A collective requires more than a set of universally useful principles (focus on user needs, remove bias and duplication etc) in order for people to belong to it. This requires a set of values (beliefs that are shared) ... values and principles are not the same ...
... the culture of a collective is described in its values, its enablement systems, the principles it adopts and its memory. It requires all of it ...
... terms like a "web 2.0 culture" or a "cloud culture" or "agile culture" or ... any collection of universal useful principles under a "meme" plus the word "culture" are meaningless.
A more meaningful term would be a "learning culture" i.e. we believe in learning in which case adopting of principles from cloud, web 2.0, agile, devops etc etc makes more sense.
X : What about practices?
Me : Practices are just how we do stuff. Some of those become principles either because they are universally useful (i.e. focus on user needs) or because we believe they are useful due to some connection to a value we hold or once held (e.g. rituals).
Me : Practices are just how we do stuff. Some of those become principles either because they are universally useful (i.e. focus on user needs) or because we believe they are useful due to some connection to a value we hold or once held (e.g. rituals).
X : So, what about agile practices surely that requires an agile culture?
Me : Agile is a set of practice, some of which are universally useful principles, some of which are context specific i.e. agile practices aren't suited to everything ditto lean ditto six sigma ...
Me : Agile is a set of practice, some of which are universally useful principles, some of which are context specific i.e. agile practices aren't suited to everything ditto lean ditto six sigma ...
... to invoke a culture is to invoke a belief in Agile i.e. a value that agile and these set of practices is always the right answer. That's a cult. It's not the principles of Agile that creates the cult, it's the value (i.e. belief) that Agile is the answer which does.
I often face this problem ... the tyranny of agile or the tyranny of outsourcing etc. The problem is never the principles or practices in Agile or Outsourcing but the belief in one size fits all. That last part is a value and a very destructive one.
X : You don't believe in iterative methods?
Me : It's not a question of belief, iterative techniques are powerful ways of exploring and refining an unknown space. Ask my grandfather's long passed family, the Nazis were very iterative in their creation of mass murder.
Me : It's not a question of belief, iterative techniques are powerful ways of exploring and refining an unknown space. Ask my grandfather's long passed family, the Nazis were very iterative in their creation of mass murder.
X : I don't see your point?
Me : Universally useful principles or even context specific patterns can be used by any collective to improve its "performance" regardless of its culture and hence its values. Unfortunately, even the most vile organisations can learn to be effective.
Me : Universally useful principles or even context specific patterns can be used by any collective to improve its "performance" regardless of its culture and hence its values. Unfortunately, even the most vile organisations can learn to be effective.
... in short, a culture can decide to adopt some set of principles and by doing so that may have some effect on its culture but there is no "agile culture".
