Anarchy Over Agility - Agile Manchester 2020

The Rehabilitation of Leadership
Anarchy Over Agilty
M A R K C R U T H | E N T E R P R I S E S O L U T I O N S A R C H I T E C T | A T L A S S I A N

Copyright © 2019 Teal Mavericks, LLC. All rights reserved.
AnarcHy
OveR AGiliTy
The Rehabilitationof Leadership

90 SecExercise: What’s Anarchy?
The word Anarchy has a different meaning to everyone is this room. Is it a
good thing? Is it a bad thing?We must align on a shared understanding if
we’re going to move forward!
Action: In the Zoom chat, share your definition of the word Anarchy
(what does it mean to you?)
Timing: Take 30 seconds to respond, then we’ll review some of the
answers J

Three Phases
Self-Management AnarchistToolboxDeveloper Anarchy

An Ar chy
noun
1. a state of lawlessness or political disorder due to the absence of
governmental authority
. .
2. absence or denial of any authority or established order
3. a utopian society of individuals who enjoy complete freedom
without government
Order without
imposed authority

Agile Best Practices
Stand Ups
User Stories
Retrospectives
Estimation
Iterations
Pairing
UnitTests
AcceptanceTests
Refactoring
Patterns
CI/CD
Developer / Programmer Anarchy

Agile Best Practices
Stand Ups
User Stories
Retrospectives
Estimation
Iterations
Pairing
UnitTests
AcceptanceTests
Refactoring
Patterns
CI/CD
Developer / Programmer Anarchy
Trust with
Collocation
Results, Not
Blame
Small, Short-
Lived Apps
Continuous
Deployment

Mindset Shift
Manager DevelopmentTeam PO Client

Manifesto Compliant

The
Cynefin
Framework Emergent
Practice
Novel Practice Best Practice
Good practice
Complex
Chaotic Simple
Complicated

Self-Management
Press Here!

What’s Self-Management?
“A system based on peer relationships,
without the need for either hierarchy
or consensus.”
Frederic Laloux
Author, Reinventing Organizations
, ,

How We Self-Manage

HolacracySociocracy
Team Structure
Decision Making
Governance
Small, Connected Circles
Generative/Consent Driven
Constitution w/Explicit Roles
Small, Connected Circles
Generative/Consent Driven
Constitution w/Explicit Roles
Champion
Originated
Gerard Endenburg
1850’s and 1980’s
Brian Robertson
2007
Adopters Endenburg Elektrotechniek
Outlandish
Creative Urethanes
Zappos
Medium
HolacracyOne

HolacracySociocracyPurposePeople
To enable its people to
become the best problem
solvers in order to serve
the community
Harness the collective human
consciousness, focusing on a
unique organizational
purpose beyond just people
People come first, and
people must bring their
full selves to work
Organizational purpose
comes first, obtained through
collective consciousness

Take twice per week
or as prescribed by
your Constitution
Active Ingredients:
Holacracy
Sociocracy
H
H H
H
H
SS
S S
S

BOSSA novaValues…
Self-organization
Cross-functionality
Trust theWisdom of People
Retrospect and Adapt
Decision Making Based on Consent
Double Linking
Organize Open Meetings
BOSSA nova

Self-Management Success!

Anarchist Toolbox
Team Agreement/Constitution
Collaboration Contract
Self-Selection
ReplaceTitles with Skill Matrix
Check-In Process
Anarchy Days!
Invitation Driven Meetings

Team Agreement/Constitution
• A tool that helps teams to establish expectations
between and of each other
• Eliminates “noise” by making the implicit explicit
• Prevents the breakdown in communication
• Promotes self-management within the team
Value
What Is It?
Click to
Learn More!

Collaboration Contract
• Way to spell out who makes what type of decisions
• Similar to Management 3.0 Delegation Poker
• Makes the “who” in decision making explicit and
whether others need to be consulted in a decision
• Avoids the need for management to make decisions
as decision ownership is clear to all parties
Value
What Is It?
Click to
Learn More!

Self-Selection
• Instead of assigning people to teams, you let people
decide which team they would like be on
• Occurs at a regular cadence (ex. 6 months) to allow
team members to move around
• Supported with a formal self-selection event
• Team members have the autonomy to chose their
work and team
Value
What Is It?
Click to
Learn More!

Replace Titles with Skill Matrix
• Instead of guessing what a team needs (job titles),
identify the skills the team needs to be successful
• Team can determine the skills they need
• Identify skill levels (Apprentice, Journeyman,
Master) as growth options for team members
• Eliminate the silos caused by job titles/descriptions
• Provides clarity on what skills and levels of skill are needed
Value
What Is It?
Click to
Learn More!

Check-In Process
• Simple tool that helps people become more present
• Start meeting with a “Check-In” that allows people to
leave baggage outside the meeting
• Pick a question like “what weather pattern are you”
and let everyone answer before beginning
• Allows someone to acknowledge their mental state
• Helps everyone in the meeting to appear a little more human
Value
What Is It?
Click to
Learn More!

Anarchy Days!
• Inspired by Fred George and Developer Anarchy,
ebay started holding their own Anarchy Day
• A developer can work on what they want, but must
show the results the next day
• Similar but different from Hack-A-Thons
• Developers can put their “Product Manager” hat on
• Demonstrates developers can make good business decisions
Value
What Is It?
Click to
Learn More!

Invitation Driven Meetings
• When sending out a meeting invite, the inviter must
create a compelling invitation that encourages
attendance
• Meetings should follow the same rules as games:
Clear goal, clear rules, way to track progress, and
ability to opt-out
• Ensures each meeting is valuable to those who participate
• Removes the authority to require attendance in meetings
Value
What Is It?
Click to
Learn More!
I’m inviting you to join me for
drinks after the conference!We’ll
have great time chatting and
discussing what we learned!We will meet in the hotel lobby at
6:30PM and grab a taxi.We will
plan to be back to the hotel by
10:00PM.We will visit two local
bars while we are out.Can you please let me know by
5:00PM if you can make it so I can
order a taxi?Thank you!

A Cautionary Tale…
No Intent

So…Why Anarchy?
Anarchy is OrderWithout Imposed Authority
Today’s Problems are Complex, Not Complicated
Deliberate Decision Making Creates Autonomy
Consent Enables Rapid Feedback
Intentional Structures Provide Longevity
Context is Everything!

II
I
I
Thank You
mcruth@atlassian.com
@TealMavericks

Books Referenced

Articles Referenced
https://www.agilealliance.org/resources/sessions/programmer-anarchy-and-the-necessity-of-managerless-processes/
https://martinjeeblog.com/2012/11/20/what-is-programmer-anarchy-and-does-it-have-a-future/
http://gotocon.com/dl/goto-amsterdam-2011/slides/FredGeorge_ProgrammerAnarchy.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk-CF7klLdA
https://the-arm.com/two-years-of-programmer-anarchy-7f8a85ec4717
http://www.julianbrowne.com/assets/attachments/agile-killing-architect/downloads/leaner-programmer-anarchy.2.pdf
https://www.infoq.com/news/2012/02/programmer-anarchy
https://code.fb.com/culture/engineering-culture-code-ownership/
https://software.intel.com/en-us/blogs/2013/03/12/what-makes-a-good-developer-culture
https://regulargeek.com/2011/03/07/developer-driven-culture/
https://www.ebayinc.com/stories/blogs/tech/developer-anarchy-day/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdUpyqwsrGs
http://gotocon.com/london-2011/presentation/Lean+Programmer+Anarchy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIxHmsWCd7g
http://gotocon.com/dl/goto-chicago-2014/slides/FredGeorge_ImplementingProgrammerAnarchy.pdf
https://valuethelearningcycle.wordpress.com/2014/12/03/are-you-ready-for-programmer-anarchy/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zop0wTPrbk8

Articles Referenced
https://itnext.io/what-is-developer-anarchy-and-how-is-it-different-from-agile-software-development-
6e212d6b8dfb?gi=542b371aac60
https://github.com/busterc/programmer-anarchy
https://opensoul.org/2012/06/05/whats-it-like-to-work-at-github/
https://github.com/holman/ama/issues/800
https://www.frontrowagile.com/blog/posts/27-valves-culture-self-organization-and-scrum
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2012/04/27/a-glimpse-at-a-workplace-of-the-future-valve/#55ecc6447557
https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/apps/valve/Valve_NewEmployeeHandbook.pdf
https://www.flowless.eu/programmer-anarchy/
https://tqdev.com/2016-developer-anarchy-or-extreme-agile
https://www.red-folder.com/blog/developer-anarchy
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1039&context=managementfacpub
http://www.reinventingorganizationswiki.com/Self-Management
http://www.self-managementinstitute.org/about/what-is-self-management
http://www.self-managementinstitute.org/assets/images/uploads/WhatIsSelfMgmt.pdf
https://www.zapposinsights.com/about/holacracy
https://hbr.org/2016/07/beyond-the-holacracy-hype

Articles Referenced
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2541/d91c749161b78e724c4c29e38a394f03fb6a.pdf
http://www.sociocracyforall.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Organizational-structure_ELC_corrected.pdf
https://sociocracy30.org/guide/
http://www.cruxcatalyst.com/2013/09/26/spiral-dynamics-a-way-of-understanding-human-nature/
http://spiraldynamicsintegral.nl/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/McDonald-Ian-Introduction-to-Spiral-Dynamics-1007.pdf
http://www.wcdsc.net/pdf/intro2SD.pdf
https://medium.com/@JenRau/there-is-no-hierarchy-in-sociocracy-right-7999be11cdf0
http://fr.thesociocracygroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/The_Creative_Forces_Self_Organization_v9.pdf
http://fortune.com/2016/03/04/management-changes-at-medium/
https://blog.newrelic.com/technology/data-culture-survey-results-faster-deployment/
http://janhoglund.eu/holacracy-vs-sociocracy/
https://blog.medium.com/management-and-organization-at-medium-2228cc9d93e9

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