I am reading a book. A rather interesting book which is entitled Getting to YES. Contrary to what some might be thinking right now, it is not a guide on how to date, but rather a conglomeration of guided advice on how to be a better negotiator.
While reading the first few chapters on the tube this morning I have come to the realisation that writing my blog entries is also a for of negotiation. From now on my blog posts shall be even more well considered.
Finally I have had a chance to speak to Colin, which is a challenge in itself. With mother nature and ancient societies only giving us 24 hours in a day it seems one needs a time machine to ensure that the big Kahuna has some time left in his day for a jovial get-together. With Colin's insight and a general bearing of what I can offer to help Conchango in being even more successful my outlook on the next few months has brightened considerably.
Agile is not a silver bullet and there might be environments out there where agile would not be able to survive, simply because it is bound by controlling factors within the situation is it being applied to. Reducing agile methodologies to software projects is a dangerous path. In my opinion agile methodologies offer a framework to operate with not a process to follow. Frameworks can be adapted to suite the needs at hand and this is wherein their beauty and biggest pitfalls lie.
It lies in the very nature of agile methodologies to inspect and adapt. The big challenge which companies like Conchango are facing is to know when it is enough. How far can you bend the rules before framework which is loosely governed by them will break. During my self-employment, my travels all over the world I have had a chance to see a lot of implementations of agile. I was also allowed to teach my point of views and I have come to the conclusion that there are a few I consider essential:
- Common Sense
- Time Boxes
- Self Organisation
Anyone that has been to a CSM course will recognise these rules, they form the very basis of Scrum. While I know those rules like the back of my hand enforcing them is not as easy as turning my hand. It requires often a compromise on some of the more specialised rules to be allowed to push these basic ones through. Self-organisation often being the toughest one to enforce. Work environments which are common within large clients do not seem to foster that particular type of interactive and high bandwidth communication type of working.
For Conchango to gradually change the rules by which Businesses interact with each other is one of my biggest wishes. Streamlining current processes such as procurement, sales, marketing, human resourcing and all the many others needed to be successful into a more human centered, maybe more agile approach. I can only act as observer, mediator or mentor when my knowledge is needed and I am happy that Conchango, as a whole, seems to be engaging in many of the parts I mentioned before.
This will be a long, winded and sometimes steep road for me to travel, as I will have to learn that I might have to adjust my point of view now and then. While the needs of most engagements are dictated by the business I would hope that steady improvements to the way we interact with our customer, the way we deliver projects and our reputation will allow Conchango to be an innovator in a fast growing market.
Innovators are always willing to go out on a limb and spend the extra time needed to fine tune their ideas. I believe that everyone I am working with at Conchango is an innovator. It is up to us all to harness that power resting within the many communities, in a way that should be our way of achieving self-organisation with common sense.
Which leads me to the conclusion that we are working within a framework already. A framework called Conchango, where many different, bright individuals work together to produce something. It is up to us now how well we inspect and adapt, how agile we choose to be.