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The thing I hate most about myself is that I don’t want to change
The first XP book was very important for me. It changed the way I work. It changed my life.
I still apply the practices to improve the way I work. The principles have helped me to make my work more fun, sustainable and successful. The values have helped me to do worthwhile work that delivers value.
But “Embrace Change“? I don’t like change.
How to avoid change
I avoid change on my projects by
- Really understanding the needs of customers, stakeholders and users. Those needs change from time to time, but not very frequently if we really get to the core of what these people value. I get accused of doing Big Upfront Design or Analysis, even in companies seemingly doing Waterfall. Why waste so much time upfront, can’t we start building yet? Customers don’t know what they want anyway, so why try to discover what they need?
- Not committing to decisions too soon, applying Real Options. If we commit later by delaying decisions to the last responsible moment and gather more information, we need to come back on fewer of our decisions. I do get called a procrastinator. Real leaders take charge, take decisions!
- By not being distracted by useless technology churn. Simple, reliable and known tools and technology in our toolkit let us concentrate on adding value. I do get called a dinosaur, not up to date with the latest framework or fad du jour. Real geeks only work with the latest 0.1 version of technologies that are so complex that we can spend months unraveling their intricacies (and bugs). I need a well-padded resume with all the latest technologies to get that next job when the shit hits the fan on this job.
- By making sure we consider supporting processes and users in our value analysis. All too often we focus on the shiny business value generating processes but forget that these can’t work unless people can perform the unglamorous supporting jobs that make these value streams possible. I do get called a Waterfall analyst, who wants to explore every nook and cranny of the system before we can start building. Real Agile teams deliver Business Value, cash quickly. Why waste time with non-business value-adding processes like getting the product into the hands of the user or managing the system to keep it relevant?
- By making a plan (not a schedule) of the goals we want to achieve in the future so that we have a guiding vision when we travel the path. I do get called an old-school project manager who wants to control and stifle the creativity of his “resources”. You can’t be agile if you have a plan.
Projects with fewer changes are a lot easier and less stressful than those with many changes. These projects implement Heijunka. They deliver value surely and steadily. I like that.
Embrace risk reduction and new information
I welcome any change which reduces risk. We continuously identify our main risks and find ways to avoid them. For example, we discover that there’s simple alternative way of doing something. We can use that as our backup strategy if the planned way of doing the work doesn’t get ready in time. For example, we first implement a very basic implementation of a business process and iteratively refine it, so that we’ll always be ready to release by the deadline. Of course, we have to use that extra time that Real Options gives us to actively seek out information and reduce risk.
Embrace increased flow
I welcome any change which can increase flow, get us to release faster and get the cash flowing sooner. For example, we can start by statisfying a subset of stakeholders and users. We can focus on on value stream at a time. We can mercilessly pare down what is really needed to achieve goals. We can get rid of wasteful checks, approvals and delays. We increase quality to decrease changes due to rework.
Embrace value increase
I welcome a change that increases value. For example, “Exchange Requests” let the customer increase the value of our work. If the customer wants to add a feature to a release, they first have to remove an equivalent amount of work from the release. The customer will only perform the swap if the new feature has more value than the one swapped out. So, for equal (or lower) cost, we deliver a product with higher than initially expected value.
Embrace cost and investment reduction
I welcome a change that reduces cost or investment. I welcome a new, simpler way of achieving a goal. I welcome reducing scope as we discover that we can simplify business processes. I welcome a reduction in “dimension” as we discover that we can satisfy user needs (for now) with less exhaustive or refined implementations. I welcome a way to reduce the amount of work in process.
I’ll get me coat then…
Can I be Agile if I don’t Embrace Change? Can I be Agile if I value people and their interactions AND processes? Can I be Agile if I insist on customer collaboration AND a contract? Can I be Agile if I only want to respond to beneficial change AND follow a plan? Can I be Agile if working software is not the solution or only a small part of the solution? Can I have my cake AND eat it too?
Where do I go to hand in my Agile badge?
If anybody needs a Waterfall coach, let me know. I can change. I’m agile 
How do you see the future?
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How would you like to see the future? You can choose.
Freedom Evolves
Do you want to play?
Portia, Vera and I have published a new version of the Agile Coach website. There you’ll find coaching tools we use like games, tutorials and presentations. Topics range from introductions to Agile (the XP Game, the Business Value Game, XP Loops, First Five Steps to Become Really Agile), Theory of Constraints, Real Options, Toyota Way, Interviewing techniques to Agile Fairytales.
 More materials and translations will be added. All of these games are licensed “Creative Commons“, so that you can use and reuse them. If you want to help translate or improve the games, let us know.
We run retrospectives after each session so that we can improve. You can read the results of the retrospectives on the Past Events page. This transparency allows you to verify if we really take the feedback into account.
Come and play at XP Days
If you want to play the “Business Value Game” or “Mirror, Mirror on the Wall… Why Me?” come and see us at the Mini XP Day Benelux in Mechelen, Belgium (May 11th) or XP Days France in Paris, France (May 25-26th). Or invite us to come and play in your company or usergroup. Or better yet, download the games and play them yourself.
 
Real Options?
This Friday, Portia and I will present the “Real Options Space Game” at XP Days London. This strategy board game set in space allows players to experiment with Real Options concepts.
Real Options is a tool to optimize decisions: it helps us to consider and manage more possibilities and gives us more time to gather information, so that our decisions are better informed. The basic ideas are taken from financial options, but have been widened to be applicable to real-world management decisions.
There are several types of Real Options. Let’s see if the option metaphor is a useful one. How can we apply Real Options in the real world?
The option to delay a project
In this paper, Aswath Damodaran compares a Net Present Value (NPV) analysis with a Real Options analysis to decide which projects to fund when. Projects with a negative NPV now, might still become valuable later. That’s because the Real Options analysis takes into account the value of getting more information and therefore reducing risk and uncertainty.
We always have the Learning Option. We can always gather more information.
In the article, the delay is examined in a situation where the organisation has (or can buy) a way to get a hold on the market, like with a patent. We can create an option to delay a project even in a competitive market: if we have a shorter cycle time than our competitors we can afford to wait longer to start our projects. This gives us more time to gather market information. In a very volatile market, it can be more valuable to wait, to increase the odds of building the right product at the right time.
For example, if Toyota’s new product development time is 6 months shorter than a competitor, Toyota can afford to start development 6 months later. That’s 6 months in which to gather more information, six months in which they could see major swings in customer demand or in the market. That’s six months in which people can work on other projects.
So, if you decrease your cycle time you create options to
- Increase your cash flow
- Be first on the market
- Delay the project, take the go/no go decision later, when we have more information
By using Lean and Agile methods to decrease cycle time, we create real options. Starting later may be the right thing to do.
There are more fun real options, like the option to abandon a project. What could be the value of abandoning a project?
Real Options Space Game
Do you want to prevent galactic war? Do you have experience flying spaceships in dangerous corners of the universe? Not afraid of space pirates and angry aliens? Then sign up for the Real Options Space Game at XP Days London. The pay isn’t great, but the benefits more than make up for that.
The Real Options Space Game is a board game for 6-13 players that lets you play with Real Options concepts. Portia and I will be running two games in parallel (in parallel universes?), so that we can compare many different strategies, a sort of set-based design.
In the game, pairs play the crew of a spaceship who must transport a precious cargo from one end of the galaxy to another. On the way, the crew has to deal with risks such as attacks by space pirates, strikes by disgruntled transport workers, disputes between different alien races, technology breakdowns and more bizarre plot twists. And they have to do it with limited resources and time. Sound familiar?
What are Real Options?
Real Options is a decision-making tool that, like so many of these tools, looks deceptively simple. It’s just common sense, most people respond when we first explain the concepts. But we quickly see that these simple concepts aren’t applied. We can explain Real Options until we’re blue in the face without any effect. You have to experience how to apply the tool under (simulated) pressure to realize if and how Real Options are useful.
Real Options consists of two components:
- The concept of options. Each option has
- A value
- A buying and exercising cost
- An expiry condition which determines when the option becomes useless
- A process to deal with options:
- A way to determine the last moment when we have to take a decision and commit ourselves
- Keeping as many options open as long as possible
- Actively seeking out more information and more options in the time before we have to commit
Unlike with financial options, we often don’t have exact numbers for cost and value. Most of the time we don’t need the numbers, we only need to know which of two options has a higher value or lower cost.
And what does that have to do with XP and Agile?
You can apply Real Options in just about any situation where you’re faced with difficult decisions. Once you know the concepts, you see options everywhere.
Real Options underlie some of the tricky Agile and Lean practices. By working with short releases and user stories that are elaborated during a release, we push back the moment of difficult decisions, so that we have more time to gather information. By using good engineering practices (TDD, refactoring, continuous integration…) we lower the cost of changes and decisions, again pushing back the moment of decision. Meanwhile, we have more options open for the direction of the application. Set-based design is an economical way of exploring may design options
It all sounds very reasonable to me, but much of the resistance against Agile is about the ideal moment of decision. Most of us feel more comfortable when we’ve made a decision. Having lots of open options may seem like procrastination or even indecisiveness. We feel the need to make that decision NOW, especially when we’re under pressure. Keeping our heads cool and applying the Real Options tool can help us make better informed decisions.
Once we practice Real Options in real life, we start asking “when do we have to decide?” and we look for more options. Try it, practice it, so that you can take better decisions under pressure.
See you at XP Days London, 11-12 December 2008.
Pictures by Pentadact (spaceship), Jason Pratt (sunrise) and Nasa/JPL (planet). Used with permission
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