in praise ofRIGIDITY

James RossCTO @ Envato@jimmyjazz68

AGILITY

AGILITYnimbleness, deftness,dexterity, liveliness,

sprightliness

RIGIDITY

RIGIDITYsolidity, hardness,

stringency, stiffness,inflexibility

no wonder we loveAGILITY

but what if we'remissing

something?

what if we'renot seeingthe whole picture?

the hypothesis

there is noAGILITYwithoutRIGIDITY

to support it

the examples

agile softwareagile wetwareagile systems

agile relationships

event sourcingconcept maps

theory of constraintscrucial conversations

event sourcing

what is it?

TL;DRevent sourcing means that

all truth in your system is captured asan append-only series of

immutable business events

TL;DRno UPDATEno DELETE

only INSERT and SELECT

an example

how does it supportAGILITY?

by never throwing any data away

event sourcinglets you build a time machine andreinterpret history whenever youcome up with a new idea you want to try

how does it demandRIGIDITY?

you must notmodify your events.

if you do,all bets are off

agile interpretationsofhard facts

what does it meanforyou?

choose carefullyand

communicate clearlyyour

system's hard edges

concept maps

what are they?

TL;DRa concept map is a visual glossary

of the specialised languageof your problem domain

TL;DRa concept map is just

a collection of propositions.A proposition is just

a sentence that uses a verbto connect two nouns (concepts)

an example

source codeAgile Australia 2018 explores Agile Methodology

Agile Australia 2018 is a ConferenceAgile Australia 2018 is held at Crown PalladiumCrown Melbourne is composed of Crown Casino

Crown Melbourne is composed of Crown PalladiumExtreme Programming exemplifies Agile Methodology

Kent Beck created Extreme ProgrammingRachel Slattery organises Agile Australia 2018

how does it supportAGILITY?

by increasing the speed, effectivenessand correctness of sharing domain knowledge

concept mapsincrease the speed, effectivenessand correctness of development efforts

how does it demandRIGIDITY?

the core concepts in your domain

do not changeand are not open to

interpretation

accelerated understandingof

strict meaning

what does it meanforyou?

provide clarityand

demand consistencyyour

team's communication

theory of constraints

what is it?

TL;DRToC is a management paradigmthat sees any system as being

limited in the achievement of its goalby a single constraint at any time

TL;DRToC adopts a

process of ongoing improvementbased on identifying the constraint

and reorganising everything else around it

TL;DRIDENTIFY the constraintEXPLOIT the constraint

SUBORDINATE everything to the constraintELEVATE the constraint

RINSE & REPEAT

an example

how does it supportAGILITY?

actually, that's the wrong question :)

ToCis instead supported by agile methods,applying them to elevate the constraint(step 4 of its 5 step improvement process)

how does it demandRIGIDITY?

anything you doto improve something that is

not a constraintis a complete

waste of time

agile systemsthrough

stringent focus

what does it meanforyou?

stop wasting timeapplying

agile techniquesto things that

don't matter

crucial conversations

what is it?

TL;DRcrucial conversations is a book

that describes a set of toolsfor talking when stakes are high

TL;DReveryone has a path to action with 4 stages:

observation -> interpretation -> feeling -> actionor

facts -> story -> feeling -> action

an example

how does it supportAGILITY?

by broadening our perspective andbuilding a pool of shared meaningcrucial conversationsbreaks down walls and builds bridgesbetween individuals and teams

how does it demandRIGIDITY?

by

strictly separatingobservable facts

frompersonal interpretations

agile relationshipsthrough

agile interpretationsof

hard facts

what does it meanforyou?

learn to

share your pathand ask others to

share theirs

in praise ofRIGIDITY

in praise ofBALANCEAGILITY<->RIGIDITY

questions