Lessons and insights gained from the transistion from apartheid to democracy in South Africa - and it's applicability to agile software development. This was presented at the Agile Africa conference in August 2013.

1. “Though I’ve tried to find the answer to all the questions they ask,
Though I know it’s impossible to go living through the past –
Don’t tell no lie.” -- Bob Marley, Natural Mystic
Apartheid and Democracy
@aslamkhn
Beyond
^
stillpoint.

2. architects and adversaries

3. '69 '76
ignorance
'80
authority & fear
'86
anger
'94
peace?
'92
joy war
'89
hatred

4. '94 2013
freedom? one people? a rainbow nation?
2!06 - 2!08
a reality check

5. political affiliation, religion
ge n d e r, e c o n o m i c s t a t u s ,
opportunity bias, right of
passage, stigmas, stereotypes,
p o w e r, p o l i t i c s , c a u c u s ,
authority, de-authority, values,
p u n c t u a l i t y , r e p o r t i n g
structures, clothing, hair styles,
parking space, experience, tribe,
where you ate lunch, smokers,
car that you drove, staff,
consultant, rank, parking space

6. Was there a way out?
2!082!06
Revenge cuts both ways - forever
Amnesty amnesia results in re-victimisation
Justice one winner, pack up and go
Leave those that were hurt still hurt

7. 2!08 2010
where did I go wrong?

8. Though I’ve tried to find the answer to all
the questions they ask,
Though I know it’s impossible to go living
through the past –
Don’t tell no lie.
-- Bob Marley, Natural Mystic

9. '94 2013
reality check
2!06 - 2!08
truth and reconciliation
'96
(yet we still wonder about retrospectives at scale)

10. architects and adversaries

11. … and peace makers

12. CONTEMPT
individual goal
no integrity
CO-OPERATION
share a goal
working on integrity
COLLABORATION?
why is this so
difficult to achieve??
Self organisation

13. sub-human bondage
2!!0...19!017!016!0 18!0
freedom
we can work together under any
condition - if we really want to
Why?

14. '94 2013
reality check
2!06 - 2!08
truth and reconciliation
'96
"We are all losers, and our lies will only
subvert our integrity and identity"

15. “From the beginning our history has been
one of ascending unities, the breaking of …
credal barriers.”

16. integrity identity
1"94 2013...
sum of our trust sum of our values
the journey of "ascending unities"

17. peace makers

18. identity builders

19. “Ubuntu does not mean that people should
not address themselves. The question
therefore is: Are you going to do so in
order to enable the community around you
to be able to improve?"

20. "It becomes more necessary to see the
truth as it is if you realize that the only
vehicle for change are these people who
have lost their personality"

21. WITH
CONTEMPT
individual goal
no integrity
WITH
CO-OPERATION
preserving a goal
working on integrity
WITH
COLLABORATION
preserving integrity
working on identity

22. Nurturing identities cannot be time-boxed
#$%&'( 1 ... '#$%&'( 2 3 4...

23. It's not about giving your team a name
that's tribalism
"Give" your team an identity
that's collaboration

24. it's not about following a common process
that's ritualism
regardless of what each believes
it's about sharing our ideology
that's what we believe
regardless of the rituals that each follows

25. it's not about team based decisions
that's just controlling production
it's about accountability for decisions
that's challenging our shared values

26. it's not about pivoting fast
that's just reacting to market demands
rather pivot to test your beliefs
or your can just pivot on a whim

27. it's not about democracy in teams
that can create an "us and them"
it's about diminishing of class differences
about equal appreciation
of the value of specialized skills

28. To grow identities
we must allow value systems to clash
and
shared beliefs to take a foothold
"Many more will have to suffer
Many more will have to die
Don't ask me why"
-- Bob Marley, Natural Mystic

29. Apartheid and Democracy
Beyond
^
Agile Software Development
reminds me of worker centric socialism

30. I wonder ...
why agile transformations are difficult.
Perhaps
the worker centric, socialist elements
of agile software development
clashes with
capitalist, free market organisations

31. What does it mean to be
an agile software team
in Africa?

32. 2013...
restoration & creation of African identity
2!!016!0
eradication of identities
17!0 18!0 19!0
apartheid and (neo)colonialism

33. "We face neither East nor
West;
we face forward"
-- Kwame Nkrumah
@aslamkhn
f3yourmind.net
stillpoint.