Put the 'Changes Welcome' mat out

Do you put the welcome mat out during change or are you running off down a path with the gate locked behind you?

Welcome changes from customers, clients, end users, no matter what stage of the process of design, development, delivery or sale of your thing, product, change, transformation or service.

Welcoming changes is a philosophy of the software development field of agile. They welcome changes because they are on a path of iterating and editing and reviewing and releasing changed and improved versions of the software, website, app or technology. Even if it's later in the process, changes, comments, and responses are welcome. That means what they’re creating will be more useful, more suitable.

This is about acceptance, flexibility, adaptability. It's this input that keeps people engaged in what you're doing and makes what you're doing more tailored to the people who are using it.

When changes come to you today, tomorrow, next week, take a note of how you respond - if you're welcoming or you're locking yourself away from them.

Fixed or Agile - Which one are you?

You were born with an agile mindset – a way of thinking that says ‘I can grow and learn and be challenged. I can improve.’ Think crawling, walking, talking, reading, riding a bike. So much to be challenged by. 

But somewhere along the way, you might get derailed and think that you either ‘have it’ in this life or you don’t. (But that my friend is a ‘fixed mindset’.)

Linda Rising presented at the Agile Singapore conference recently and (my visual notes of her keynote above) remind me how her messages about the Agile Mindset were inspiring, relevant and … a tap or slap on the shoulder. There are some vital characteristics that are required to make work work in today's competitive environment. 

She asks: 'who told you what you can and can’t do'… and warns us to ‘watch out what you’re thinking’.

An agile mindset is one that is looking for opportunities to grow, learn, experiment and improve. Failure simply gives us some information.

Our mindset need not be fixed; this agility is ideal for the volatile world we live in today. 

Our teams, customers, clients and organisations need us to be agile, flexible, adaptive, responsive. It’s through challenge that you grow.

Look at where you might be fixed in your thinking. How might an agile mindset see it differently? What could you experiment with, test out or be challenged by?

Go…. flex, bend, shift and grow. Keep challenging your own view of things. 

Don't fight stupid - make more awesome

Ask any of the talented improvisers at Impro Melbourne and they'll tell you that 'yes' is an almost magic word. When they're on stage, making things up, for the entertainment of an audience, they live for hearing a 'yes' from their fellow performers.

'Yes...' allows them to build on, add to and develop a story line, an idea, a thought.

Whereas a 'no' hits them like a bat over the head! Thud! Momentum stopped.

It's harder to be creative, innovative or do your best work if you keep bumping into 'no'.

At the Agile India conference I attended and presented at this past week, keynote speaker Martin Fowler mentioned in his presentation on 'Software Design in the 21st Century' the sweet phrase of 'don't fight stupid; make more awesome'.

Looking into the phrase more, I found that Jesse Robbins, from the same sort of technology field said this and uses it as somewhat of a philosophy. 

Jesse said:
“If you keep bumping into ‘no,’ and the organization makes it hard to get to ‘yes,’ you are going to have a long, slow, painful death. Get out of there!

“Every time I tried to win over stupid, I regretted it. On the other hand, every time I’ve gotten people to swing around and build a movement, I remember all those moments and felt good every day, no matter how hard I worked.”

If you're battling against some no's where you are at the moment:

• Yield.
• Shift.
• Pivot.

Head off over there, in that direction and make awesome things happen, using your expertise, your capabilities and your knowing that you are on to something brilliant. 

Yes. Go for it. Make more awesome. We're waiting for it. 

Reflect, Tune, Adjust - that's Agile

Several colleagues in my network are releasing manifestos - a declaration of their intentions or views or the philosophies behind their thinking and their business. 

Some of them are lists of statements, others are beautifully designed slides or photo images perfect for Pinterest!

My favourite manifesto is the Agile Manifesto and for those who work in the project or software development world, this may be well known to you. But for those who aren't living in project-land, Agile still has so much to offer.

Here's why...

• Reflect, tune and adjust
• Build projects around motivated individuals
• Changing requirements are welcome
• Early and continuous delivery...

These are the hallmarks of an innovative team, a capable leader and a collaborative group of folks who are open to what's going on. No matter what field you're in or what you're working on, whether it's your own business ideas, a new project or piece of work or a whole new career, adopting just some of the agile principles from the manifesto can give you a new take on some of your old, tired practices. 

The key points of the manifesto are visualised here. 

Look, think, let it marinate... how might you bring some of this agility to your current ways of working, thinking, collaborating and creating?

Make those comms cut through

It's summer time on the southern part of the globe here in Melbourne, Australia. Living by Port Phillip Bay and Station Pier we see the shiny white cruise ships coming and going. People heading off on the cruise of a lifetime.

I imagine there are blue and white striped deck chairs on the top deck, with passengers snoozing and dozing enjoying the sea breezes and blue skies.

Look around your office or workplace and you'll see team members on their 'desk chairs' enjoying the air conditioning, the internet, and if lucky, a view out a window. Hopefully they're not snoozing and dozing but they certainly aren't sitting there, highly alert, waiting on your message or communication. Sorry, you're not the captain saying 'abandon ship' nor the activities officer announcing Happy Hour has started!

When you launch a communication effort - for a project, a piece of work or a new service or idea - your audiences are ..... snoozing. They're 'latent' or dormant. And before they'll take in any of your communication, you'll need to wake them up so they're 'aware'. Once they're aware, you'll be able to guide them towards being 'active' and engaged.

1. Latent.
2. Aware.
3. Active.

It's a three step process and failing to take it into account is one of the 9 reasons why project communications don't cut through - my new project whitepaper on the just launched project engagepage of my website. 

With a new calendar year and many new plans and projects getting underway, think ahead and make sure you've got some phases of communication that wake up dozing team members, stakeholders, sponsors and target audiences.

That way they'll be all primed and ready to receive that stunning cocktail of communication you've been creating behind the bar!