Thursday, September 1, 2022

Agile WoW and Fluff v/s Crux

 A few days back, I happened to see a team discussing enthusiastically about all this "A"gile stuff. I was a mute spectator, but their discussion taught me a lot. 

The discussion was about team agility and related things. Everybody was very vocal and keen to share their point of view. The discussion went something like this....

A: It is not a framework; it is just a toolkit.

B: I think it is more of a mindset than a toolkit.

C: I agree. It is less of a framework or toolkit and more of a mindset and methodology.

B: Let me put it like this... it is just a set of working practices based on values.

A: To me, it appears like loosely worded principles, guiding us to a value system.

B: It is loosely worded, but it is intentionally loosely worded. 

D: What matters is a collective mindset where everyone respects everyone. Giving respect is most important.

B: Don't you think transparency is more important than respect ?

D: No. Respect is very crucial. Once you respect everyone, transparency follows.

B: OK.

C: But respect alone does not mean anything unless everyone feels psychological safety.

B: Yes, psychological safety is very important. How can we improve psychological safety?

D: I read somewhere that you can not improve anything unless you measure it.

B: Cool, how can we measure psychological safety?

A: We can invite HR folks here. They are good at all such things. They must be knowing some good consultants for this.

C: Last week I came across a consultant, & she was talking about Beyond Agile. 

A: Beyond Agile… that sounds so cool. Like Enterprise Scaling and things like that?

C: No, she said now the concept of Enterprise Scaling also has become old.  She was talking about Systems Thinking and Design Thinking and SineFine Framework or something like that.

B: Sounds very exciting.  Should we have some training on these things?

C: Yes, that will be exciting.  I think we have some training budget left, correct?  Or I can manage some more budget if required.

E :  Guys, Can you talk a bit softly?  Please ??   I am on a phone call.  I am talking to a customer to get some feedback on our last delivery.  This feedback could be important to us.


I was wondering whether Agile WoW is an acronym for “Agile Ways of Working" or "Agile Ways of Wording". 
I have been seeing organizations where Wording is winning over Working. 
Unfortunately, Fluff is winning over Crux.


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