Presentation @ Agile Australia's Activate Agile. A punchy afternoon for highschool and uni students; teachers, lecturers, and tutors; about how tech teams work in real businesses.

1. Being Agile
The mindset and practices behind
awesome products & software

2. Steve Lawrence
Slice Consulting
@goriansteve
Victoria Schiffer
Agile Coach, SEEK
@erdbeervogel
Hello :o)

3. Mindset

4. Monkeys, Bananas & Ladders
Unquestioned, Learned Behaviours

5. 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)

6. 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

7. 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)

8. 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”

9. 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

11. 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

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

13. The Heart
of Agile
Alistair Cockburn

14. The Heart
of Agile
Alistair Cockburn

15. Practices - What you will see!

16. Taskwalls &
Cards
=
Transparency &
Visual Management

17. Daily
Standups
=
Transparency,
Collaboration,
Support

18. Co-Location
=
Communication,
Support,
Feedback

19. Regular Planning
=
Shared Understanding,
Goals,
Commitment

20. Showcases /
Reviews
=
Early & Frequent
Customer Feedback
→
+ Quality + Value
- Risk

21. Retrospectives /
Taking time to
Reflect & Improve
=
Getting better
(growth mindset),
more efficient &
effective

22. Mindset + Practices

23. Stay curious!
Keep asking questions!
Always collaborate!
Always reflect & learn!
What can you as a Student do?
(To take on Agile Mindset & Practices)

24. Credits
Alistair 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

25. Steve Lawrence
Slice Consulting
@goriansteve
Victoria Schiffer
Agile Coach, SEEK
@erdbeervogel
Thanks :o)