Agile, Agility and Business Agility

Agile, it’s 'a vast global movement transforming the world of work. And spreading rapidly. So said Steve Denning in Forbes, 'Explaining Agile' article.

While agile was born in software development, other industries, projects and teams the world over are seeing the productivity, customer value and engagement benefits to having an agile mindset.

After years working with a number of agile teams, I wrote 'Agile-ish: How to create a culture of agility' in 2017.

If you’re embarking on an agile journey, you need to start with yourself, your mindset and how you think. As with all journeys, a change to agile and newer ways of working takes time, and might not go as perfectly as you imagine it will. So how you respond to that is what also makes for an agile mindset!

My book 'Agile-ish' acknowledges that:

🌕 experimentation and imperfection are incredible learning experiences;

🌕 getting into action and momentum outweighs time spent over-planning; and

🌕 delivering value to customers sooner is what's making many of today's businesses more successful.

I recently shared these ideas keynote speaking at CPA Congress across Australia. Yes finance/accounting folks are getting agile too!

Q:How about you? 

Visual Mojo : How to capture thinking, convey information and collaborate using visuals

The world has experienced a 'visual revolution' over the past decade.

We see more hand-drawn fonts in the font list on our computers, more hand-crafted signage in stores and more hand-created imagery in the media.

It's no surprise then that hand-drawn visuals are more engaging as they ignite the mirror neurons in our brains, firing up our interest and attention. If you worry you can't draw, I assure you it's less about the drawing and more about working out what you're trying to communicate.

We all need greater clarity among the crazy.

I wrote 'Visual Mojo: How to capture thinking, convey information and collaborate using visuals' in 2013 and it's even more relevant today. 'Visual Mojo' is a workshop in a book with space to draw and write in the book. I know we were 'in trouble' if we wrote in books when we were younger, but I want you to break some rules!

'Visual Mojo' will build your visual skills, your confidence, creativity ... and most of all the impact your communication has.

Q: Do you ever use hand-drawn visuals in your work?

Worrying if you're doing it 'right'

Worrying if you're doing it 'right'. When we write something, share, do, show, try something new, we can be worried about whether we’re doing it ... ‘right’.

What is ‘right’ anyway? Is it about meeting a standard or expectation ... our standard or expectation? Or is it about meeting the standards and expectations of others?

It’s surely a conditioning from our upbringing or our school years where the reward and validation was for correct and right.

Our fear of getting it wrong can be powerful indeed: not wanting to look foolish, not wanting to be seen as unprofessional or not wanting our reputation to take a hit.

Rather, today, we can be encouraged and rewarded more by our effort, by trying and by getting out of inertia - that state of doing nothing or perhaps, nothing new.

If we stay safe and only do the things we do well - our party tricks - we don’t learn. And most of all we don’t adapt so we stay relevant, employable, progressing, doing meaningful things. Worry less about 'right' and focus more on getting going and improving or iterating over time.

Is there something you're worrying about doing 'right' at the moment? 

Everything doesn't have to be amazing!

Everything doesn’t have to be a-m-a-z-i-n-g. Writing a blog, preparing a report, delivering a presentation? Tidying the cupboard, cleaning your desk, working out what to wear today? Watch out folks! We pile an incredible pressure on ourselves in today’s crazy world, trying to make the quality of what we do amazing.

But do you know what? Everything doesn’t have to be amazing.

Some things yes, but everything, nope. So cut it out. Cut out the stuff that you’re putting extra effort into trying to make it ‘amazing’ because you could be on a path to never-never land that doesn’t deliver an amazing feeling or the hoped-for amazing results.

Rather, set a standard that you’re going for and then when you’ve reached it, you’re done.

Oh, and save your amazings for weddings, birthdays, celebrations, holidays, experiences, special things, time with people … whatever the things are that are really, truly important to you in this life of yours.

>>Are you trying to make something a little too amazing right now... when 'good enough' would be good enough?

Follow the law of forced efficiency

The incredibly successful Brian Tracy, who authored plenty of books and inspired many to greater things in their life, certainly inspired me in the earlier days of running my business.

I spied one of his books on the shelf of a local bookstore, I jumped at it and thought, ‘this will do; I won't have to read 100 books, I'll just read this one. It will be good enough.’ The book? ‘The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success.’ And the Law I love love love? It's # 15: The Law of Forced Efficiency.

It reads ‘The more things you have to do in a limited period of time, the more you will be forced to work on your most important tasks.’ It's just another way of saying ‘there is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important things.

As you take on more, you'll be forced to act with ‘maximum efficiency’. He continues: ‘If you are successful, you will almost always have too much to do and too little time.’ So ask: what is the most valuable use of my time right now?

And for you? What is the most valuable use of your time right now? I'd love to hear your thoughts.