Everyone says "I understand Agile", but do they really? Based on 5 years of people telling me the understand Agile I started to think would could it mean when someone says that. What I realised is that there has been a mindset shift about how companies work, and Agile (in it's strictest definition) is just a part of that.

1. @wildfalcon
Agile vs Agile (vs Agile)
The fall of“scientific” management
Dr Laurie Young
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2. @wildfalcon
Why should you listen to me?
When you understand the mindset shift you will be able to:
• Communicate easier with each other
• Explicitly choose which mindset you want your company to have
• Build companies that adapt to unpredictable events
• Test new ideas and new opportunities quickly

3. @wildfalcon
2 Mindsets

4. @wildfalcon
2 Mindsets
(well, 3 actually)

5. @wildfalcon
Everyone just does “work”
“There’s no point paying attention to the way things get done”
“We are wasting too much time on this ‘process’ crap”
“Stop talking about how I work and let me do some work”
Chaos

6. @wildfalcon
It just doesn’t work
Chaos

7. @wildfalcon
Let’s forget about this one!
Chaos

8. @wildfalcon
Scientific Management
Three basic principles
1. Get better results by thinking about how work is done:
The “work practices”
2. Managers should control the employees’ work practices
3. Managers should empirically analyse and optimise work practices

9. @wildfalcon
Frederick Winslow Taylor
(March 20, 1856 – March 21, 1915)

10. @wildfalcon

11. @wildfalcon
Employees: Do Work
Managers:
Tell employees
how to do work

12. @wildfalcon
Manager
Employees

13. @wildfalcon
Pro: It works!

14. @wildfalcon

15. @wildfalcon

16. @wildfalcon
GDP(inM1960USD)
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
Year
1830 1840 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1913 1925 1938
Russia Germany

17. @wildfalcon
Cons: Many!

18. @wildfalcon
IT SUCKS!

19. @wildfalcon
NO ONE IS HAVING FUN!

20. @wildfalcon
It’s slow to respond

21. @wildfalcon
Data is gathered here
It’s slow to respond

22. @wildfalcon
It’s slow to respond
But needs to get here so decisions can be made

23. @wildfalcon
It's not accurate: People talk to each other

24. @wildfalcon
Complex Systems

25. @wildfalcon

26. @wildfalcon
Complex Systems
Complex systems reconfigure themselves, adapting to constraints.
This means they display emergent behaviour and are rarely stable

27. @wildfalcon
Complex Systems
Complex systems have the following properties
1. They adapt to their constraints
2. They rapidly reconfigure to adapt to any changes
3. Behaviour is emergent - meaning it’s unpredictable
4. Behaviour is constantly adapting so is rarely stable

28. @wildfalcon
Complex Systems
For example:
1. Ant colonies
2. Human brain
3. Stock market
4. A team of people

29. @wildfalcon
AKA “Empowered Teams”
1. Get better results by thinking about how work is done:
The “work practices”
2. Teams of people should be empowered to control their own work
practices
3. Teams should analyse and improve their own work practices

30. @wildfalcon

31. @wildfalcon
Running a company ? ?
Developing a
business model
? ?
Projects ? ?
Production ? ?

32. @wildfalcon
Chaos
? ? ?
? ? ?
? ? ?
? ? ?

33. @wildfalcon
Running a company ? ?
Developing a
business model
? ?
Projects ? ?
Production ? ?

34. @wildfalcon
Enough Theory!

35. @wildfalcon
Real examples
Let’s look at four things a typical company does
• Running a company
• Developing a Business Model
• Projects
• Production

36. @wildfalcon
Project
“A collaborative enterprise, carefully planned to achieve a particular aim”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project

37. @wildfalcon

38. @wildfalcon
Running a company ? ?
Developing a
business model
? ?
Projects
Project Management:
Gantt Charts
Prince2
Waterfall
Pert Analysis
?
Production ? ?

39. @wildfalcon
Running a company ? ?
Developing a
business model
? ?
Projects
Project Management:
Gantt Charts
Prince2
Waterfall
Pert Analysis
Agile:
Scrum
XP
Production ? ?

40. @wildfalcon
Production
“The production of large amounts of standardised products, including
and especially on assembly lines.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_production

41. @wildfalcon

42. @wildfalcon
Running a company ? ?
Developing a
business model
? ?
Projects
Project Management:
Gantt Charts
Prince2
Waterfall
Pert Analysis
Agile:
Scrum
XP
Production Fordism ?

43. @wildfalcon
Running a company ? ?
Developing a
business model
? ?
Projects
Project Management:
Gantt Charts
Prince2
Waterfall
Pert Analysis
Agile:
Scrum
XP
Production Fordism
Lean:
Kanban
Toyota Production System
JIT Manufacturing

44. @wildfalcon
Developing a Business Model
“The rationale of how an organisation creates, delivers, and captures
value"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_mod

45. @wildfalcon

46. @wildfalcon
Running a company ? ?
Developing a
business model
Business Plan:
Write a business plan then implement it
exactly
?
Projects
Project Management:
Gantt Charts
Prince2
Waterfall
Pert Analysis
Agile:
Scrum
XP
Production Fordism
Lean:
Kanban
Toyota Production System
JIT Manufacturing

47. @wildfalcon
Running a company ? ?
Developing a
business model
Business Plan:
Write a business plan then implement it
exactly
Lean Startup:
Team builds business plan by experiment
MVP
Projects
Project Management:
Gantt Charts
Prince2
Waterfall
Pert Analysis
Agile:
Scrum
XP
Production Fordism
Lean:
Kanban
Toyota Production System
JIT Manufacturing

48. @wildfalcon
Running a company
“The system by which corporations are directed and controlled.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_Governance

49. @wildfalcon

50. @wildfalcon
Running a company
Corporate Governance
eg: Multinations, Governments, Most
Enterprises
?
Developing a
business model
Business Plan::
Write a business plan then implement it
exactly
Lean Startup:
Team builds business plan by experiment
MVP
Projects
Project Management:
Gantt Charts
Prince2
Waterfall
Pert Analysis
Agile:
Scrum
XP
Production Fordism
Lean:
Kanban
Toyota Production System
JIT Manufacturing

51. @wildfalcon
Running a company
Corporate Governance
eg: Multinations, Governments, Most
Enterprises
No Name:
eg: 37 Signals, Github
Developing a
business model
Business Plan::
Write a business plan then implement it
exactly
Lean Startup:
Team builds business plan by experiment
MVP
Projects
Project Management:
Gantt Charts
Prince2
Waterfall
Pert Analysis
Agile:
Scrum
XP
Production Fordism
Lean:
Kanban
Toyota Production System
JIT Manufacturing

52. @wildfalcon
3 Common uses of the word
“Agile”

53. @wildfalcon
Running a company
Corporate Governance
eg: Vodafone, Governments, Most
Enterprises
No Name:
eg: 37 Signals, Github
Startups
No Name:
Write a business plan then implement it
exactly
Lean Startup:
Everyone builds a business plan though
experiment
MVP
Projects
Project Management:
Gantt Charts
Prince2
Waterfall
Pert Analysis
Agile:
Scrum
XP
Production Fordism
Lean:
Kanban
Toyota Production System
JIT Manufacturing
Agile is a way of building projects with empowered teams

54. @wildfalcon
Running a company
Corporate Governance
eg: Vodafone, Governments, Most
Enterprises
No Name:
eg: 37 Signals, Github
Startups
No Name:
Write a business plan then implement it
exactly
Lean Startup:
Everyone builds a business plan though
experiment
MVP
Projects
Project Management:
Gantt Charts
Prince2
Waterfall
Pert Analysis
Agile:
Scrum
XP
Production Fordism
Lean:
Kanban
Toyota Production System
JIT Manufacturing
Agile is any way of working
with empowered teams

55. @wildfalcon
Chaos
Chaos
No Name
eg: Vodafone, Governments, Most
Enterprises
No Name:
eg: 37 Signals, Github
Chaos
No Name:
Write a business plan then implement it
exactly
Lean Startup:
Everyone builds a business plan though
experiment
MVP
Chaos
Project Management:
Gantt Charts
Prince2
Waterfall
Pert Analysis
Agile:
Scrum
XP
Chaos Fordism
Lean:
Kanban
Toyota Production System
JIT Manufacturing
Agile is ANY
way of working
that doesn’t use
managers &
hierarchy

56. @wildfalcon
Summary
Three things you should remember
• 2 (or 3) Mindsets about how a company can work
• How these apply to 4 types of work that a company can do
• The phrase “Agile” can be used to mean different things
!

57. @wildfalcon
Learnings
Two key ideas
• Over the past 130 years there has been a continual change:
Chaos -> Scientific Management -> Complex Systems
• We are learning how create empowered teams that are more fun to
work in and generate better results
!

58. @wildfalcon
Further Reading
• The Last Re-Org You’ll Ever Do
https://medium.com/p/f19160f61500
• Inside GitHub's Super-Lean Management Strategy
http://www.fastcolabs.com/3020181/open-company/inside-githubs-super-lean-management-strategy-and-how-it-
drives-innovation
• Scaling Agile @ Spotify
http://ucvox.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/113617905-scaling-agile-spotify-11.pdf
• The Marshall Model of Organisational Evolution
http://fallingblossoms.com/opinion/content?id=1006

59. @wildfalcon
Follow me on Twitter for more
@wildfalcon