Beach Hut - By Martin Harris
More and more I have been thinking about the effect of culture on Agile adoption. Then a friend tweeted this article on Agile Culture by Michael Sahota. Its a real eye opener and one key message is that it might be quicker to fit your process to the culture rather than the other way around.
There is some evidence to suggest that trying to introduce and Agile Development system into a culture that won’t naturally accept it is a recipe for failure.
For me its more complex that this. I am not 100% sure I am anywhere near a solution but these thoughts arise.
Evolution v Revolution and mandate
Without going into the detail which can be found on other posts the cultural fit is probably more important if you can’t change the culture. Most of the time we are somewhat restricted by our mandate. Its rare that someone senior wants this bad enough that they are prepared for the risk of revolutionary change.
If you were about to move in that direction, perhaps you can change the culture to fit. This path is also easier if your scope is small. i.e. if your dealing with a small group of people and not a multinational.
Otherwise perhaps initially selection of technique and Agile process should be culture driven.
The Kanban / Control argument
Its interesting to see Michael point out that Kanban is not Agile. At least by cultural definition. It occurred to me also that successful open source cultures might not be Agile either, they seem to fall into the “Craftsmanship” section.
Yet, were you to take a controlling culture and conduct Kanban with XP practices might it not over a long period of time begin to change. Perhaps towards craftsmanship as an appreciation of quality evolves?
So what now then Agile Coaches and CTO’s?
Well I for one have found the diagrams very useful. Just an awareness of this idea helps bring people to a higher view of what might be going on in their Agile Adoption process and that is no bad thing. Its too easy to get wrapped up in the daily Punch and Judy show forgetting about the bigger picture.
