The Tao of Agile, part 1

In the division of Agility vs Stuff, please consider this post as Stuff ...


- I've been 'doing Agile' for quite a few years now, and it changed my life (see previous posts :)

- I've been reading and re-reading the book of Tao for the last 5 years, and it changed my life.

And the more I deal with these two, 
- the more I find the Book of Tao to be the most concise Agile guide.
- the more I find Lau-Tzu to be the most incredible Agile mentor.

Hence, I'd like to start a series of posts to let you into this world, with ease and attention, since ...

A journey

Of

Ten

Thousand

Lee

Starts

With

One

Step

But first, what is the Tao, and what is Agile?

- To get the root definition of Agile, you can just go here.

- To get the root definition of Tao, here is the first verse in the book of Tao, where Lau Tzu explains what it is:
(Based on the wonderful translation of Nissim Amon, which I tweaked a tiny bit... with hope to be forgiven...)

一

THE PATH (0)

The eternal Tao (Path)

can not be captured by words

Trying to give it a name

will not help reveal its true core

Nameless

is the source

of heaven and earth

Without title

is the mother

of the tens of thousands of objects (1)

While blinded by desires

you can only see the external things (2)

Desire-less,

you can see the unseen (3)

There are many things in the world

And they all bear names.

Yet there is one big mystery

both behind and beyond (4)

The great mystery and the world of things

differ by name

yet their source is one

They spring from the same source

(5)

Live without fear

Feel the world

Breath the obstacles (let them in) (6)

Know this world

Beyond The Phenomena gate

Flows The river

Of Tao

一

And now, some of my comments (take them with a grain of salt, please, I'm just trying to share my humble understanding :-)

(0) Translations of Tao also include:  'way', 'path', 'route', 'key' or sometimes more loosely 'doctrine' or 'principle'
(1) All the objects you see (this screen, a car, a pen, an apple, your parents, your country) have their name, but the one big thing they belong to has no name ('everything' is not its name, since it is 'every thing', not the unity of all)

(2) If your desire is hunger, you will see apples and bread, if your desire is sex, you will see breasts and torsos, if your desire is money, you will see prices,

(3) but if you desire nothing you will start seeing beyond these labels, you will start seeing the apple and tree as one, you will start seeing body features with no name, you will see objects with no regard to their cost.

(4) The big mystery is the single common source of all that exists as one entity. and the sum of all that exists.

(5) Here Lau-Tzu becomes directional, he instructs you how to behave in order to connect to what he described (or, how to become (what later will be known as) a Taoist.)

(6) Instead of ignoring obstacles (or pain), denying it or fighting it, just observe and accept it with no judgement.

一

So, what's this to do with Agile?

Basically, Agility (as I perceive it) is a mindset, a way to see a problem, a project. to look it in the eye and understand it. and then to address it while it keeps moving and changing.

While the 'old-school' approach is
- to understand the situation, and then close our eyes and react (opening them only when we are done with our plan, if ever)
Agile means starting to react facing a moving target.
Also, not to assume you understand or know everything.

一

In the upcoming posts, I'll talk more about things like:

- The inspiring structure of the Manifesto, as a set of values that stand side-by-side.

- The clear division of Vision and Execution (Yin-Yang)

- The importance of maximizing the work not-done

- Agile and non-Agile ways of governance.

Etc...

Stay tuned :)

Say NO now (ask me how)

In the series of learning useful skills, this time, lets talk about saying

But first...

It all started when (the fictional) me met Tai (pseudo-name) in a (fictional) cafeteria a few days back...

She (allegedly) seemed really stressed, and said she stays evenings at work, since she is 120% charged...

The conversation might have gone something like this...

Q: Why are you so charged?

A: I under-estimated my charge, and said yes to 100% capacity... since I don't like not being useful...

But now I am 120% charged... 

Q: Since you stay late, do you manage to deliver the 120% you committed to?

A: Not really, it is too much for me... the overload burns me out.

Q: Imagine you were just 70% charged now, and had 30% time with no obligations, would you be able to actually deliver more than now or not?

A: (after a deep moment of thought) - actually yes! and in a calm way.

Q: So in fact, if you would say NO to the remaining 50% (120-70), you'd be able to make more people happy!!, right?
A: Yup.

Q: And you'd get to go home early! right?
A: Yup

Q: So why not insist on 70% capacity?
In fact, this will make: 

- The 70% more happy - they can rely on the yes they got.

- The 50% less frustrated - they receive no early and not on the (over-)due date.
- One happy (fictional) Tai leaving early and not stressed!

< A more serious explanation >
When we over-commit, we try to deliver beyond our capacity, hence we will probably 
deliver:
- The easy stuff (which is not necessarily the important one)
- Half-baked output (since we don't have time for quality)
- A random selection: we know (though we can't admit it) not all will be delivered, and finally some people will receive a bad surprize at the last minute, by either
    - Getting on time not what they expected.
    - Not getting on time what they expected (getting it with an unpredictable delay)
    - Not getting anything, without a notice.

A much better approach is to promise less and be reliable... isn't it?
< end-of the more serious explanation >

So if we could say no, we would contribute to world happiness!

___________________________________________________

By now, I hope you are convinced it is an important skill... 

- There is only one question remaining...

- So I did some personal research...

My first instinct would be to 

...

- Then I remembered my inclination to get fired, which is correlated with this response... 

So I started some deep research (TED videos, articles, and a great lecture in Agile-Tour Bangkok this year!)

To sum up my findings,

Here are my tips...

 (feel free to add yours in comments!)

1. ⏱ Wait before yes: 

When you feel a yes is cooking, delay the answer...

If you feel the urge to say yes, breath deeply, and think if the answer is urgent...

- Will there be any harm to give it after some reflection?

- Try saying: I have to check if I have time to do this, I'll let you know later today. (did it work?)

2. 🔍 Demand details

Such as:

- What are the deadlines? Are they hard or soft ones? 

- Why are you of all people being asked? did someone else already said no?

- And most important - what is the expected impact? 

     Meaning - what will it change in the life of someone if this is done?

Once you understand the impact it leads to the third stage...

3. 🔨Think (and propose) simplification

Now, that you understand the expected impact, think simplicity...

- Is there a simpler way to make the same impact? 

- Does it need to be an excel, or is a paper & pen calculation enough?

- Do you need the full calculation of just the result? 

- Do you need the exact figure, or just the estimation?

- Or perhaps just a Go/No-Go answer?

Note: This step is super crucial, since it saves the world energy!

- The total amount of work done (by the whole organization) may be significantly reduced!! (see here)

4. 🚓(In case you are over 70% capacity) say NO clearly!

and with no big apologies!

In case you decide to say no, don't be defensive, it is is your right! something like:

- I'm really sorry, but I can't do it now, since I am booked. 

Don't over apologize! (just like a car doesn't apologize it is out of gas)

- In case you need to, explain in a calm tone that if you take more work now, experience shows I will actually deliver less! 
- show this post as proof, if needed!! :)

In case you apologize, you are just risking wasting the time you try to save! you are inviting a someone to walk together on a guilt-trip...

Note: Silence is not a clear no, it will still sit as an open issue in your mind and the mind of the requester! clear communication is essential!!

5. ⚖ Offer alternatives: 

Try saying out-loud one of the following:

- Sorry, could you come back in a few days, perhaps I'll have the time.

- Perhaps ask <someone else>, maybe they are less charged....

or even... (advanced level) 

- I don't have the time, but it is quite simple, let me show you how to do it yourself!
- I have other stuff to do, but if you take one of my tasks (or make it go away), I'll gladly do it!

Be creative!
Think solution and impact!!
And don't be over polite!!!

And...

...for now

A final note (or two):

- You may be thinking this is a radical approach, but in order to learn a new skill (and unfortunately saying no is a rare skill) one is sometimes required for rigorous training...

- Remember that you are doing this out of altruistic egoism, to protect yourself and the world from waste and overload.

Oh, and just one last thing:

- If you ever get fired for saying no:

1. It was probably a horrible workplace anyway.

2. Don't blame me! ,I'm just your silly old bear... ;)

Enjoy life!

ชีวิตที่ดี

- The bear.

...Bibliography:

Stop being wrong now! (ask me how :-)

So, is it possible to always be right?

I ran a small workshop last week, about being always right...

Goes like this:

To not be wrong you should do one of the three:

1. Shut up. 
2. Ask question (that contain no assumed statements)
3. State only what you are certain of.

Since 1 and 2 are easy, let's focus on #3:

- What are your certain domains of expertise?
- Is there a subject where you are the world expert
- A Subject on which no-one can contradict you...

So, what's your domain of expertise?

- It turns out such a domain exists!

- it is You!

You are the world expert of You.

Hence: To be right, speak only about (your Domain of expertise) Yourself.

Example:
If you say 'I am happy', no-one can say 'You are not'
If you say 'I don't understand', no-one can say 'You do'
If you say 'I think you don't understand', no one can say 'You don't think that...'

Hench, if your sentences are about you, no one can contradict you!

The sentence: 'It is hot' may be contradicted (see air-conditioner fights in the office) by 'No it isn't'
The sentence: 'You are wrong', can be contradicted by 'I'm not'

But how about 'I feel it's hot' or 'It's too hot for me' ?
How about 'I think you are wrong' ?

- This can't be met with 'No it isn't', or 'You don't think that' !!

To sum up:

To be always right, I suggest

you start your sentence (and your mind) by:

-'I feel', 

- 'I think', 

- 'To my knowledge', 

'The way I see it, ...', 

etc.

Bonus: How not to piss me (or anyone) off (or at least less...)

To raise less resistance and conflict
With me or anyone else...
Please don't speak of what you are not an expert of.
(especially if you speak to THE #1 expert of the domain :)

I personally get jumpy and impatient when someone speaks knowingly and decisively about my domain of expertise, so not to piss me (personally) or your peers (theoretically) off, please avoid starting a sentences (that is not a question) by:

• You don't understand
• You should do this
• You shouldn't do that
• You think that...
• You are lying
• The way you should think about it is...    (I've heard a lot of those :)
• You understand perfectly
• You don't see the full picture
• You are not serious

Or even (for the advanced bonus)

• We should do this
• We are wrong
• We are right

... You can try instead the following (and I promise I won't get upset...):

"I think you don't understand"

"I suggest you do this"
 "I think we should decide that"

etc.

======

References:

1. Why you should never assume:

2. Don't tell me what to say, please:

 

3. Only an expert can deal with the problem!

I hope you enjoyed this one... (I sure did! :)

Yours (If you'll have me),

- The Scrum'em bear.

Snowflake recipe (a poem)

If you see a snowflake you like, and you want one exactly like it,

Here is how you do it:

- Take a grain of dust.

- Put it in a freezing cloud.

- Let gravity pull

...And let nature take its course.

And hardest of all  

- Appreciate the snow-flake you got,

- Admire the difference between yours and the one you saw.

===============================
Translation:

If you like any success story

(spotify, google, socialism, whatever)

please remember.

It is not process that got them there.

It is setting the right environment and letting nature take its course.

Team-Building, or Levels of consciousness/ cognition

The subject this time is Team-Building: how a group of people becomes a team.
(not to be confused with Team-Building-Activity: An awkward meeting of paint-ball or bowling)

The journey of communication, caring and empathy that leads us there.

0. Start with a group of individuals
 

1. Individuals are presented to a Subject/ Idea/ Goal/ Purpose

 

- Once the subject is presented, each individual will reach some understanding

The subject should be relevant to the people (they are effected by it), and one that not one of them can tackle end-to-end alone (Thanks Guy!)
Be aware: probably none of them have a perfect understanding, or even the same understanding, and their level of involvement is unknown (some will not care, some will, and no one will know this)

2. Individuals get involved



Or care, start having an opinion.
(This means less cell-phone/ PC time, and more forced-listening time.)
- You can 'force' them to have an opinion by asking the least involved ones what do they think? by challenging them.
- You can usually see who is involved just by looking :)
Note: not everyone will have the same level or direction of involvement.
Some will LOVE it, some will like it, some will Hate it, or be ambivalent...



3. Individuals express their opinion


They want to share their understanding and opinion.
(Note: everyone will probably think they understand perfectly...)
For this you need to provide security, freedom of speech.
After that - you can ask them to Dot-Vote, write their opinion on post-its, etc.
Do Not let them influence each other (not yet...) make people express their opinion before hearing other's opinion!
So everyone can say Everyone Knows my opinion (might not be true, but at least I think it is)




4. Individuals know other's opinion


Everyone can say: I know what's the opinion of the rest of the individuals. and I know who is near me or far away from me.
And opinions start to be exchanged...

Notice that in this process, people's understanding and opinion starts changing,









And also - low and behold! the subject itself starts to change!
Some of it may be irrelevant, new faces of it are discovered, it is linked to other subjects, etc.



But it doesn't stop there!

5. Everyone knows that everyone knows each other's opinion

It is not enough I know your opinion, her opinion and I know you both know mine,
I need to know you know her opinion and she knows yours as well!

And now we can start having a group decision, with levels of involvement, with disagreements, etc.

Conclusions/ thoughts..

1. Dont skip levels... I think that if you skip any of these levels, you may let only the noisy people take decisions, you may get disengagement, and you may get, well... the four letter word ("Politics")

2. No perfection/ No uniformity - everyone will still have their own vision, and their own opinion, but their vision will be more complete (integrating the other's), and their opinion more round (accepting the other's point of view). also - they will be much closer to each other regarding the subject, and more empathetic to each other in general.


3. Biased communication - Nothing can break a team faster than politics, like "He told me his opinion but asked me not to share it with her", this is team-poison! your communication should be team wide (you don't have to say everything, you don't have to say it to everyone, but it is either accessible to all or to none!)

3.1 Indirect communication:
- If you understand me, and someone asks you what I think, you should stress this is only your understanding of of what I think. 
- Otherwise, if you Assume I think something based on hear say, you make an Ass of U and Me!
you will start telling people the inaccurate (/misleading) understanding as the truth, and add your own 'noise'. and people will not ask my opinion since they will think they know it.
- Direct communication over Hear-say is crucial.

4. Team vs Subject - the subject may change due to common understanding and dialogue, but it may also become less important, hence you started out with an important subject and no team, still you wind up with a much less important subject and a great team, that is now ready to tackle a new subject! (just like a snowflake forming around a grain of dust...)


What do you think?

After/ Meta thoughts...
1. Team as incubator - Imagine an amazing team, consisting of exceptional individuals (Beatles, Jobs&Gates, etc.)
- One may think - what a coincidence that such rare people manage to meet.
- But what if Lennon was an above-average bloke, and it's the combination that was a genius,  with trust, communication, and polyvalence.
- Furthermore, when they split, John has some small Ringo, George& Paul in him, as well as a small Beatles.

2. Models (can't live with them, can't live without them) -
- I hate models, they obfuscate and flatten reality.
- The real reality is of course a mix of the above stages can coexist and transform all the time.
- however, just heard a podcast (details TBD), that said this (more or less)...
"models serve to locate a qualitative change, (like water turning cold to lukewarm to warm to hot. you feel it since it has name...

3 The importance of Slack
- A level-one exchange is a town-hall meeting. a manager talks and everyone is present (not necessarily listening) - this meeting is used to prove 'formally' that the information was passed (if you will say later you didn't know, someone can cover their ass) , another example is an email sent to you (so the sender can say 'you were informed'), ir requires little time.
- A second level exchange is like the first, but more engaged (a passionate speaker, a video, and activity that gets you involved and not looking at your cell-phone or yawning), it requires more time to prepare, invite the right people, and more time to present
- A level three meeting starts to be time-consuming! , everyone needs to talk, and to listen to be attentive to what others say! the larger the crowd the more time is required!  it also requires a good facilitator - to make people speak up and speak clearly, and to validate they are heard and listened to.
- a Level four/ five meeting requires (you guessed it :) more time, and exponentially so!! since (ideally) everyone needs to validate (to everyone) that they understand everyone (ideally/ naively - in a 7-people team, everyone will say publicly what he understands from the other six)

This deserves a separate post - stating for each level:
- The goal
- The required effort
- The required preparation and facilitation skills
- The outcome
- The danger of skipping the step

Example:
When you skip step 2 (or one) you may get something like this (do you want this man in your organization? highly involved and totally mis-informed...)

Bonus:
As Guy said, a team should have a goal no one person can achieve.
- Watch this beautiful team!

signing off,
Till nextime!

Yer bear!

The Agile (but not now...) Manifesto

If you are not ready for the manifesto, here is a revised version...

...Because:
- They(*) insist on the process
- They(*) insist on documentation
- They(*) don't allow us to bypass the contract
- The plan is binding.

That is, while we value doing the right thing, we value keeping our job/ playing it safe more. 

__________________________
(*) See previous post about who 'They' are...

Who is the Them that is blocking You?

Most people think they are better than average. (or so 'they' say...)


I ran a session yesterday - an introduction to Agile.

A group of people (managers, Scrum Masters, Analysts, you know - people...) was introduced to the Agile Manifesto.

The manifesto is basically a short belief system in the format of:

We value X over Y  (example: we value Responding to change over following a plan)

Alignment

Hence, after a short discussion about the short value-set, I asked them to vote.
Q: For each of the four - do you agree
(1: I value the one on the right more, 3: I value both the same, 5: I value the one on the left more)

Summing the results, it sounded promising!

- Votes on all four values were in the 3-5 range. (example: we indeed value Responding to change over following a plan)
- Hence, everyone is aligned on the value-set! great news!

Perceived misalignment

Next question: Does your environment share these values? (to what extent do the entities you interact with value Responding to change over following a plan?)

And (as you might expect?) most results are in the 2-3 range (They value Following a plan over Responding to change!! )

And now, for the key question...
Who are these They?

Perceptional bias?

And then it hit me!

Assuming the people in the session represent the organization, how come everyone's surrounding values agility less than the people in the room?

Hence They, are the perceived We!

                                     

Could it be that everyone is reluctant to "go agile" because everyone is afraid of everyone's response? everyone wants to change but thinks the others will resist??

----

Think about it 'till nextime, will you?

Your Scrum'em Bear.