What's so funny 'bout peace, love and understanding? - Ed Wong - Agile SG 2013

Presented in Agile Singapore 2013 Conference

This is a presentation about the search for understanding...in many forms. It asks the following questions:

- What do people get from work?
- How do people learn?
- What motivates them?
- People hate change...right?
- How can “agile” help with (shared) understanding within companies?
- How can “agile” help with understanding your customers?

It is intended to inspire those working in agile ways, or who are thinking of adopting agile principles. It will draw from several sources from a variety of disciplines, including organisational psychology, user experience, and change management.

The presentation is inspired by the lyrics in the Nick Lowe song, made famous by Elvis Costello.

Transcript

1. WHAT’S SO FUNNY
   ‘BOUT PEACE, LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING?
   Ed Wong
   Agile Singapore 2013
   ed.wong@tabar.com.au
   @littlehelper
   

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2. FIRSTLY, THANKS!
   To Agile Singapore
   …and to you for coming to my session.
   :)
   

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3. MY FAVOURITE
   AGILE SG STICKER
   

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4. THIS IS ABOUT…
   • A Song
   • Some questions
   • Stories about some people
   • Some games
   

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5. SOME QUESTIONS
   • What motivates our work?
   • Do people hate change?
   • How can “agile” help with (shared)
   understanding within groups?
   • How can “agile” help with understanding
   your customers?
   

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6. THE SONG
   “So where are the strong? 

   And who are the trusted? 

   And where is the harmony? Sweet harmony.”
   

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7. THE SONG
   “So where are the strong? 

   And who are the trusted? 

   And where is the harmony? Sweet harmony.”
   — Elvis Costello
   

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8. THE SONG
   “So where are the strong? 

   And who are the trusted? 

   And where is the harmony? Sweet harmony.”
   — Nick Lowe — Elvis Costello
   

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9. THE SONG
   “So where are the strong? 

   And who are the trusted? 

   And where is the harmony? Sweet harmony.”
   — Nick Lowe — Elvis Costello
   

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10. UNDERSTANDING
    :)
    

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11. “If something isn’t going right, it’s
    because the right people aren’t
    talking to each other”
    — David Marques
    

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12. MOTIVATION
    Port Meadow, Oxford, by Ed
    

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13. DAN PINK'S — DRIVE
    • RSA Animate. 11 million Youtube views
    

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14. MOTIVATION
    • Autonomy. The desire to be self-directed.
    • Mastery. The urge to do something well.
    e.g Linux, Apache, Wikipedia.
    • Purpose. A higher purpose rather than
    only a “profit motive”
    

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15. MOTIVATION
    • Treat people like people not like horses
    • Build projects around motivated
    individuals.
    • Give them the environment and support
    they need
    • Trust them to get the job done.
    

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16. WORK AS A
    CO-OPERATIVE GAME
    Pandemic by Ed
    

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17. BUSINESS IS…
    …a cooperative… game of invention and
    communication. So are law, journalism,
    conference organization, entertainment…
    More surprising to me…was discovering that
    engineering is also … a cooperative game of
    invention and communication
    — Alistair Cockburn
    

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18. PEOPLE HATE CHANGE?
    by spcbrass on Flickr
    

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19. CHANGE / INNOVATION
    — Scott Berkun
    “All stressful events…combine fear of
    suffering with forced change.”
    

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20. “TOP DOWN” OR…
    

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21. …”BOTTOM UP”?
    Melbourne laneway, by Ed
    

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22. INVOLVE PEOPLE
    Holding a pen by Ed
    

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23. INVOLVE PEOPLE
    Holding a pen by Ed
    

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24. HOW ABOUT…
    Grass roots change BUT with management
    support?
    • Get people interested and intrigued.
    • Help people to see what’s in it for them.
    • Help them want to be involved.
    

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25. THE BAD NEWS
    • It will take time
    • It’s not always a smooth ride…
    • Collaboration vs competitiveness
    by quinn.anya on Flickr
    

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26. THE GOOD NEWS
    • Help is out there
    • It can be very fulfilling to achieve
    

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27. DO PEOPLE HATE CHANGE?
    Not necessarily…but they sometimes need
    some help…
    it takes thought and effort.
    

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28. !25
    Text
    If you think a thing is
    impossible, you'll make
    it impossible.
    Pessimism blunts the
    tools you need to
    succeed.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/jameshandlon/5893022361/

    Striking Thoughts: Bruce Lee's Wisdom for Daily Living (2000) edited by John Little. p121
    

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29. • by globalite on Flickr
    UNDERSTANDING
    WITHIN ORGANISATIONS
    

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30. GAME CHEMISTRY
    

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31. BARÇA ACHIEVEMENTS
    • 64 Domestic trophies and 17 international
    trophies
    • 4 x European Cup winners
    • 10 x League winners 1929-1990
    • 12 x League winners since 1990-91
    • 15 trophies in the last 5 seasons
    

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32. TIKI-TAKA
    “a systems approach to football
    founded upon team unity and a
    comprehensive understanding in the
    geometry of space on a football field.”
    – Wikipedia
    

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33. TICQUI-TACA
    

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34. LA MASÌA
    by XiscoNL on Wikimedia Commons
    

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35. by Jordiferrer on Wikimedia Commons
    

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36. UNDERSTANDING
    “…it’s really simple to find him on the pitch,
    I have a really good understanding with
    him…he did the right thing at the right
    moment…I like a lot my understanding on
    the pitch with him”
    — Olivier Giroud
    

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37. A “KNOWN” GAME!?
    But, Ed…The rules of soccer are known!
    

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38. • Ebenezer Cobb Morley, Football
    Association
    • There are only 17 laws <50 A5 pages

    (or 140 with pictures)
    THE LAWS OF THE GAME
    

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39. by Adrian Roebuck on Wikimedia Commons
    

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40. COMPARED TO…
    • Rugby Union: 20 laws. 200+ pages (with
    pics)
    • Cricket: 42 laws, 50 pages (no pics)
    • MLB Baseball: 10 rules, 130 pages (no
    pics)
    

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41. PRINCIPLES
    "They embrace the true principles of the
    game, with the greatest simplicity"
    — (E. C. Morley, F.A. Hon. Sec. 1863)
    

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42. …A FRAMEWORK
    Guidelines goals and principles that have
    been clarified through practice and
    adaptation since 1863
    

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43. WHAT ABOUT AGILE?
    The Scrum Guide
    • 16 pages (no pics)
    • Subtitled “The rules of the game”:
    • 3 roles, 5 events, 3 artifacts.
    

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44. WHAT ABOUT AGILE?
    The agile manifesto
    • 4 items
    • 12 principles
    

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45. COCKBURN’S SWAMP GAME
    “a competition in which each team must
    build something somewhere in a swamp”
    They don’t:
    • know what they have to build
    • know where they have to build it
    • have a map of the swamp
    

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46. UNDERSTANDING
    YOUR USERS
    

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47. DOES THIS SOUND FAMILIAR?
    “Customer collaboration” over contract
    negotiation”
    

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48. KNOWING YOUR CUSTOMER
    “only 21% (of companies) agreed with the
    statement, “Employees across the
    company share a vivid image of target
    customers.”
    Bruce Temkin
    
    Mapping The Customer Journey
    
    For Forrester Research
    
    

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49. MORE “SAD TROMBONE”
    “That leaves nearly eight out of 10
    companies making decisions based on
    something other than customer needs.”
    

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50. WHAT CAN BE DONE?
    “User Experience” techniques are great.
    • Personas
    • Customer Journey Mapping
    • Collaborative “Design Studios”
    • Going to visit your customers!!!
    

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51. USER STORY MAPPING
    

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52. Text
    “Use only that which
    works, and take it from
    any place you can find
    it.”
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/jameshandlon/5893022361/

    As quoted in Bruce Lee : Fighting Spirit (1994) by Bruce Thomas (1994), p.44
    

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53. THE OATH OF NON-ALLEGIANCE
    “I promise not to exclude from
    consideration any idea based on its source,
    but to consider ideas across schools and
    heritages in order to find the ones that best
    suit the current situation.”
    

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54. DESIGN THINKING
    and Service Design
    Conducting user research.

    Erin Sanders - Frog Design
    
    In Smashing Magazine
    

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55. LEAN
    Toyota
    • Healthcare
    • Education
    • Construction
    • Startups
    • UX
    • Change
    

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56. SO…WHAT’S ALL THIS ACHIEVE?
    • We make something that our customers
    need
    • We are fulfilled in our professional lives
    • Our company fulfils its mandate
    

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57. ALL THE KITTENS
    ARE HAPPY
    by masochismtango on flickr
    

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58. THE VACATION GAME
    Vis, Croatia by Ed
    

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59. THE VACATION GAME
    GOALS:
    • To give you a better understanding of
    the other people in the room.
    • To give you a chance to talk to each
    other
    • To get you moving
    

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60. THE VACATION GAME
    • Mechanics 1:
    • Find someone you don’t know.
    • Have a discussion about where you are both
    going to go on holiday together.
    • You must mutually agree on a destination
    within 2 minutes.
    

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61. THE VACATION GAME
    • Mechanics 2:
    • Find another group and discuss your choice
    and the reasons why.
    • All four of you must agree on a destination
    within 2 minutes where all of you are going
    to go together.
    

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62. THE VACATION GAME
    • Mechanics 3:
    • Repeat until…
    

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63. THANK YOU :)
    ed.wong@tabar.com.au
    tabar.com.au
    @littlehelper

    projectslittlehelper.com
    

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