“In theory, there is no difference between practice and theory. In practice, there is.”*
View human nature against the backdrop of Nature’s cruel indifference and the world can appear rather bleak if the filters you have in place are those of academia, idealistic naiveté, or “textbook perfection.” If the filters are discovery, exploration, and challenge than what appears is a rich and vibrant environment that will keep you engaged and curious for as long as you care to participate. Life rarely goes how we expect or plan. It’s a vast world filled with possibility and potential and driven by complexity, chaos, and surprise. Best we figure out how to skillfully move about in it.
The Agile Fieldbook is aimed at accomplishing just that in a very particular part of life: Finding ways to organize people using the principles and practices of the Agile mindset in such a way that they accomplish much greater things then they can possibly accomplish on their own.
To this end, the following beliefs and values are in place:
- The Agile mindset is a way of thinking about problems and solutions that leaves behind it a trail of techniques, frameworks, and tools.
- There is no one good process technique, framework, or tool that can be applied to multiple situations. Context drives the optimal selection of these implementation elements. To turn this around risks solving the wrong problem or selecting an inferior, even harmful, solution.
- Iterations founded on solid experimental principles and robust feedback loops are the key to success. (Consequently, it is expected the Agile Fieldbook and the beliefs and values that support it will change over time.)
To learn more about the energy behind this effort, go here.
* This quote is frequently mis-attributed to Yogi Berra.