Cultural architecture agile2011

Cultural Architecture
Raj Mudhar
Agile 2011

2011, Raj Mudhar - rajile.com
http://jeffersonsrebels.blogspot.com/2011/02/is-it-conceivable-for-multiculturalism.html

Bio - Raj Mudhar
Cultural: Born in Leeds, England, Father from Uganda,
Mother from India, live in Canada and work
around the world.

Employer: Alcatel-Lucent - 70000+ employees operating in
100+ countries. www.alcatel-lucent.com

Job: Agile Servant Leader - helping our Wireless
business transform, serving 9000+ employees.

Career: 16+ years in telecom as a programmer,
manager, cross-company partnership leader, and
head of R&D for the Korean 3G telecom market.

Interests: Culture, food, music.

Blog: http://rajile.com - Twitter: rmudhar
LinkedIn: http://ca.linkedin.com/in/rajmudhar
E-mail: raj@ripnet.com - raj.mudhar@alcatel-lucent.com

Acknowledgements
Linda Robinson, Nirmal Kaur Mudhar, and Kanwal
Mudhar-Graham - who tested my thinking.

Chitra Kasthuri, François Morin, Yong Wang, Lv Yi,
Robert Tingaud, and Catherine Louis who shared their
perspectives.
All the people on every international project I ever
worked on who taught me to be culturally aware.


Delivering Great Products that Customers
love!

The True Story of a
Cartesian Thinker
Part #1


“The way I was...“
Cartesian thinker - linear, abstract,
command & control mindset
History of success in the past using
traditional methods
Experienced and respected
Plan-driven Waterfall as the default


Now...
Lead an Agile program, using Scrum &
some XP (12 teams and growing)
Adopting Servant Leader principles
Aggressive impediment remover
Trust in teams


Exercise

List one cultural stereotype from your
own culture or one that you know well.

Artifacts & Products
The visible signs of culture.
This is the WHAT of culture - What you
see, hear, taste, smell.
The source of cultural stereotypes
Misunderstanding happens when you
apply your own rules and filters out of
context.


Rules and Filters

Exercise

List a value and a norm from a culture you know.
Value = How I aspire to behave
Norm = How I am expected to behave

Values & Norms

Values are the WHY of culture
Norms are HOW we live the values

Exercise

Ask yourself the five-why’s of a cultural value.
How long did it take before you arrived at a
point that defies explanation?

What is Culture?
What you see, taste,
Artifacts and Products smell, visible signs,
source of stereotypes
Norms and Values

Norms - how I should
Basic behave, Values - how I
Assumptions aspire to behave

Implicit
Like breathing - you
don’t even think about
it.

Explicit

Culture directs our actions
Source: Trompenaars/Hamden-Turner 2011, Raj Mudhar - rajile.com

Korean/French Team
Ok! We have a decision

A B
Time passes...
French - let’s see Korean -
where we are on the path to B. let’s see where we are on the
path to C.

A B
C

Exercise
Create a narrative of what you think
could have happened to cause the
disconnect between the French and
Korean team members.
What rules and filters did you apply?
What values and norms were at play?


Culture Map
Egalitarian Hierarchical Structures
Informal Formal Style
Individual Group Interests
Transactional Interpersonal Relationship
Direct Indirect Communication
Fluid Controlled Time
Internal External Control
Balance Status Motivation

Source: ALU CUlture Wizard 2011, Raj Mudhar - rajile.com

Exercise
A Scrum team does not have healthy conflict.
The team exhibits a lack of commitment and
finger-pointing. Consider a:
French Scrum team
Chinese Scrum team
American Scrum team.
Use the culture map for help.
What “could” be the problem?
M.C. Escher


Cultural Dimensions
Universalism versus Particularism
Rules Relationships

Communitarianism versus Individualism
The Group The Individual

Neutral versus Emotional
The range of feelings expressed

Diffuse versus Specific
The range of involvement

Achievement versus Ascription
How status is accorded


Grey Zone
Each cultural dimension is a continuum
There is no one right place to be on the
continuum - all is dependent on the context
We run into trouble when we attempt to
simplify... stereotyping
Context is everything


The True Story of a
Cartesian Thinker
Part #2


Triggers for Change
Failure - a sense of urgency.
Simple, testable methods.
Recognized my culture, background,
education was getting in the way.
International experience taught me to keep an
open mind.


Conclusion

CAUTION
A little bit of
knowledge is a
dangerous thing

My Korean Friend

Over 40/Under 40

Think Fractals, Layers

Q&A
Blog: http://rajile.com - Twitter: rmudhar
LinkedIn: http://ca.linkedin.com/in/rajmudhar
E-mail: raj@ripnet.com - raj.mudhar@alcatel-lucent.com

Back-Up


Universalism
Apply rules and
procedures universally
to ensure equity and
consistency although...

We do not want to Central
We do not want to
drown in chaos or lose Guidelines
degenerate into rigidity
our sense of central with local
and bureaucracy so we
direction so we must... adaptations
must...
and discretion

Encouraging flexibility
by adapting to particular
situations. However...

Particularism

Individualism
Encourage individual
freedom and
responsibility, however...

Give clear
objectives that
We need to avoid We do not want to
need
conformism and slow degenerate into self-
individual
decision-making so centeredness or forced
initiative and
we must... compromise, so we must...
accountability
to succeed

Encourage individuals to
work for consensus in the
interest of the group,
although...

Communitarianism

Specific, Low Context
The quality of the
product

can be developed
needs to be developed
because it ultimately
so that eventually
is a guarantee for

The quality of the
relationship

Diffuse, High Context

Achievement
We need to reward
what our people achieve
based on skill, but...

Respect what
We do not want to be We want to avoid the
people are so we
hindered in our achievement instability that comes
can better take
by not challenging the from only valuing recent
advantage of
status quo, so... performance, so we must...
what they do

Respect who our people are
based on their experience,
although...

Ascription

Patterns of Speech
Anglo-Saxon - silence is uncomfortable
- take turns speaking, interrupting is
rude
Latin - interrupt often to indicate
interest and engagement
Asian - Silence to process what is said is
a sign of respect


Showing Emotion
French, Italian, Spanish - showing
emotion is prevalent - words are not
enough
American - show emotion but separate it
from rational, objective argument
Korean - within “clans” emotion is ok
but with outsiders, it is not


The Boss Outside
Work
China - the boss is the boss outside work
- significant influence
France/USA/Finland - the boss is just
another person outside work - limited
influence


Corporate Culture
Hierarchical
Family Eiffel Tower
(Latin) (German)
It’s who you know -
Structure, titles
your network
Expertise
Power oriented

Person Task
Incubator Guided Missile
(Silicon Valley) (Anglo-Saxon)
Management by passion
Mgt. by Objectives
Controlled Chaos
MBAs
Driver to work here is
Not people focused
learning more than money

Egalitarian

Corporate Culture
Hierarchical

Person Task

our
does y re
Where s cultu
y’
compan gle or
n
fit? Si ltures?
cu
m ultiple Egalitarian

Cultural architecture agile2011

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