What to do? The centrally controlled corporate hierarchy doesn’t work in the business world any better than the slow-moving waterfall process works in the software development arena. And rapid technical change in the form of cloud computing, social media and consumer IT is leaving the old model of corporate computing departments in the dust. Looks like it’s time  to get agile and reinvent ourselves!

Agile IT Practices can Drive Business Operations

The future of agile is to expand beyond the creation of software and expand beyond the confines of the IT group. Just about every company you speak to says they are going to adopt Agile IT practices. The opportunity is to take what the Agile movement has learned about organizing teams and collaborating on complex projects and continuously responding to changing requirements and apply these principles to redesign the way whole companies operate.

Perhaps the greater value of IT agility is its ability to drive business agility. Perhaps the future of the agile movement is more about business than about IT. Companies that succeed in our real-time economy will learn to apply agile principles to the way they structure and operate their business units. And they will embed IT into their structure and operations so as to drive a process of continuous focus and response to new opportunities and threats as they arise.

A simple model of the system dynamics used by such an organization is shown below. Agile operating principles and agile IT would be employed to drive three simultaneous feedback loops that make real-time operations possible. The first feedback loop provides awareness of a changing environment and identifies threats and opportunities (I use the Yin-Yang symbol to denote awareness). The second loop continuously adjusts existing operations and processes to fit changing circumstances (I use a sunflower because of how it constantly adjusts itself to follow the sun across the sky). And the third loop provides agility in how companies create new processes and products to seize new opportunities (I use the leaping panther to symbolize agility). The figure below illustrates how these three loops work together (excerpted from my book Business Agility: Sustainable Prosperity in a Relentlessly Competitive World).

Agile Operating Dynamics of the Real-Time Enterprise

Organizational strategy happens in Loop 1, and operating tactics happen in Loops 2 and 3. So, clearly, the activities that occur in Loop 1 are central to the success of any organization, because if they are not done well then the actions carried out in Loops 2 and 3 will not be effective. Loop 1 is about figuring out WHAT to do.

Once a decision is made, one or both of the other two process loops are engaged; Loops 2 and 3 are about figuring out HOW to do what has been decided. Loop 2 is for improving existing operations. People in this loop find and fix root cause problems in business processes that generate errors and thus create nonstandard input; this is what delivers operating efficiency. We’ll call it the “Balance” process because it requires people to constantly adjust and fine-tune standard operating procedures so as to get the best overall performance as operating conditions change. This process is continuous; it happens all the time, every day.

Loop 3 is for creating new operations. People here design and build new procedures and systems to deal with the appearance of something new—a new threat or a new opportunity. That is what delivers effectiveness. We’ll call this process “Agility” because it requires people to move quickly when situations call for it. Creating something new is different from the process of improving existing operations. It is also an intermittent process; it does not happen all the time (as the balancing process does). It happens only when a new threat or a new opportunity arises.

Through the combination of these three feedback loops, the 21^st century real-time organization is born. Together, they produce a dynamic that enables an organization to navigate through its environment and continuously adjust as situations change. What do you think? Is this a useful framework for discussing how Agile can expand into the wider business world? Does it give you ideas for how to incorporate cloud and social media and consumer IT into the new IT model?

[In my thinking about how an agile organization is structured, how it operates, and how it comes into being, I am much influenced by two books. One is written by Kevin Kelly, Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems and the Economic World. The other is written by Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization.]

“On Feb 12, 2011 at Snowbird, a few dozen experienced people from various backgrounds will meet join in dialog and celebration on the 10^th year anniversary of the writing of the manifesto. Our starter challenge is to address these three questions, which have deliberately been chosen to be broader than agile development:

1. What problems in software or product development have we solved (and therefore should not simply keep re-solving)?
2. What problems are fundamentally unsolvable (so therefore we should not keep trying to “solve” them)?
3. What problems can we sensibly address – problems that we can mitigate either with money, effort or innovation? (and therefore, these are the problems we should set our attention to, next.)

What is YOUR answer to those questions? Or, if you think those are the wrong questions for us to address, what questions do you suggest?”

(Hashtag #10yrsagile on Twitter)

Post a photograph of

• agile development in your shop,
• a gathering of people at an agile event

• a course,
• an activity,
• your office layout,
• an information radiator,

or whatever photo you feel contributes to the reflection and celebration.

Upload your photos to the Flickr group now!

Recent photos:

In the meantime, the following companies are already sponsoring the Feb 12 anniversary event. I thank them personally for helping this event to happen:

	Your logo here

The whole fuss started with the meeting in Feb, 2001 at Snowbird Ski Resort.

17 of us met to discuss whether there was a common, underlying basis for our work in the 1990s around what had been referred to as “light-weight processes.” None of us liked the term “light-weight”, feeling it was a reaction against something, instead of something to stand for.

The question we asked was, whether there was something really in common in our views, what it was we stood for – in common, despite our obvious differences – and whether we could capture that in a manifesto. The answers were all Yes, and the “what it was we stood for” got called the Manifesto for Agile Software Development.

If you go to http://AgileManifesto.org to read it it on the site, be sure to read not only the 4 value statements, but also the 12 principles. Take a look, also, at how many people have bothered to sign it, and see whether you might care to sign it, also.

For your convenience, I include the 4 values and 12 principles immediately here below: 

“We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it.
Through this work we have come to value:

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
• Working software over comprehensive documentation
• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
• Responding to change over following a plan

That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.”

© 2001, the above authors
this declaration may be freely copied in any form, but only in its entirety through this notice.

Twelve Principles of Agile Software

We follow these principles:

• Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
• Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage.
• Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.
• Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
• Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.
• The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.
• Working software is the primary measure of progress.
• Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
• Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
• Simplicity–the art of maximizing the amount of work not done–is essential.
• The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
• At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.

Become a Signatory
View Signatories

About the Authors
About the Manifesto
Help us translate the Manifesto

عربي
Беларуская
Български
Català
Deutsch
English
Español
Français
עברית
Italiano
日本語
Nederlands
Norsk
Polski
فارسی
Português Brasileiro
Português Portugal
Srpski
Svenska
繁體中文

site design and artwork © 2001, Ward Cunningham

You have helped build the agile community. Here is your opportunity to join in the celebration and dialog.

I have invited a set of experienced people from variousbackgrounds to join in celebration and dialog on the 10th year anniversary same day, same location. Our challenge are these 3 questions, (deliberately broader than mere agile development):

1. What problems in software or product development have we solved (and therefore should not simply keep re-solving)?
2. What problems are fundamentally unsolvable (so therefore we should not keep trying to “solve” them)?
3. What problems can we sensibly address – problems that we can mitigate either with money or with effort or innovation? (and therefore, these are the problems we should set our attention to, next.)

I would like to ask you, the viewer, to contribute in any of three ways:

• Join the dialog and write in your answer to any of the questions we will be considering; or if you think there is a better question wanting to be asked, write in what you think that question is.
• Post a photograph of agile development in your shop or of a gathering of people at an agile event, or whatever photo you feel contributes to the reflection and celebration.
• If you wish to help sponsor this meeting and dialog at Snowbird, write your idea below or email me at TotherAlistair@aol.com with your idea, and we’ll see how to recognize you for that.

Watch this space to see what develops.

Thanks and best wishes,
Alistair Cockburn