What's so funny 'bout peace, love and understanding?

WHAT’S SO FUNNY‘BOUT PEACE, LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING?

Ed Wong Agile Singapore 2013

[email protected] @littlehelper

FIRSTLY, THANKS!

To Agile Singapore

…and to you for coming to my session.

:)

MY FAVOURITE AGILE SG STICKER

THIS IS ABOUT…

• A Song

• Some questions

• Stories about some people

• Some games

SOME QUESTIONS

• What motivates our work?

• Do people hate change?

• How can “agile” help with (shared) understanding within groups?

• How can “agile” help with understanding your customers?

THE SONG

“So where are the strong? And who are the trusted? And where is the harmony? Sweet harmony.”

— Nick Lowe — Elvis Costello

UNDERSTANDING

:)

“If something isn’t going right, it’s because the right people aren’t talking to each other”

— David Marques

MOTIVATIONPort Meadow, Oxford, by Ed

DAN PINK'S — DRIVE

• Concepts on next 2 slides are borrowed from Dan Pink

• RSA Animate. 11 million Youtube views

MOTIVATION

• Autonomy. The desire to be self-directed.

• Mastery. The urge to do something well. e.g Linux, Apache, Wikipedia.

• Purpose. A higher purpose rather than only a “profit motive”

MOTIVATION

• Treat people like people not like horses

• Build projects around motivated individuals.

• Give them the environment and support they need

• Trust them to get the job done.

WORK AS A CO-OPERATIVE GAME

Pandemic by Ed

BUSINESS IS……a cooperative… game of invention and communication. So are law, journalism, conference organization, entertainment…More surprising to me…was discovering that engineering is also … a cooperative game of invention and communication

— Alistair Cockburn

PEOPLE HATE CHANGE?

by spcbrass on Flickr

CHANGE / INNOVATION

— Scott Berkun

“All stressful events…combine fear of suffering with forced change.”

“TOP DOWN” OR…

Gregory of Nin, by Ed

…GUERRILLA?

Melbourne laneway, by Ed

COMMAND AND CONTROL ?

Holding a pen by Ed

ORGANISATIONAL AGILITY?

Holding a pen by Ed

HOW ABOUT…

Grass roots change BUT with management support?

• Get people interested and intrigued.

• Help people to see what’s in it for them.

• Help them want to be involved.

THE BAD NEWS

• It will take time

• It’s not always a smooth ride…

• Collaboration vs competitivenessby quinn.anya on Flickr

THE GOOD NEWS

• Help is out there

• It can be very fulfilling to achieve

DO PEOPLE HATE CHANGE?

Not necessarily…but they sometimes need some help…

It takes thought and effort.

!26

Text

If you think a thing is impossible, you'll make it impossible.

Pessimism blunts the tools you need to succeed.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jameshandlon/5893022361/ Striking Thoughts: Bruce Lee's Wisdom for Daily Living (2000) edited by John Little. p121

• by globalite on Flickr

UNDERSTANDING WITHIN ORGANISATIONS

GAME CHEMISTRY

BARÇA ACHIEVEMENTS

• 64 Domestic trophies and 17 international trophies

• 4 x European Cup winners

• 10 x League winners 1929-1990

• 12 x League winners since 1990-91

• 15 trophies in the last 5 seasons

TIKI-TAKA

“a systems approach to football founded upon team unity and a comprehensive understanding in the geometry of space on a football field.”

– Wikipedia

TICQUI-TACA

LA MASÌA

by XiscoNL on Wikimedia Commons

by Jordiferrer on Wikimedia Commons

UNDERSTANDING

“…it’s really simple to find him on the pitch, I have a really good understanding with him…he did the right thing at the right moment…I like a lot my understanding on the pitch with him”

— Olivier Giroud

A “KNOWN” GAME!?

But, Ed…The rules of soccer are known!

• Ebenezer Cobb Morley, Football Association

• There are only 17 laws <50 A5 pages (or 140 with pictures)

THE LAWS OF THE GAME

by Adrian Roebuck on Wikimedia Commons

COMPARED TO…

• Rugby Union: 20 laws. 200+ pages (with pics)

• Cricket: 42 laws, 50 pages (no pics)

• MLB Baseball: 10 rules, 130 pages (no pics)

PRINCIPLES

"They embrace the true principles of the game, with the greatest simplicity"

— (E. C. Morley, F.A. Hon. Sec. 1863)

…A FRAMEWORK

Guidelines goals and principles that have been clarified through practice and adaptation since 1863

WHAT ABOUT AGILE?

The Scrum Guide

• 16 pages (no pics)

• Subtitled “The rules of the game”:

• 3 roles, 5 events, 3 artifacts.

WHAT ABOUT AGILE?

The agile manifesto

• 4 items

• 12 principles

COCKBURN’S SWAMP GAME

“a competition in which each team must build something somewhere in a swamp”

They don’t:

• know what they have to build

• know where they have to build it

• have a map of the swamp

UNDERSTANDING YOUR USERS

DOES THIS SOUND FAMILIAR?

“Customer collaboration” over contract negotiation”

KNOWING YOUR CUSTOMER

“only 21% (of companies) agreed with the

statement, “Employees across the

company share a vivid image of target

customers.”

Bruce Temkin!Mapping The Customer Journey!For Forrester Research!

MORE “SAD TROMBONE”

“That leaves nearly eight out of 10

companies making decisions based on

something other than customer needs.”

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

“User Experience” techniques are great.

• Personas

• Customer Journey Mapping

• Collaborative “Design Studios”

• Going to visit your customers!!!

USER STORY MAPPING

Text

“Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it.”

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jameshandlon/5893022361/ As quoted in Bruce Lee : Fighting Spirit (1994) by Bruce Thomas (1994), p.44

THE OATH OF NON-ALLEGIANCE

“I promise not to exclude from consideration any idea based on its source, but to consider ideas across schools and heritages in order to find the ones that best suit the current situation.”

http://alistair.cockburn.us/Oath+of+Non-Allegiance

DESIGN THINKINGand Service Design

Conducting user research. Erin Sanders - Frog Design!In Smashing Magazine

LEAN

Toyota

• Healthcare

• Education

• Construction

• Startups

• UX

• Change

SO…WHAT’S ALL THIS ACHIEVE?

• We make something that our customers need

• We are fulfilled in our professional lives

• Our company fulfils its mandate

ALL THE KITTENS ARE HAPPY

by masochismtango on flickr

THE VACATION GAME

Vis, Croatia by Ed

THE VACATION GAME

GOALS:

• To give you a better understanding of the other people in the room.

• To give you a chance to talk to each other

• To get you moving

THE VACATION GAME

Mechanics 1:

• Find someone you don’t know.

• Have a discussion about where you are both going to go on holiday together.

• You must mutually agree on a destination within 2 minutes.

THE VACATION GAME

Mechanics 2:

• Find another group and discuss your choice and the reasons why.

• All four of you must agree on a destination within 2 minutes where all of you are going to go together.

THE VACATION GAME

Mechanics 3:

• Repeat until…

THANK YOU :)

[email protected] tabar.com.au

@littlehelper projectslittlehelper.com