#a3thinking

So what’s the difference between an Agile Fundamentalist and a Terrorist? You can negotiate with a Terrorist!

Sometimes I get ever so frustrated by the ‘Agile wars’ with people so entrenched in their view of Agile; I often see it on Twitter, in forums and also the odd dig at conferences. I have said it before and I will say it again, there is no such thing as ‘one size fits all’ and why would there be?

What is more important is to understand the current problem the team or organisation is currently facing. Then, drawing upon all the tools we have available from all the Agile methods and other approaches:

Create a hypothesis of what particular tool will solve the problem in hand

Create a safe-to-fail experiment to test that hypothesis

Run the experiment and validate whether it solves the problem or not (validated learning)

Keep the change if it is successful or try something else if it fails

Simples!

“This town ain’t big enough for all of us”. Actually it is and taking a blend of approaches and ideas and applying them appropriately to the context makes infinite sense. ”You mean use things from more than one method?” I hear you cry. Yes!

Am I passionate about Agile – you bet. But I am absolutely method neutral!

At the end of the day (did I really say, at the end of the day?) what is Agile trying to achieve? Well, working closely with customers throughout, ensuring that the final solution actually meets the customer’s needs, deferring decisions about detail as late as possible.

If there was a ‘silver bullet’ Agile method, wouldn’t every team adopt that and be successful? Of course the world just ain’t like that and that’s why we need to consider other ways to ‘skin that cat’.

So, I’ve been thinking! And indeed so have many other people! Below are three methods of applying thought to identifying and correcting problems in teams and organisations, all using the term “thinking” in their titles.

Systems Thinking

Systems Thinking is the process of understanding how things, regarded as systems, influence one another within a whole.

Systems Thinking has been defined as an approach to problem solving, by viewing "problems" as parts of an overall system, rather than reacting to specific parts, outcomes or events and potentially contributing to further development of unintended consequences. Systems Thinking is not one thing but a set of habits or practices within a framework that is based on the belief that the component parts of a system can best be understood in the context of relationships with each other and with other systems, rather than in isolation. 1

The key element is to study your organisation as a ‘system’ and on the basis of the knowledge gained, re-design the system to improve performance. The real art is how you analyse the work, then how the design improves the performance and critically how to make the change. Argh, that change bit again!!

A3 Thinking

Is A3 Thinking a way to help you think or a report that helps you think in a A3 way? The A3 report is simply an 11” x 17” (I am old enough to still crave for imperial measurements) piece of paper divided up into several structured sections (what a Canvas – yep!).

The exact structure depends upon the type of A3 and the needs of the situation. A general one consists of the following pattern; however, there are many variations on a theme:

Background

Current Situation and Problem

Goal

Root Cause Analysis (the fishbone works well here!)

Actions Items

Check of Results

Follow-up

It is the act of committing to an A3 that forces you to think in A3! But it is a great way to visualise on just one page.

6-Hats Thinking

To help process the information and clarify perspectives, de Bono created an isolation strategy called the ‘Six Thinking Hats’. Each hat represents a thinking perspective; each perspective being represented by a different coloured hat. The objective? By isolating different perspectives and focusing upon discrete sections of the problem the individual or the group will be able to make holistic and multi-perspective analysis.

Six distinct perspectives are identified and assigned a color.

Information: (White) – What information do I have? What are the facts?

Thinking about thinking (Blue) – What thinking is needed? Where are we now?

Feelings (Red) – How do I feel about this? What do I like about the idea?

Judgment (Black) – What is wrong with this? Will it work

Benefits (Yellow) – What are the good points? Why can this be done?

Creativity (Green) – What new ideas are possible? What is my suggestion?

Coloured hats are used as metaphors for each direction. Switching to a direction is symbolised by the act of putting on a coloured hat, either literally or metaphorically. These metaphors allow for a more complete and elaborate segregation of the thinking directions.

In Conclusion

So what’s the morale of the blog? Life is a box of chocolates – you never know what you’re gonna to get. There are always different flavours.

Darren Wilmshurst

Head of Radtac:consulting

References