Upgrade to Pro
— share decks privately, control downloads, hide ads and more …
Speaker Deck
Features
Speaker Deck
PRO
Sign in
Sign up for free
Search
Search
Chaotic Agility
Search
Matthew Bass
August 07, 2007
Technology
1
54
Chaotic Agility
How understanding the science behind agility can increase our effectiveness and productivity.
Matthew Bass
August 07, 2007
Tweet
Share
More Decks by Matthew Bass
See All by Matthew Bass
Homesteading for Freelancers
pelargir
1
47
A/B Testing for Developers
pelargir
1
53
Generating Rich PDFs with Prawn
pelargir
0
65
Homesteading: The New Entrepreneurial Model
pelargir
1
50
Pragmatic Pair Programming
pelargir
3
92
Distance Education: An Alternative to Traditional College
pelargir
0
56
Teascript: A Homesteader's Story
pelargir
1
36
Other Decks in Technology
See All in Technology
united airlines ™®️ USA Contact Numbers: Complete 2025 Support Guide
flyunitedhelp
1
300
「良さそう」と「とても良い」の間には 「良さそうだがホンマか」がたくさんある / 2025.07.01 LLM品質Night
smiyawaki0820
1
550
Flutter向けPDFビューア、pdfrxのpdfium WASM対応について
espresso3389
0
130
無意味な開発生産性の議論から抜け出すための予兆検知とお金とAI
i35_267
4
13k
自律的なスケーリング手法FASTにおけるVPoEとしてのアカウンタビリティ / dev-productivity-con-2025
yoshikiiida
1
16k
2025 AWS Jr. Championが振り返るAWS Summit
kazukiadachi
0
110
IPA&AWSダブル全冠が明かす、人生を変えた勉強法のすべて
iwamot
PRO
2
120
改めてAWS WAFを振り返る~業務で使うためのポイント~
masakiokuda
2
250
PO初心者が考えた ”POらしさ”
nb_rady
0
210
Delta airlines®️ USA Contact Numbers: Complete 2025 Support Guide
airtravelguide
0
340
生成AI開発案件におけるClineの業務活用事例とTips
shinya337
0
250
【5分でわかる】セーフィー エンジニア向け会社紹介
safie_recruit
0
27k
Featured
See All Featured
実際に使うSQLの書き方 徹底解説 / pgcon21j-tutorial
soudai
PRO
181
54k
Building Applications with DynamoDB
mza
95
6.5k
Art, The Web, and Tiny UX
lynnandtonic
299
21k
Connecting the Dots Between Site Speed, User Experience & Your Business [WebExpo 2025]
tammyeverts
6
300
The World Runs on Bad Software
bkeepers
PRO
69
11k
Documentation Writing (for coders)
carmenintech
72
4.9k
The Cost Of JavaScript in 2023
addyosmani
51
8.5k
CoffeeScript is Beautiful & I Never Want to Write Plain JavaScript Again
sstephenson
161
15k
Helping Users Find Their Own Way: Creating Modern Search Experiences
danielanewman
29
2.7k
4 Signs Your Business is Dying
shpigford
184
22k
ReactJS: Keep Simple. Everything can be a component!
pedronauck
667
120k
Into the Great Unknown - MozCon
thekraken
40
1.9k
Transcript
Chaotic Agility
Good things happen
The Book “Managing Software for Growth” by Roy Miller
Manufacturing Software • 1880, Frederick Taylor – Every job has
“one best way” – Workers are dumb – Managers need more control
The Manufacturing Mindset • Determine what we want • Design
it • Build it • Make sure it works • Repeat Assumption: The result will be the same every time the process is repeated.
What does this remind you of?
None
Manufacturing assumes linearity • Whole equals sum of parts •
Effects proportional to causes • Result is predictable
Complexity science models reality • Whole greater than sum of
parts • Small changes have big effects • Patterns appear, but predictability remains elusive
When will it rain?
Weather • weather = function(sun, wind, humidity, CO2…) • 1960,
Edward Lorenz • Toy weather – Small variations eventually disappeared – Until the program was started in the middle
Attractors • Emergent patterns • Only show up during change
• Can’t be created in advance • Can’t be predicted
CAS • John Holland • Networks of agents… • Acting
in parallel… • Without central control • Constant change == life • Stability == death
The Edge of Chaos • A CAS must be stable…
• But not too stable… • And not too chaotic • Balance is key • Where is the edge?
Self Organization • Minimize the number of choices, then make
an educated guess • It’s the economy… • Agents influence each other • BarCamp, anyone?
Growing Software • Emergence • Interaction • Adjustment • “Just
Enough” / YAGNI • What is “done?”
Waterfall is Manufacturing • Prediction is possible • Software is
an efficiency optimization problem • Process over people
Agility is a CAS • Continuous change • Good design
• Simplicity • People working together • What else?
Take Aways • For managers: – Stop trying to control
and predict – Setup minimal structure – Make minor adjustments • For developers: – Don’t stress over perceived chaos – Be willing to experiment • What else?
Okay, who’s the jerk? Matthew Bass Software consultant Speaker Ruby
addict Agile evangelist Not Fred Medlin! :blog => matthewbass.com :email =>
[email protected]