes:
This is called reactive braking: when a neuron fires for the first time, more energy is needed for the second pulse, and even more for the third time, and finally, for the fourth time, it will not even respond if you do not wait a few seconds ... if you repeat the word, continues to repeat, and then becomes immune or more resistant to repeated calls.
Today, “Agile” means everything and everyone. Increasingly, it means nothing. Many organizations have become difficult to tolerate or are immune to the term, as in the sentence “Agile agile agile agile agile agile agile agile”.
And the situation is even worse. “When words lose their meaning, people lose their freedom,” Confucius. In some organizations, the term Agile has come to mean “command and control”. Kent Beck expresses alarm experts:
I was at the Agile Africa conference in South Africa, someone approached me and said: “We want to develop software, but we just cannot stand all these ceremonies and Agile things. We just want to write some programs. ” I almost cried ... how could it be that we returned twenty years ago? (personal correspondence, cited with permission).
This is a good and important question. And it raises other important questions, for example, “What to do next?” Recently, Ron Jeffries presented a very real opportunity :
The time has come to try something new, and here it is: developers must abandon Agile ... I’m really starting to think that no software developer should stick to any method called Agile. When these methods are manifested in the field, they too often interfere, and do not help good software development.
No matter what we decide, let's start with a confession: many of us Agile activists exacerbate the situation. As Pogo said to Porkipine: “We met the enemy - and it turned out that it was us” (Walter Kelly, “Pogo”). Martin Fowler put it this way at the Agile Australia 2018 conference:
... Industry Agile (Agile Industrial Complex), imposing methods on people ... this is an absolute parody. I was going to say “tragedy”, but I think that “parody” is better suited, because, after all, software development does not have a universal approach. Even supporters of Agile say that this methodology is not for everyone. Everything should be decided by the development team. This is the fundamental principle of Agile. This even means that if a team does not want to work in a flexible way, then Agile is no longer suitable for it, and [abandoning Agile] is for it the most flexible way to develop, in some strangely distorted world of logic. So this is the first problem: the Agile industry and the imposition of one the best way to work. This is what we must fight.
Agile Industry Dark Agile. Fake Agile. Zombie Agile. And it gets worse. Here is what my friend, an organizational psychologist, says:
Agile is a virus spreading throughout an enterprise. And you should not be surprised at the growing resistance. Because this is what antibodies naturally do when an antigen invades. (personal correspondence)
What?
That's what it looks like: the invasion. Because your “experts” on business transformation know surprisingly little about organizational dynamics and the psychology of change. One glaring example: Do you understand what resistance you instantly create - on several levels - when you declare someone a “master”? Especially when the only skill he has is two-day courses! (from the same place)
Oh. I did not dare to tell her that "coaches" are also appointed after two days of courses. Recently, I heard one of these “trainers” ask: “Do you need a very good project manager for Agile?”
“Yes, of course, we need a first-class project manager, an iteration manager, a scrum master, whatever you call him, who speaks quietly, but walks with a very big stick!”
Just tears in my eyes well.
One of my clients, having studied the extensive certification landscape, opened his own service. Now dozens of scram masters and product owners proudly show it in their offices: Agile Yahoo.
What's next?
Domestic policy - in the world of Agile
Domestic policy is a broad and comprehensive strategy, or a concrete plan, or even a simple principle of managing internal affairs.
In the era of the expansion of Agile - business transformation - let's first clarify what we mean by "Agile agile agile".
To formulate what should be obvious, here is a simple principle: any Agile must explicitly or implicitly refer to the four basic values ​​and 12 principles of the Agile Manifesto . It should contain Agile “hints”.
We have to go back to the basics. Agile needs a reboot. “Flexible” teams should regularly review the Manifesto and 12 principles: what does this mean? How are we doing? How to keep moving in this direction?
In part, this means constantly limiting your own flexible practices so that they remain flexible. “Simplicity is imperative” (12 principles) is the “key” of Agile, and we must follow our own principles.
Everything is really simple, very simple, says Dave Thomas:
Find out where you are. Take a small step towards the goal. Adjust your understanding based on what you have learned. Repeat.
Similarly, Aleister Cockburn's Heart of Agile is an agnostic approach based on a simple structure: collaborating, delivering, reflecting, and improving. Modern Agile Joshua Kerievsky is based on four simple principles: to make people amazing, to make safety a prerequisite, to quickly experiment and learn and constantly benefit.
Foreign policy - outside the world of Agile
Foreign policy is a broad and comprehensive strategy, or a concrete plan, or even a simple principle of managing external affairs.
In the era of the expansion of Agile - business transformation - let's first clarify what we mean by "Agile agile agile".
When groups of people, such as Agile activists, go to other countries, a clash of cultures inevitably occurs.
The first expeditions of Agile were characterized by gunboat diplomacy. For example, the conquest of Project Management is almost complete.
Now we are confronted with strange new countries, such as Human Resources, and we meet with groups of people who call themselves organizational psychologists, and they have more certificates than we do.
What is our diplomatic policy? Do we consider ourselves raiders or traders?
Let us beware of the naive — and doomed to failure — of colonialism, which assumes that we are superior to the aborigines, whom we should cultivate for their own good and profit.
Moreover, one should beware of their own assimilation, like the once formidable Vikings who disappeared in the mist of legends. For example, I belong to the growing global movement for Agile integration with positive self-help psychology (Appreciative Inquiry) and Solution Focused Brief Therapy, my article on Agile Solution-Oriented. At the same time, more and more of my colleagues remove the word “Agile” altogether, since they were completely assimilated into another world.
In general, our foreign policy is to work not in a melting pot, but in a mixture of components.
This approach is illustrated by a simple conflict resolution matrix (adapted from here ). Our position is not to compete (Agile wins) and not to succumb (Agile loses), but to cooperate (business wins).
This is an example of the action of the Medici effect. The 2006 eponymous book by Frans Johansson strongly influenced my thinking. The Medici effect, named after the 14th-century Italian family that caused the European Renaissance, mentions breakthrough thinking and breakthrough innovations that are often formed from the big bang at the junction of various disciplines, cultures and industries. I immediately caught the idea, because I conducted experiments with explosions with a set of young chemists in childhood.
The effect of the Medici answers a question that is sometimes asked to me: why do I rarely attend Agile events? The agile community is important. But the Medici effect made me constantly go beyond what I already know. And I quickly discovered that for me, enlightenment and breakthroughs were more often caused by interaction with military officers, religious leaders, poets, philosophers, biologists, and psychologists. Most of the work in my life has been connecting points between these related, sometimes unrelated disciplines and experimenting with new and different ways of working.
Conclusion
Interdisciplinary research, principles and practice is the future of Agile. That is why it is so important not to lose touch with the roots while we continue to use the word Agile. Please stop this “Agile Agile Agile blah blah blah”.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/457266/
All Articles