We all know that adhering to the principles of Agile can bring benefits to an individual, team or organisation. However, whilst Agile methods can help in realising those benefits, they can also bring a lot of danger to their users. In this session discover what those risks are, how to avoid them, and the advice we should give others when they embark on an Agile journey. In addition to presenting topics such as “Overcoming dogma”, “Why we can’t just RTFM”, and “Are we Agile yet?”, he will highlight how these sometimes comical observations can cause real damage to an organisation, fostering further debate and discussion.

1. AGILE METHODS
ARE DANGEROUS!
J u l i a n H o l m e s
LOCAL OFFICE DAY, AUTUMN 2017

2. THOUGHTWORKS
Over 20
years
42
offices
15
countries
5000
people
#1 in
Agile CD
We are a group of passionate individuals and a software solutions leader with technology at our core.
Over time we’ve grown to incorporate an experience design practice and organisational
development capability to help our clients to build solutions loved by their customers, as well as
helping to grow and exercise the organisational muscles that embed successful innovation.
• Our mission is to better humanity through software and help drive the creation of a
socially and economically just world. We bring together the most capable, driven
and passionate people. We call ourselves “ThoughtWorkers”

3. AGILE METHODS DO
PROVIDE VALUE, BUT…
they can also be very dangerous!

4. AGILE METHODS ARE DANGEROUS!
• Typical Agile “dangers”
• What you might hear people say
• Why they are wrong
• Strategies to change the
conversation
• Perhaps some are “common sense”?
ANECDOTE
S AHEAD

5. THE COMMON DANGERS
You hear these everywhere!

6. “That’s not what the method says we
must do!”
The Scrumdamentalist

7. MANAGE THE DOGMA
“dogma” - a fixed, especially religious, belief
or set of beliefs that people are expected to
accept without any doubts
Values and principles over method religions
• No “one method to rule them all”
• Determine your place on each Value scale
• Understand practices and their value in context
• Make decisions from experience
BEWARE OF
THE ZEALOTS

8. “RTFM and just do it!”
The Methodologist

9. CREATE A PLACEHOLDER FOR A CONVERSATION
Working method over comprehensive documentation
• No-one will read a big method
• “RTFM” also doesn’t work
Start light… collaboration will get it right
• Roughly right vs. accurately wrong
• Leave gaps for context-rich practices
If it works, collaboratively share it
• Use a collaborative wiki

10. “Are we Agile yet?”
The Check-Lister

11. DOING AGILE IS NOT THE OBJECTIVE
• Don’t set Agile KPIs!
• Improve your capability and
effectiveness to deliver
• “Silver bullets” can hurt
• Increase collaboration, shorten
feedback loops, adapt
• Continuous improvement is the
foundation

12. “Don’t talk to me about Agile!”
The Traditionalist
HOTEL EUROPE, October 21st

13. AVOID THE A-WORD
Be the last person to say it
• No-one wants to be force-fed anything
• It’s also not “fairy dust”
Improve by Decreasing Risk,
Increasing Predictability
• This resonates with everyone
Focus on transparency, inspecting, & adapting

14. “Agile doesn’t apply to us”
The Middle-Manager
HOTEL EUROPE, October 21st

15. PREPARE THE GROUND
Understand the reasons for change
• People must see the problem to accept change
Engage people at all levels
• Use “Special” briefings to thaw the “permafrost”
• Share success and how it feels
• Warn about “exposing the elephant”
Educate with principles
• Often ”just-too-late”

16. “Just tell everyone to be Agile”
The Impatient Executive
HOTEL EUROPE, October 21st

17. START SMALL, LEARN QUICK, SCALE SLOW
Be patient, there is no Miracle Gro!
Find a painful end-to-end “thin slice”
• Start with a Futurespective
Increase transparency, visualise flow
• Address bottlenecks, review and improve
Support with expertise and communities
Install a culture of Retrospectives
Consider practices from Agile scaling frameworks

18. IN SUMMARY
HOTEL EUROPE, October 21st

19. AGILE METHODS CAN BE MADE LESS DANGEROUS
• Manage the Dogma
• Create a Placeholder for a Conversation
• Doing Agile is not the Objective
• Avoid the A-word
• Prepare the Ground
• Start Small, Learn Quick, Scale Slow
Questions?
BEWARE OF
THE ZEALOTS

20. THANK YOU!
Julian Holmes - @JulianHolmes