I came across this post and conversation on LinkedIn, sparked by Eric Willeke, and thought I’d share some of it. I’ve been reflecting on it for a while and imagine it might have the same effect on many of you…
I've had a fun day of noticing my enduring beliefs and observing which ones have gone by the wayside. I read through an archive file of dozens of blog posts from my old personal consulting site and from Elevate. (Side note: the enduring ones will start showing up behind the blog link at Shaping Agility)
It’s interesting seeing how many still completely align with my thinking and attitude towards life, agility, and creating successful organizations, despite being over 10 years old. I’ll completely stand behind them today. Views on values, navigating constraints, putting people first. Many of these are rooted in my values, ethics, and identity, and will likely never shift other than in nuance and the language landscape around them.
And then, there’s the others...
The ones that make me ask “What the heck was I even thinking?” Examples:
My highest scoring answer in the project management Stack Exchange is on effective use of story points (2011, 170 upvotes. Well-written, but not needed).
Why did I care so much about patterns for teams making sprint commitments? (c2015, updated 2020. Balanced and not wrong but solving the wrong problem from a process-centric view.
Why was I still wading into pointless estimation wars in 2021? (#NoExcuses, even if I like what I said)
When I look at these, the words still make sense. The ideas are still coherent and fit within an overall philosophy about agility. I’m not embarrassed by them. However, for most of them the world has moved on. Their time has passed. They represent practices and patterns that I may have applied in businesses 10 or 15 years ago, but don't necessarily fit for modern technology or organizational ecosystems. Maybe they didn't survive the shift to remote-first working, or they represent a time when software deployments took days rather than seconds.
When you look at your older work, what do you celebrate? What do you wonder about? More importantly, what are the biggest areas you see in your own growth?
Then, a bit of a conversation between Luke Hohmann, John Cutler, and Eric—
Luke
I celebrate and stand by my books. Some of the examples are a bit dated. The principles and practices are timeless.
My two most enduring and best written books are ‘Innovation Games’ and ‘Software Profit Streams’.
‘Journey of the Software Professional’ is just an enduring. Alas, not as well written. One day… update and republish…John
Luke Hohmann I've often struggled balancing principles that, by their nature, will always be timeless, with reflecting the current distribution of *how* companies achieve those principles. If a team can achieve X using an order of magnitude less process/overhead (compared to a decade ago) I think that is worth mentioning.
Anyway. Just thinking out loud. Should we endeavor for enduring, or when we endeavor for enduring to we risk not being current? Something I've struggled with.Luke
John Cutler I don't think an enduring principle and how we presently work to best honor / implement / leverage that principles are antagonistic concepts.
If a team can achieve an objective X using an order of magnitude less process/overhead compared to any past reference point (time or technology or ...) then we should not only mention this - we should celebrate this.
My strategy is to base my work on the deeper principles I can find and then showcase current applications as best I can. I accept that the applications will likely become dated.
One of my favorite examples is 'The Mythical Man-Month' by Brooks. It is replete with both timeless principles (such as smaller, cross-functional teams will outperform large organizations; and yet, many large / complex problems want to solve are beyond the scope of a single team) AND many dated examples of resolving / achieving these principles.
I can't really imagine better ways of doing this, though some might say that focusing solely on principles or solely on applications is preferred (not for me).John
Luke Hohmann I really appreciate this breakdown. Resonates with me.
I think challenging oneself to show the principles in action and communicating that is key, as it lets people assess the principle and the current state-of-practice.
At least in product, one thing that gets in the way of this (I believe) is when either 1) the principles are so high level, that they don't pass the "is the opposite crazy" test, and 2) people don't present diverse examples of the principles in action.Eric
John Cutler I like the challenge of providing both views. It's served me well in exec coaching, and I like the idea of bringing it into my writing
Wrapping Up
That’s it. No commentary, snarky reactions, or witty repartee.
Just food for thought…
Stay agile, my friends,
Bob.
I’m a proud but humble member of The Agile Network. It’s a group of seriously experienced agilists who have banded together to improve your learning and experiential journey. Here’s a 33% off code (GALENPMC33) for all their memberships.
Where have you changed your mind on things, Bob? Are there past musings you'd amend?