"the result of human actions, not of human design"
The goal of this TruAgile Doctrine is to provide simple guidance to modern organizations in establishing a culture of agility, flexibility and responsiveness. TruAgile aims to respond quickly to changing market demands and customer needs. We have deviated so far from "what is agile" this doctrine is to assist in re-establishing Agile's true intent and main purpose in culture, mindset, and frameworks (TruAgile). We have learned so much in the Age of Agile. There is some vagueness in Agile and these are basic truths we understand that occur in a TruAgile organization. This document is ALL that is necessary to achieve TruAgility, no other TruAgile Frameworks, metrics, or Scaling TruAgile is necessary.
The 4 Requirements for a TruAgile Organization (Spontaneous Order):
- Remove Siloes in favor of Collaboration & Cross-Functionality
- Remove Hierarchy in favor of Self-Organization & Empowerment
- Remove Bureaucracy in favor of Flexibility
- Remove Waste in favor of Efficiency (Lean)
We only favor the things on the right and favor nothing on the left. Organizations should constantly be striving to achieve and improve the things on the right.
Mob Programming/ Group Creation- The best way of working in a creation of a "thing/product/service/etc" is that everyone that is required in building the "thing" (from start to finish) is to be in the same room (same video call), collaborating together. Mob Programming encourages and enables spontaneous order. This includes innovation, "customer collaboration" and instant customer feedback in the building process of a "thing". Instant feedback, real time, immediately from amongst team members and clients is necessary to succeed in being TruAgile and maximizing customer value delivered. Mobbing should eliminate a need for useless, boring events or redundant meetings that provide little value in favor of authentic efficiency, innovation, and spontaneous order. It also assists in removing extraneous roles that are not necessary for TruAgile.
Boss Centric versus Customer Centric- TruAgile organizations are not just customer obsessed, they are customer fixated. More than anything else, value delivery to the client is the most important thing in a TruAgile organization. Everything must be done in favor to satisfy customers and customer value; continuously seeking to improve the customer experience. If the customer is not the center of the organization (Customer Centric), the organization seizes to exist and will fall into Orwellian bureaucratic dystopia only servicing itself with little regard to gaining new customers or customer retention (Boss Centric). Customers will leave for a better product/service offered by the competitor. Practice integrity and ethics for the customer and for the organization to attract and retain customers (keep great workers!). Do what is right!
"Fearless Organization"- Leaders, listen to the teams; the people actually doing the work! Leaders of any sort must establish a Psychological Safe environment. Servant leadership and empowerment of self-organization. There is NO micromanaging, command/control in a TruAgile organization. A great visual aid of a TruAgile organization is that the traditional hierarchy triangle is inverted. This means that those doing the work are at the top and the middle managers and senior leaders are supporting the teams. Leaders must listen and implement what the team thinks. This is known as the "institutional yes" (made famous by Amazon).
Take breaks! Celebrate!- (decided by the team the frequency and intervals). Celebrate wins! The frequent breaks should also include ideas for innovating and should occur spontaneously. No artificial or inauthentic event is necessary for improvements as the team(s) decides when it is time to innovate spontaneously (even during a walk!).
Strive to eliminate dependencies and impediments- Do not "manage" dependencies and impediments. The removal of dependencies and impediments allows more agility and flexibility and reduces delays.
Continuous improvement, the more frequent the better- Evolution, experimentation, failure, risk taking, inspecting and adapting along the way with a goal of flexibility. Continuous learning is paramount to a TruAgile Organization; we are never "done" in improving and evolving. We are always striving for improvement, there is no end state of Agility. Again, this was mentioned to occur spontaneously and naturally as needed and as frequent (no need for a special event due to mob programming enabling improvement opportunities).
Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD)- the more frequent releases, deliveries, and integration the better. Automate as much as you can, leverage AI as much as you can in handling mundane, repetitive routines. Leverage tools where tools can make workers lives better and provide value to clients.
Everything must be smaller to allow flexibility- Smaller teams, smaller bodies of work, incremental delivery, etc. "Smaller is better!" is the mantra of TruAgile. In addition, always strive for simplifying, removing waste. The simplest approach is always the best approach.
The only Metrics that matters- If people/teams are not happy and passionate about their work (de-moralized), they are not doing TruAgile properly (they must feel their work is purposeful). If clients are not happy and passionate about the product (valuable), they are not doing TruAgile properly. Re-evaluate the above criteria for missed opportunities and improvements.
In addition to the TruAgile Doctrine, please reconsider everything put forth in the Agile Manifesto https://agilemanifesto.org/
**This Doctrine is an ongoing evolutionary document that must be updated from time to time as new information is learned.**
Please provide feedback as this document should NOT be created in a silo, but with a experienced Agile Community robust with new ideas and perspectives.
Contact TruAgile for ideas, suggestions, edits, comments, questions, etc. so we may discuss adding them here! Stay curious!
What is Spontaneous Order? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_order
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