tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20843954.post6268992841409136232..comments2024-02-22T13:43:48.846+01:00Comments on Kallokain: Stephen Kovacs on understanding the nature of AgileKallokainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15756733532883677794noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20843954.post-71847929262767291892010-09-20T13:18:56.570+02:002010-09-20T13:18:56.570+02:00@Tobias
I agree. I believe one of the things we n...@Tobias<br /><br />I agree. I believe one of the things we need to reconcile with is the need to continuously rediscover the fundamentals.<br /><br />Lean may be a collection of recipes, but the original Toyota Production System isn't, or at least was not. <br /><br />Agile seems to move through the aging process at an accelerated rate compared to TPS/Lean. This is probably due to the very fast rate of adoption.<br /><br />I believe we need to keep reminding ourselves of the fundamentals. Lean and Agile, when done correctly, have a lot of things in common:<br /><br />* Pretty far towards the Y end of a Theory X/Y scale<br />* Fundamental understanding of how Little's Law applies to work processes<br />* Focus on delivering value for customers<br />* A systems thinking approach<br /><br />...just to name a few.<br /><br />The companies who actually do this are probably very few. However, this has nothing to do with whether the approach is correct or not.<br /><br />(I deleted a long comparison between modern business practices, witch hunts and cargo cults here. I know you know...)<br /><br />My worry about Kanban (the software development method, not the scheduling system) is that it singles out one practice and says "do this one thing and all will be well".<br /><br />Reality is more complex. For one thing, excess inventory may not be the most important root cause to fix.<br /><br />For example, if the software requirements process is bad, Kanban will enable the team to do more of the wrong thing.<br /><br />If the contract model is unsuited to Kanban (which it often is), company profits may drop catastrophically when its development teams improve.<br /><br />I know some of the Kanban people understand this very well. However, if the main message is oversimplified to "use a kanban system", the actual effects can be quite different from the intent.Kallokainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15756733532883677794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20843954.post-78277480826602070262010-09-20T12:05:42.728+02:002010-09-20T12:05:42.728+02:00Henrik, this problem lies at the heart of what Rus...Henrik, this problem lies at the heart of what Russell Ackoff pointed out as the great ongoing paradigm shift of our time: the shift from analytic to more systemic thinking, or at least towards a better balance of the two. In the analytic mind set, we attempt to solve problems by breaking them down into parts, as can be seen in the many attempts to create development methodologies in the style of cookbooks, and in the many attempts to get agile to work by simply following the practices. <br /><br />It doesn't work, because agile is not just the sum of it's practices. Those who get it to work do not just have the know-how, the also have the know-why, the understanding to apply the practices wisely.<br /><br />On a related note, I worry that many who are now fascinated by kanban are drawn in exactly because of the lure of analytic reasoning. As I understand Ackoff's own history, it can be boiled down into this: first he helped create the very analytic field of operations research, then he realized that the field had come to way's end. He changed perspectives and started on the track of systems thinking. I remember reading how he, in one of his operations research classes, frustrated his students by first letting them optimize an organization using the tools of trade (queueing theory etc), then had them do the same thing again, this time without being allowed to change a single thing in the organization they worked with. He wanted them to focus outwards, to the reasons why the organization performed as it did, and those reasons are to be found "outside the system itself".<br /><br />Finally, it might be that lean and agile are not a match made in heaven. Lean is a name created by those who analyzed a complex phenomenon. The result: an analytic solution, more recipes. This, it seems to me, indicates that lean, in practice, has turned away from the understanding of systems and thinking on your own, and turned towards the old mindset of creating recipes and rule books.Tobias Forshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06638226134443265747noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20843954.post-29092667332784868392010-09-07T16:31:16.951+02:002010-09-07T16:31:16.951+02:00Completely agree with you. It's more of a psyc...Completely agree with you. It's more of a psychological thing with the enterprise and team.<br /><br />"Doing Agile" is a state of mind!<br /><br />Best,<br />Peter Saddington<br />www.whitebarrel.comPeter Saddingtonhttp://www.whitebarrel.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20843954.post-45094036160402305802010-09-03T13:20:32.872+02:002010-09-03T13:20:32.872+02:00Yes, I agree completely. Most of the teams who inv...Yes, I agree completely. Most of the teams who invite me to coach them have implemented some common agile practices and are wondering why there's been no improvement.<br /><br />Agility is the organisational culture ("state of mind") that permits the practices to become fully effective.Kevin Rutherfordhttp://www.kevinrutherford.co.uknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20843954.post-8000599826950869832010-09-03T09:58:56.424+02:002010-09-03T09:58:56.424+02:00Totally agree, we're simply focusing on the pr...Totally agree, we're simply focusing on the principles and cherry picking the techniques that suit our team and our organisation. Don't even get me started on the Scrum Master certification fiasco!Martijn Verburghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01458162075331573781noreply@blogger.com