You can love them, hate them or ignore them but you have got to appreciate their agility.I came across an article written by Katy Moeller who works for a local Idaho newspaper company. Having seen how Boise State do what they do I was not surprised at all by the quotes mentioned in her article by some of the members of the Boise State Football Team.
Here are a few quotes from the article that without any doubt sound agile. I have tried to put in my not so important 2 cents after each quote. Hope it is useful.
"Simplify. Focus. Be here now"
This is Chris Peterson's ( who is the Boise State Football Head Coach) fundamental principle. There is one key agile manifesto principle, "Simplicity- the art of maximizing the amount of work not done". It relates very clearly to "Simplify". "Be here now" really means, avoid planning too far ahead, focus on the job at hand, get it done, move on to the next task in priority, and keep going.
"Some of those who know Petersen best — former players — say it’s Petersen’s grasp of the big picture, as well as his OCD-like attention to details"
You might think this quote is a little contradictory to the first one but what it really means is get just enough of a holistic picture but know that which task you have to focus on at the present time. In Agile we do Release Planning which gives us enough detail on the big picture. Agile teams get into more detail when we do Sprint planning and while sprinting they focus on the current Sprint tasks and pay attention to detail. It is imperative to not get distracted by work that is laid out too far down the lane but it is always a good idea to take a quick peak at the big picture periodically.
"The thing I loved about Coach Pete was his Sunday meetings and everyday meetings said Vinny Perretta, the running back/wide receiver who threw a touchdown in overtime during the 2007 Fiesta Bowl"
Well Scrum meetings don't happen on Sundays but it seems like Coach Pete did have his own version of Daily scrums for a daily sync up.
”He didn’t want to be looked at as somebody you can’t talk to — if we had a problem, he wanted us to come to him, said Richie Brockel, a tight end from Phoenix whose role as a team captain in 2009 didn’t hinder him from earning a master’s degree in accounting"
One of the Agile principles is "The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation" An Agile team member does not need to talk to a secretary to contact a manager or client or stakeholder. The team is well empowered to just walk over to anyones desk for a face to face conversation. In an agile company issues are handled in a transparent fashion using face to face conversation.
"I’ve never been around a place that took so much input from players like it was at Boise,“ said Bush Hamdan, a former Bronco quarterback who is now an intern with the University of Maryland football program"
"Players have helped define some of Boise State’s defining moments. ”Statue Left,“ which famously won the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, featured a tricky hand-off designed by reserve quarterback Nick Lomax and a hurry-up pace suggested by Hamdan and fellow backup QB Taylor Tharp"
"Players have helped define some of Boise State’s defining moments. ”Statue Left,“ which famously won the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, featured a tricky hand-off designed by reserve quarterback Nick Lomax and a hurry-up pace suggested by Hamdan and fellow backup QB Taylor Tharp"
”He treats people the right way and empowers everybody in the program so they feel like their role is as important as anybody’s"
Good Agile companies believe strongly in the bottom up approach. Agile teams hear as much input from an intern as much as they hear from a Manager. The bottom line is that irrespective of hierarchical level in the company everyone on the Scrum team has the right to voice an opinion as long as they are Scrum pigs. Empowering teams and giving them the right tools and environment is key.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6Wfg0n2EE8
”It’s a good system. It holds you accountable to your teammates"
"A list in the locker room was posted so that players would know whether someone wasn’t pulling their weight in the classroom"
Apparently Coach Pete was pretty good about making sure the kids on the team were disciplined universally and attending their classes. There were consequences for missing their academic classes and they were held accountable not only by their coaches but by their team mates as well.
"Every day, they’re focused on their process,“ Hall said. ”It’s not once in a blue moon."
This quote is probably the most agile of all of the above. Agile teams plan every day, they inspect and adapt and respond to changes. It does not happen once it a blue moon. The daily standup is a good focus point, so is a Sprint Review, so is a Sprint Retrospective, and so is an ad hoc offline huddle happening after Scrum.
"He’s really big on learning from the process and analyzing things in the past and trying to improve on them, Brockel said"
Coach Pete recognizes the importance of a periodic Sprint Retrospective and that is agile.
"Organizational culture is so critical."
In order to be a successful agile team everyone on the team needs to fit into the organizational culture. Agile teams are collaborative, cohesive, pair up a lot, swarm a lot, huddle a lot, use a lot of common sense, hold each other accountable, and have fun while doing getting stuff done.
References: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/10/16/1381300/the-man-with-the-plan.html
