My keynote talk at DiscussAgile Hyderabad 2016 conference. In this talk, I deconstruct #agility and compare and contract with nature. Feedback welcome :)

1. Is nature
agile?
Tathagat Varma
http://thoughtleadership.in

2. What is agility?
The ability of a “body” to
• sense, analyse and comprehend expected and unexpected
situations as they unfold,
• respond and organise, self and collectively, quickly and
gracefully to planned and unplanned changes,
• anticipate potential issues and avoid or mitigate them as
required or as possible,
• exploit unexpected opportunities and maximise gains before
they dry up,
• initiate potential game-changing ideas well-ahead of the
market, and
• learn and adapt from previous experiences, make sustainable
improvements and evolve on continuous basis.

3. Elements of Agility
Aware Assess Act

4. Being aware of the changing
dynamics and evolving situation
Aware
Filter out noise and analyze,
corroborate, and synthesize
various signals

5. Aware
of the
present
moment

6. Possess the knowledge and skills
to anticipate the projected future
(positive / negative)
Assess
Being able to discern the situation
and decide best course of action
(avoid / mitigate / continue / exploit)

7. Assess
the
projected
future

8. Respond in a timeframe and intensity
commensurate to the problem
Act
Continuously improve subsequent
responses based on earlier results

9. Act
towards
the desired
future

10. Act
towards
the desired
future
Assess
the
projected
future
Aware
of the
present
moment

11. Aware
Assess
Act
Agility Lights Out Just Do It!
Newshour
Debate
Indiana
Jones
Little
Professor
Classroom
Debate
James
Bond
Ethan
Hunt
Agility Matrix

12. Software Team

13. Nature?

14. Sunflower Garden

15. Venus Flytrap

16. Honeybees

17. Fireflies Flashing

18. Flock of Birds

19. School of Fish

20. Ant Colony

21. Slime Mold

22. Robots next?

23. Is agility “one size fit all”?

24. Recap
• Aware, assess & act
• Agility is an outcome!
• Agility helps nature evolve
• Teams can learn from nature