Being Agile - The Mindset and Practices Behind Awesome Products & Software (Activate Agile, Agile Australia 2016, Melbourne, Australia)

Being AgileThe mindset and practices behind awesome products & software

Steve LawrenceSlice Consulting

@goriansteve

Victoria SchifferAgile Coach, SEEK

@erdbeervogel

Hello :o)

Mindset

Monkeys, Bananas & LaddersUnquestioned, Learned Behaviours

A group of Students was given a very easy set of questions

Regardless of the results they were categorized into the following characterisations.

“Effort Group” or

“Fixed Group” (about 50-50)

A Human Experiment

All students were then asked to choose between:

(1) a more difficult test (where they would learn a lot) or

(2) another easy test (similar to Phase I)

Most (~90%) “effort” students chose (1)

Most (~80%) “fixed” students chose (2)

All students were then asked to choose between:

(1) seeing exams of those who did better or

(2) seeing exams of those who did worse

“Effort” students chose (1)

“Fixed” students chose (2)

All students given another easy test (similar to Test I)

“Effort” students improved (by ~30%)

“Fixed” students’ were worse (by ~20%)

All students were asked to give advice to other students and share their scores

“Effort” students: Lots of advice and encouragement.

“Fixed” students: Very little or no advice and ~40% lied about their scores

Fixed Mindset vs. Growth Mindset

Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., “Mindset”

Fixed Mindset People Growth Mindset People

BELIEVE Basic qualities: intelligence & talent → fixed traits

BELIEVE Brains & talent = starting point→ developed through dedication & hard work

Spend time documenting intelligence & talent(not developing them)

Love of Learning & Resilience

Talent alone → Success(not effort)

Learning → essential for great accomplishments(all great people have had these qualitites)

Agile Mindset = Growth Mindset

“Teaching a growth mindset creates motivation and productivity in the worlds of business, education, and sports. It enhances relationships.”

Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., “Mindset”

An Agile Mindset… ● … is open and evolves● … is looking for opportunities to learn and grow● … values the diversity of people’s strengths and weaknesses● … recognises the knowledge and value in alternative views● … is tech, business, customer and team focussed● … sees failure as an opportunity to learn

A corporate example ● Hire for attitude● Establish a culture of

community, trust, and the “Southwest spirit”

● Then provide learning opportunities and continually grow people

● Southwest seems to have an “agile” mindset

Never stop being curious, Never stop asking questions, Never stop learning, No fear to fail

The Heart of Agile

Alistair Cockburn

The Heart of Agile

Alistair Cockburn

Practices - What you will see!

Taskwalls &Cards

=Transparency &

Visual Management

DailyStandups

=Transparency, Collaboration,

Support

Co-Location=

Communication, Support, Feedback

Regular Planning=

Shared Understanding, Goals,

Commitment

Showcases / Reviews

=Early & Frequent

Customer Feedback→

+ Quality + Value- Risk

Retrospectives / Taking time to

Reflect & Improve=

Getting better (growth mindset), more efficient &

effective

Mindset + Practices

Stay curious! Keep asking questions!Always collaborate!Always reflect & learn!

What can you as a Student do? (To take on Agile Mindset & Practices)

Cred

itsAlistair Cockburn

catherinedncr

dierk schaefer

.id

paka.co.uk

Business Consulting

Solitude Canyon

chefalfalfa

Victoria & Bernd Schiffer

SEEK.com.au

dumbledad

yoppy

Celestine Chua

Vincent_AF

EyeSee

NAPARAZZI

Steve LawrenceSlice Consulting

@goriansteve

Victoria SchifferAgile Coach, SEEK

@erdbeervogel

Thanks :o)