the tao of agile - xp2012
DESCRIPTION
This lighting talk aims to explore, from an holistic point of view as opposed to the reductionist thinking, how the Lean Agile methodologies can be considered as part of the “turning point” in the crisis of Western reductionist way of thinking. Recent scientific discoveries indicate that all life – from the most primitive cells, up to human societies, corporations and nation-states, even the global economy – is organized along the same basic patterns and principles: those of the network. Both (Lean & Agile) offer a thinking tool set that allow us to create new models and different approaches. Hence, in this lighting talk I would like to affirm how tightly humans are connected with the fabric of life and make it clear that it is imperative to organize our world according to a different set of values and beliefs.TRANSCRIPT
Aims
• This ligh*ng talk aims to explore, from an holis*c point of view as opposed to the reduc*onist thinking, how the Lean Agile methodologies can be considered as part of the “turning point” in the crisis of Western reduc*onist way of thinking.
Yin & Yang
• In the Chinese culture and are never associated with moral values.
EARTH SKY
MOON SUN
NIGHT DAY
WINTER SUMMER
WET DRY
COLD HOT
INTERNAL SURFACE
FEMALE MALE
CONTRACTIVE EXPANSIVE
CONSERVATIVE DISSIPATIVE
RESPONSIVE AGGRESSIVE
COOPERATIVE COMPETITIVE
INTUITIVE RATIONAL
SYNTHETIC ANALYTIC
Our culture
• If you consider this set of values is easy to see how our society has constantly favoured the
at the expense of the .
Yang over Yin
• ra*onal knowledge over intui*ve wisdom • compe**on over coopera*on • exploita*on of resources with respect to conserva*on
Two Paradigms
Reduc*onism
Reduc*onism
can mean either • (a) an approach to understanding the nature of complex things by reducing them to the interac*ons of their parts, or to simpler or more fundamental things or
• (b) a philosophical posi*on that a complex system is nothing but the sum of its parts, and that an account of it can be reduced to accounts of individual cons*tuents.
from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Holism
(from ὂλος holos, a Greek word meaning all, whole, en*re, total), is the idea that natural systems (physical, biological, chemical, social, economic, mental linguis*c, etc.) and their proper*es, should be viewed as wholes,
• not as collec*ons of parts.
from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Holism
• Science itself is demanding a new, non-‐fragmentary world view, in the sense that the present approach of analysis of the world into independent elementary parts does not work very well in modern physics.
Two Paradigms
Holons
• A (Greek: ὅλον, holon neuter form of ὅλος, holos "whole") is something that is simultaneously a whole and a part.
• The word was coined by Arthur Koestler in his book The Ghost in the Machine (1967, p. 48).
Holons
• Koestler proposed the word holon to describe the hybrid nature of sub-‐wholes and parts within in vivo systems.
• From this perspec*ve, holons exist simultaneously as self-‐contained wholes in rela*on to their sub-‐ordinate parts, and dependent parts when considered from the inverse direc*on.
Holons
are autonomous, self-‐reliant units that possess a degree of independence and handle con*ngencies without asking higher authori*es for instruc*ons.
• These holons are also simultaneously subject to control from one or more of these higher authori*es.
Holons
• A is a system (or phenomenon) which is an evolving self-‐organizing dissipa*ve structure, composed of other holons, whose structures exist at a balance point between chaos and order.
Autopoiesis
(from Greek αὐτo-‐ (auto-‐), meaning "self", and ποίησις (poiesis), meaning "crea*on, produc*on") literally means "self-‐crea*on" and expresses a fundamental dialec*c among structure, mechanism and func*on.
• The term was introduced in 1972 by Chilean biologists Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela.
Cynevin framework
• The draws on research into complex adap*ve systems theory, cogni*ve science, anthropology and narra*ve pagerns, as well as evolu*onary psychology.
• It “explores the rela*onship between man, experience and context” and proposes new approaches to communica*on, decision-‐making, policy-‐making and knowledge management in complex social environments.
Cynefin
How’d we do it? Quantum theory
Bootstrap model
• In physics, the term bootstrap model is used for a class of theories that use very general consistency criteria to determine the form of a quantum theory from some assump*ons on the spectrum of par*cles.
• It is a form of S-‐matrix theory.
Living systems are complex, in that they consist of a great many agents interac*ng with each
other in a great many ways
The interac*on of individual agents is governed by simple, localized rules
The richness of the interac*ons of the agents allows the system as a whole to undergo
spontaneous self-‐organiza*on
Agile is heavyweight on prac*ces and lightweight on theory
Dave Snowden
How’d we do it? Theories to understand why Agile works
and : the science of
uncertainty : the nature of human
decision making & :
the origins of social interac*on & its nature
• Recent scien*fic discoveries indicate that all life – from the most primi*ve cells, up to human socie*es, corpora*ons and na*on-‐states, even the global economy – is organized along the same basic pagerns and principles:
those of
• Both (Lean & Agile) offer a thinking tool set that allow us to create new models and different approaches.
• Hence, in this ligh*ng talk I would like to affirm how *ghtly humans are connected with the fabric of life and make it clear that it is impera*ve to organize our world according to a different set of values and beliefs.
Agile is a framework or frame of mind.
thanks
Fabio Armani www.open-‐ware.org
@fabioarmani f.armani@open-‐ware.org