So many smart people still don’t get it
… and the biggest problem is MINDSET
I’m continually amazed to find very clever and experienced people who, in my opinion, do not fully understand and appreciate some of the most critical differences between ‘Traditional’ and so called ‘Agile’ and ‘Lean’ ways of working and thinking.
They think they understand it, but, very often they don’t.
Now let me be honest here, I was one of these people until a few years ago. I may have been teaching global PMP® credential courses in Project Management but I did not fully understand and grasp the most important critical factors about ‘Agile and Lean’ ways of working and thinking.
This lack of understanding and knowledge is, I believe, creating a huge amount of confusion and ultimately pain out there in our working environment and, I’m afraid, it’s only going to get a lot worse unless we can quickly address this gap.
This is why I decided to develop a new Agile and Lean Awareness (1 day) Course, which I participated in 2017 to try to help address this gap. This course has been hugely successful for me, so much so, that I decided to create an online version which is live at https://etm-online.shop/.
I believe a lot of the reasons for this confusion has to do with people not properly understanding the basic foundations, the increasing complexity of the environment, the vested interests in the different competing bodies and frameworks and the use (and misuse) of terminology. All of which makes it hard for the average busy person to make sense of everything and get a decent grasp of what’s actually going on.
So, let me try my best to explain some of this as simply as I can.
What I want to focus on in this article is approaches to doing work in conjunction with our fundamental beliefs (our mindset) about how the work should be done and what we believe is MOST important.
Our individual ‘beliefs’ effectively sit behind everything we do, and what we believe is most important is very critical, as it will ultimately drive our attitudes actions and behaviours.
At this stage you might be wondering to yourself, where is he going here? Please bear with me and all will be revealed!
Delivering Outcomes AND Value
I’m hoping everybody would agree that everything we do should be about delivering the best ‘outcomes’ possible, and, providing ‘value’ (whatever that is deemed to be in the specific context), as soon as possible. This is what I believe we should all be about doing. Make sense?
Whenever I hear people use the comparison ‘Agile’ vs. ‘Waterfall’ my radar goes off, and I worry that there may be a serious lack of understanding.
Now of course it depends on what exactly they mean when they say the word ‘Agile’ but, this is definitely not for me a binary comparison!
Are you going to tell me that people using a ‘Waterfall’ plan driven approach will not be potentially ‘Agile’ in some way? Bollocks I say, of course they can & could be!!!
To me delivering outcomes should be seen, understood and explained as a spectrum.
At one end of the spectrum we have highly plan driven approaches, and at the other end of the spectrum we have highly agile/adaptive approaches and then, in the middle, we can have hybrid approaches.
If we want to get work done in the best way (as efficiently and effectively as possible) then depending upon the kind of work, we need to make sure we use a suitable ‘Fit for Purpose’ approach. What is the best and most effective way of getting the outcomes achieved will depend on the kind of work that is being done, and the environment in which we are operating. If we are designing building a typical physical ‘Bridge’ then I will argue that a plan driven approach will make a lot of sense, but, if I’m designing & building a new innovative product where there is lots of uncertainty then obviously it would make a lot more sense to use a highly agile/adaptive and incremental approach.
Waterfall is a ‘Plan Driven’ Approach whereas ‘Kanban’ would be in its most pure form, be seen as the most adaptive approach as we are constantly just re-ordering a backlog of items (based on priorities) and then typically focusing on doing these within a set ‘time-box’ period.
The Agile Manifesto
Now I want to take a little bit if a sidestep for a moment.
Agile is a very big word which means a lot of things to different people, but for me, a core foundational element of agile working & thinking are the values & principles from the ‘Agile Manifesto’.
This ‘Agile Manifesto’ is something that sits behind most if not all ‘Agile Frameworks’ on the planet, and it is seen as a core part of the foundation of agile thinking & working. 17 hard core software development guys went on a big boozy weekend to a ski resort in Utah Snowbird in 2001 and every single one of them agreed and signed off on this, as being the foundations of building great software.
For the purpose of this article, I want to focus on the ‘Values’ from the manifesto, of which there are four:
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan
A value to me is a belief, something that we should hold near and dear to our hearts. A behavioral compass so to speak to help guide our actions and behaviours. Something we should aspire to ‘live and breath’ day by day. So basically, in the ‘Agile World’ everybody should have these beliefs which guide all thinking, actions and behaviours.
While it’s recognised both sides have value, the left-hand side are considered to be MORE important! For example, it does not mean that documentation is NOT important, it just means that we believe that it makes more sense to get something of value working first, before, we overly worry about documentation, and then, we make sure we do it at the appropriate time and to the appropriate level.
Is there anyone on the planet that’s going to tell me that these four values do not broadly make sense across the entire spectrum above? Now, of course not every organisation will be a software development company so we could debate ‘Working Software over Comprehensive Documentation’, or maybe replace it with ‘Working Solution’, but don’t they all make a lot of sense?
I will argue that they do. I will also argue that the priority (the left-hand side) should be seen by all of us, to be more important than the right-hand side across the whole spectrum as well.
Take a moment to think about that for a second
So, based on this, my argument is that we cannot just say that the ‘Agile Manifesto Values’ belong solely on the right-hand side (ie. Agile/Adaptive Approaches)!
If this is the case are we not all ‘Agile’ to a certain extent, depending on how well we live and breath these values?
Yes, I believe we are and can be.
Traditional (Plan Driven Approaches) Ways of Working and Thinking
Now this is the point where I think its starts getting very interesting. I will argue that ‘Traditional’ ways of working (and thinking) are very work and process centric.
We start with the work. What do we need to do, then we figure out how we will do it. The mindset (beliefs that people have) is that the work and the process are the MOST IMPORTANT. It’s not saying people and interactions are not important but they are not ‘typically seen’ to be the MOST important!
Now of course some people will challenge me here. My response will always be, so you say ‘People are the most important thing’, prove it to me! Can you show me consistent actions and behaviours (on your part) that actually prove this to me? In my experience saying and doing are not often the same. Finally, if I was to ask the people that work for you, what do you think they would say?
An important point about adopting a ‘Traditional Plan Driven Approach’ is that there are two important assumptions that sit behind using this way of working. Firstly, we are able to clearly define and articulate what the outcome is that we are after. The customer or client know what they want and we are able to get it clearly defined and agreed. Secondly, there is an assumption that there is a degree of certainty in the environment, and that, we will not experience a significant period of change, while we proceed to get the work done.
This makes sense in the world where we want (and can get) consistency and repeatability. The management thinking & philosophy of the 19th and 20th century has had this thinking at its core. This has worked very well in times like the industrial revolution where it’s mainly been about mass production & efficiencies with a degree of stability in the external environment.
The capabilities typically required of people in this way of working (& thinking) is to be very good at a specific job or task. In this mechanistic viewed world people are required to follow pre-defined rules and a set process which of course drives repeatability and consistency.
So, to repeat again, in this way of working the ‘typical’ mindset (beliefs that people have) is that the Work and the Process are the MOST IMPORTANT.
If you agree with this, then, you need to realise the MASSIVE significance of this. If people (i.e. senior executives) see this as being the most important, this will have huge implications on the overall ‘systems of work’ that will exist within organisations.
How are we structured? How do we assign and do work (projects and BAU)? How do we fund work? What roles and specialisations do we have and need? How do we make decisions and govern? How do we control work? How do we reward people?
Agile (Incremental/Adaptive) Ways of Working and Thinking
I argue that ‘Agile’ ways of working (and thinking) are people and change centric.
We start with the people. The mindset (beliefs that people have) is that the people & being able to change are the MOST IMPORTANT. The customer, the team and the key stakeholders! It’s not saying that the work & processes (+ tools) are not important, but there are not the MOST important! This makes all the sense in the world where we have a very volatile & complex world to deal with, and where we need to constantly learn and adapt rapidly, innovate, be creative, maximise employee engagement to help unleash the full potential of people, so that we can constantly solve new and challenging problems.
The capabilities required of people in this way of working are higher. Teams are empowered and take responsibility to deliver outcomes. These teams need people who are flexible and who can change and adapt as needed and required, by the fast-changing external environment. A good process today may not be a good process tomorrow.
So, as before, I’d like to repeat again, in this way of working the ‘typical’ mindset (beliefs that people have) is that the People and Being Able to Change are the MOST IMPORTANT.
So again, if you agree with this, then, you need to realise the MASSIVE significance of this. If people (i.e. senior executives) see this as being the most important, this will have huge implications on the overall ‘systems of work’ that will exist within organisations. The focus and the way of doing things here will be very different to ‘Traditional Ways of Working & Thinking’.
Just think about this for a moment because the implications are profound.
How should we be structured? How should we assign a do work (projects and BAU (Business as Usual)? How should we fund work? What roles and specialisations do we need? How should we make decisions and govern? How should we control work? How should we reward people?
What are Many Organisations Trying to Do?
Unfortunately, this is what I see currently happening in many organisations. They are trying to make something like this work.
Organisations are working very hard to build digital enabled capability, which needs to have a people and change centered mindset, to enable them to respond to a fast-changing external environment, but, the foundations upon which this is based is in many cases old thinking and ways of working (ie. a work and process 1st mindset).
These two mindsets (beliefs) cannot both exist as being the MOST IMPORTANT. They are fundamentally very different, and, if this situation is allowed to co-exist in an organisation, it will ultimately result in a dysfunctional organisation. We need a shared mindset (set of beliefs) across the organisation as to what we all believe is MOST important. Having this is place from top to bottom will drive common goals, synchronisation and alignment, consistent organisational priorities, behaviours and actions, and will allow, a suitable ‘culture’ and ‘system of work’ to naturally evolve.
If we have senior leaders with a mindset (beliefs) rooted in the 19th and 20th century then we’ve got a BIG problem. These beliefs have helped them get where they are now but will not help them to get where they need to go in the future. If they continue to hold onto these beliefs and do not evolve then the very survival of their organisation may be at stake.
In my opinion, a lack of understanding and mindset (beliefs) are the two biggest issues that are actually out there at the moment, and these badly need to be tackled. Evolving mindsets and behaviours is no easy job in an organisation. People have to want to do it and be willing to put in the effort. Then, once our mindset (beliefs) change about what is most important, then there should be a very big realisation, about how big this change may need to be! Basically, many organisations will need to completely ‘re-wire the core’ of their organisations to address this problem.
This, of course, will have huge implications.
Conclusion
The lack of understanding and awareness around this area is I believe causing a huge amount of confusion and pain. We desperately need to get a common and consistent basic level of understanding of the different approaches, and how ‘Agile’ and ‘Traditional’ ways of working and thinking fit together.
We need to use and apply suitable ‘Fit for Purpose’ approaches in doing work. It’s a spectrum and the balance will - and should - vary within and across organisations depending upon the type of work that is being done, and one’s own individual situation and context.
We have to stop these stupid ‘Agile vs. Waterfall’ discussions happening. We have zealots on both side of the fence not wanting to fully understand each other perspective. People thinking it’s a binary and mutually exclusive discussion. We have a myriad of frameworks being peddled, the vested commercial interests of all the different bodies trying to protect their revenue streams. Meanwhile poor ‘Jack’ and ‘Jill’ typical workers in organisations are getting crucified, working longer hours, having less time with their families, getting more stressed because they are working within fundamentally broken ‘systems of work’, which, I believe are destined to get worse and ultimately blow up.
In these situations, very brave senior leadership will be needed, as we need to fundamentally change our way of working and thinking (‘rewire the core’ of our organisation), that will allow us to effectively operate within the realities of the external environment. Only the most senior leaders have the power to fundamentally change our ‘System of Work’.
If our goal is to build healthy organisations (ones that people want to work for and continue working for) that can sense and respond to a fast-changing external environment, organisations must, in my view, embrace ‘Agile’ and ‘Lean’ ways of thinking and working. For me these represent two very important pieces in the jigsaw to help organisations cope with a fast-changing environment, and, to help unleash the full potential of their people. At their core, they require a ‘People and Change Centric’ 1st mindset which I’ll argue is now very critical for all organisations.
Make no mistake the world is changing at an unprecedented rate, and many commercial organisations do not have time to pussy foot around here, as, significant disruption may not be far around the corner. The approaches to doing work will and should vary, however, having this shared mindset from top to bottom in the organisation is a critical factor, and when combined with applying appropriate business models and strategies, it will enable organisations to create, build, maintain and evolve suitable fit for purpose ‘Systems of Work’ allowing them to survive and thrive into the future.
For commercial organisations getting all of this right is maybe the only way they’ll survive!
Thank you for reading and I welcome any feedback.