Culture is not just visible artefacts and behaviour, value statements, and culture books. The foundation of culture is our underlying mental processes, beliefs, and assumptions. Think Like an Agilist is an exercise using difficult scenarios, and think-aloud protocol, to expose and allow us to examine and practice adjusting our assumptions (aka culture). Agile Sydney 2014 version.

1. Think Like an Agilist: Practicing
Agile culture using difficult scenarios
Jason Yip
jcyip@thoughtworks.com
j.c.yip@computer.org
@jchyip
http://jchyip.blogspot.com

2. Raise your hand if you believe
culture is important for Agile

3. Think about what how you
understand what is meant by
“culture”.
Raise your hand once it’s clear in
your head.

4. Keep your hand up if you believe
that your understanding is the
same as everyone in the room

5. “We don’t have a clear
understanding of culture.”
“BUT we definitely
consider culture
important”
“We don’t have a shared
understanding of culture.”

6. Edgar Schein: 3 Levels of Culture
Artefacts
Visible organisational
structures and processes
Espoused
Values
Strategies, goals,
philosophies
Underlying
Assumptions
Unconscious, taken for
granted beliefs, perceptions,
thoughts, and feelings

8. IF the foundations of “culture” are
assumptions…
THEN in order to understand Agile
culture, we need to understand the
underlying assumptions of Agile

10. Think Like an Agilist is an
approach I’ve created to expose
how we think about a situation in
order to allow us to practice Agile
culture

11. Let’s try it!

12. Thinker:
Respond to the scenario using
think-aloud
Scribe (1 or more):
Capture the thoughts; remind
Thinker to think-aloud

13. Think Aloud Protocol
• Describe what you are thinking, feeling,
noticing, questioning so that the Scribe
can capture it
•
•
•
•
What do you notice? want? suspect?
What questions do you have?
What actions would you take?
What else is passing through your head?

14. But if you were thinking aloud, we
can see that you didn’t think of
that and didn’t consider it

15. Warning! Scenarios may will be
more unfair than reality
• No body language to read
• No other background available
• Not allowed to ask for clarification
(you can actually ask, but I likely
won’t clarify)

16. Too easy!
Can’t learn
Too hard!
Can’t learn
Maximum learning
(via failures)

17. SCENARIO ONE

18. Think Aloud Protocol Template
• Describe what you are thinking, feeling,
noticing, questioning so that the Scribe
can capture it
•
•
•
•
What do you notice? want? suspect?
What questions do you have?
What actions would you take?
What else is passing through your head?

19. DISCUSSION ONE

20. Assess the response
•
•
•
What did you like about how the Thinker responded? What were
the strengths in his / her response?
What did you not like about how the Thinker responded? What
were the weaknesses in his / her response?
What do the Thinker’s responses communicate about his/her
underlying assumptions?

21. END SCENARIO ONE

22. How many people learned
something about their underlying
assumptions that they did not
previously know?

23. How many people will approach new
scenarios differently?

24. SCENARIO TWO

25. DISCUSSION TWO

26. Assess the response
•
•
•
What did you like about how the Thinker responded? What were
the strengths in his / her response?
What did you not like about how the Thinker responded? What
were the weaknesses in his / her response?
What does the Thinker responses communicate about his/her
underlying assumptions?

27. END SCENARIO TWO

28. Overall impressions?

29. Adjustments if you do this yourself
•
•
•
Use small groups (3 – 4)
Use your own scenarios
Focus on the specific culture you want

30. KEY TAKEAWAYS

31. Classroom study
(basic concepts)
Practice difficult scenarios
(aka Think Like an Agilist)
(expose weakness in culture)
Agile simulation / project
(get comfortable putting it all together)

32. Consider how you think and what
you believe (aka foundation of
culture) not just what you do (aka
artefacts of culture)

33. THE END