Ron,
So interesting:
You wrote one thing below, and that said, I know you mean you'd _*stay*_
if it actually worked:
"But I promised to give it six months and if the team *had _not_
decided* that XP was a load of rubbish and were still doing it after 6
months *I will leave* and find another job where sanity still rained. "
Freedom
-------
The key is freedom. The key (I think) is that YOUR commitment was to an
"experiment for 6 months", not "a forced march until further notice"
.... at least in _/your/_ mind. In your mind you were (and are)
*/free/*...to "Law-of-2-Feet it" out of there !
And so this is some small part of the (freedom) key: make a ....
* "a commitment to experiment" and then to
* "inspect results" and then
* "throw away what is not working" and
* "keep doing what is working and do more of that" and
* "do more experiments."
In other words, to actually implement Agile ideas in an Agile way.
"Until Further Notice"
-----------------
Last time I checked, typical Agile adoptions are of the forced-march,
"until further notice" variety. Hello?
Let's see: If the "until further notice" style of Agile adoption
actually worked, then (in theory at least) we could now joyfully point
to tens of thousands of verifiable, happy, healthy, whole, genuine,
authentic, high-engagement Agile adoptions. Right? It would so be easy
to locate ten thousand of them...if it actually worked in the long run....
Houston...we have a problem?
Committing to Emergence (aka "experimentation and adaptation")
--------------------------------------------------------
Commit to /an experiment to be inspected/. So simple. Even joyful!
Ironically, this IS the Agile mindset, but ... /not to be used when
actually implementing Agile in large organizations/ apparently !
Is self-organization what actually scales? If so, why are we using any
other approach?
The alternative-- a mandated and forced march to process change-- is
standard, and often the source of many sorrows.
I really, really , REALLY like using Open Space in new Agile adoptions.
Because it actually works. And also like using Open Space in troubled
Agile adoptions, of which I notice, there seems to be no shortage of supply.
The good news is, we are getting the [invitation] meme out there into
the Agile world. We invite everyone to give it a try !
(If you like this rant, you may also enjoy:
http://www.openspaceagility.com/about)
Daniel
PS Ron, nice suit !
On 9/1/15 11:22 AM, Ron Quartel wrote:
This debate happens in the world of agile also. Specifically when we
talk about Extreme Programming over Scrum. Should a team be told to do
the Extreme Programming practices or do we invite them to try them is
a debate that rages again and again. (Extreme programming is a very
disciplined way of developing software while scrum prescribes no
disciplines.)
The challenge with Extreme Programming is that the practices are
counter intuitive and many will find them distasteful. E.g. why do I
have to pair program with a junior developer? That will slow me down
and we will get less work done.
I don't claim to have an answer to force vs. invite but I can share my
story on how I came to love Extreme Programming (XP).
XP was forced on my dev team. We were given a new dev manager who said
we are going to do XP. If you didn't like it you can use the law of
two feet to leave the company. (Not those words exactly but I'm sure
you get the drift.) Now I loved the team I was with, the place I
worked and the work we were doing but absolutely hated XP. But I
promised to give it six months and if the team had not decided that XP
was a load of rubbish and were still doing it after 6 months I will
leave and find another job where sanity still rained. I hated
everything about XP and agile and it took me way out of my comfort
zone as a software developer. But then somewhere during the six months
the sense of it started to dawn on me and I actually started enjoying
it. By the end of six months I was a fan and am now an evangelist for
XP. I like finding the haters and assure them it's OK to hate XP. When
they get it, they become the biggest advocates.
So was it wrong to have XP forced on me? I will leave that up to you
to decide. I often wonder if I would have ever come around to agile
and especially XP if it had not been forced on me.
An analogy I have to learning XP is learning downhill skiing. There is
a point where you have to do the unintuitive and lean down the slope.
Your body is screaming NO but your ski instructor is telling you that
is how you do it. Turns out he is right but you have to get through
that disbelief and discomfort to get to the other side. OK that is
forcing myself after he invited me to try it - so maybe there needs to
be a little of both?
Ron Quartel
FAST Agile <http://fast-agile.com> - An agile software process
incorporating Open Space Technology
On Mon, Aug 31, 2015 at 1:40 PM, Daniel Mezick via OSList
<[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
"Is it accurate to say that some self organizing happens by
invitation and some happens by coercion/force? "
Great question Lucas!
The [invitation] wall-poster you suggest feels wall-worthy to me,
so long as no one is obligated to examine it... or even look at it.
My turn to ask a question: What might a world "void of
manipulation" and "replete with invitation" actually look like?
Daniel
On 8/31/15 9:57 AM, Lucas Cioffi via OSList wrote:
Hi All,
Is it accurate to say that some self organizing happens by
invitation and some happens by coercion/force?
For example, from the perspective of someone who lives outside of
Iraq, the way the Ba'ath Party took charge of Iraq through a coup
seems like an example of self-organizing by force to us, because
we're outside the system of Iraq. I welcome some thoughts on this.
Over the past few months (and working with Michael Herman for
VOSonOS) I've seen that the spirit of invitation shouldn't end
with the writing of the invitation, and instead it should be
present throughout the open space. When someone posts a topic on
the marketplace wall, they are inviting others to a conversation,
not taking over a time slot (like having a coup and taking over a
small country).
When someone wants to be a "dictator" of their open space
session, yes others can use their two feet and walk out, but that
comes at a cost to the social fabric of the organization. A
better outcome would be that the would-be dictator holds a
welcoming space from the start. So I'd recommend that another
sign worth posting on the wall near "Law of Two Feet" would be
"Spirit of Invitation". I think it's wall-worthy, do you?
Lucas Cioffi
Founder, QiqoChat.com <http://qiqochat.com/>
Charlottesville, VA
Mobile: 917-528-1831 <tel:917-528-1831>
On Mon, Aug 31, 2015 at 5:07 AM, Paul Levy via OSList
<[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
I think the clue lies in the wonderful word "self".
We are the selves that organise.
Beautiful.
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Bio <http://newtechusa.net/dan-mezick/>. Blog
<http://newtechusa.net/blog/>. Twitter <http://twitter.com/#%21/danmezick/>.
Examine my new book:The Culture Game
<http://newtechusa.net/about/the-culture-game-book/>: Tools for the
Agile Manager.
Explore Agile Team Training
<http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-training/> and Coaching.
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