The Visual Agile Manifesto - refreshed

A few years ago I created a visual representation of the written Agile Manifesto.

It seemed to resonate with people; it got printed out, pinned up on walls and was shared and talked about in workplaces all over the world.

I've updated the visual - with the same elements - but looking a little more refreshed.

Here it is...

Making sense of WTF is going on

It can be entertaining to see how we predict the future. From characters like The Robot on Lost in Space, to any Star Trek episode, we are always imagining into the future and picturing what our world will be like.

Reading Alvin Toffler’s Future Shock or the classic from George Orwell 1984, watching science fiction and thinking of future technology… we’re predicting what it might be like up there, in the future.

Equally entertaining is when we then look back and see where we’ve come from; there may have been plug and cord switchboards for telephones or we hear the old dial up noises that connected us to the earliest versions of the Internet. Or when we see an older film – from the 1940s or 50s or from the 1990s or early 2000s - and see the technology we used to use: big boxy mobile phones with external antennas and battery packs the size of suitcases?

What were we thinking!? 

Today we continue to use all that we know and all that we can get our hands and minds on to predict and plan for the future.

How do we make sense of the now to plan for the future?

We are humans and we use sense making.

We make our best guess.

Our discussions, thinking and mapping help us predict and scope, ponder and plan.

And then we look back on it … and sense is made… and often it’s not quite as we thought is might be. We might smile or shake our heads and laugh at what we were thinking then.

But it’s what we knew at the time. We made sense of what we knew at the time.

We proposed scenarios, situations, possibilities and options. We were creative and thought provoking and making our best guess of what the future would be like or what we could do based on what know now.

In the world of work today, for the future of work, we have to keep doing our best to make sense.

 The Institute for the Future reckons Sensemaking is the #1 skill and capability for the future, for 2020 and beyond.

We can make sense alone... or together. So when you're alone, how do you deliberately make sense of something?

When you're at a conference or meeting or event and so much data and information is pummelling you, how do you deliberately sensemake?

Then when you're in a team, group or business unit and you're working together on things, how do you all make sense of what's going on... and do it - kind of deliberately?

How do you make sense?

I think you need a tool... no, a handbook of tools. There isn't just one way to make sense. There are many ways.

"Making Sense: A Handbook for the Future of Work" is just that... a handbook.

This is not a book about the future of work; it’s a book that will help you handlethe future of work… whatever it is, whatever happens, however it impacts you.

Making Sense is full of approaches, questions, techniques, tools and models to help you as you respond to what the future has in store - for you, your team, your organisation, industry, country… your world.

It is a tool and a handbook that will help you put your sense making to work. You see, this sense making topic has got some balls, and that's where it can get tricky. It's a capability needed in workplaces and communities today and the irony is that it can be difficult to make sense of making sense. 

There’s such a depth of information on the topic of sensemaking; journals, well-researched articles and peer reviewed detailed pieces that go deep, deep, deep on sensemaking. But I don’t think they help us make sense of making sense. Time is of the essence. How do we make sense swiftly? How do we get smart… quick?

Making Sense is my thinking and experience on how I've worked with people, to help them work together to think, map and act… to make sense of whatever is going on in their industry, their organisation, their team - or for themselves.

It’s a book that is about making sense. And no matter what the future holds, no matter what technology comes or what changes are made to the world we live in, we will always be striving to make sense of what’s going on.

We are humans and we use sense making.

Can. Not. Deal. How to Handle the Cognitive Clutter

Cognitive clutter: it’s not about messy desks and over flowing 'to do' lists. 

It’s the cognitive load your mind is under when you’re trying to take in, digest, synthesise and make sense of what you’re hearing, seeing and working with. Too much! Can. Not. Deal. 

 

No wonder we dash off to a technology mental paradise, where we can imagine we’re sipping cocktails poolside or hiking across mountain ranges if the information is all too much. 

This is a big reason why it's challenging to engage with people or to fully get their attention - and keep it - in workplace conversations, workshops, meetings and interactions. It's cognitive clutter's fault!

So here's a cognitive broom! It's a template for clarity. 

 
It's a cognitive broom! A template for cognitive clarity. 

We've often got too much to think about, remember or process. It's as if you don't have the bandwidth to take anything else on; like someone is using your mind to download a box set on Netflix!

Then when we’re presented with even more information, it just doesn’t get through. Or wait, yes, some info does get through; some familiar pieces make it through thanks to our well-wired confirmation biases. 

 

When you feel hammered with content and Can. Not. Deal. … here are three things to do to sort, make sense and synthesise so you can tidy up the cognitive clutter. 

 

I'll often use the visual model above, with teams who have a lot on their plate or struggle to find their way through a topic, piece of work or discussion, to make sense: 

 

1. Get context quick!

Context gives your eyes, mind and brainpower something to filter to. Rather than trying to take in everything, context will help your mind call out and grab various pieces of highly relevant information. The information will latch on and magically file itself.

>> I like to write a phrase, topic or point in the template space, the blue speech bubble at the top. What's this thing all about? 

 

2. Get something down - anything! 
Of all the stuff you’re thinking and talking about, get some of it down on paper. Something. Anything. We are way too verbal in the workplace, expecting people to remember what's spoken. No wonder people scribble madly on spiral notebooks trying to capture the essence.

>> In the template, capture a couple of chunks o’content. You’ll be able to handle some more real soon. 

 

3. Close the loop on what is done or good or decided. 

In an effort to do, we often don’t stop adding to the list so we keep raising new topics. Get something done and ticked off. Stop starting, start finishing. Once it's done it gets shifted to another part of our memory. There's an 'Aaaaahhhhh' feeling, like when you sit in a chair at the end of a long day. Feel it.... aaaaah! 

>> Write a few dot points in the circle to show what's good and done. 

 

4. Some more randoms...
Capture a few more random thoughts. This keeps freeing up and tidying up the clutter. You don’t need to know where they go right now, simply get more stuff down. Maybe it connects to what else you’ve got there, or it may well be different. 

 

You’ll feel and see the bandwidth freeing up; people in your group or team will see some connections, they'll be making sense and connecting the dots. More clarity will magically come.  

 

They’ll see what you mean. They'll know what it is ...because they've seen it.

And best of all, you’ll be helping others tidy up their cognitive clutter too. Now that is some nice and tidy work. Good job!

How to deal with all that complexity and uncertainty

With the world all VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) things can get pretty scary for our teams, clients, competitors, customers… and ourselves.
 
Perception is...
I heard a comedian say ‘perception is nine tenths of the law’; a take on the adage that possession was nine tenths of the law.

But that's how we make our representation of the world... our perceptions. We need a map, a visual sense or a way of connecting some dots to understand what's happening. It gives us something to hold on to and helps reduce fear about unknowns.
 
So where the **** are we?
Author and Director of MIT’s Leadership Centre, Deborah Ancona shares the story of some soldiers lost in the Swiss Alps. Not knowing where they were, things got even more uncertain when it began snowing. Visibility dropped, landmarks were unknown. But later, one of the soldiers found a map in their pocket. Hooray! They worked their way through the map and found themselves out of the snow and clear to safety.
 
It turns out the map was of the Pyrenees, not the Alps! It shows that, as sensemaking elder Karl Weick says, 'any old map will do'. The soldiers had purpose, focus and they were heading somewhere. The map was just a start.
 
Ask these:
So two questions to ask to deal with uncertainty and complexity are:

• What’s going on here?
• Now what should I do?

 These questions help us make meaning about things. You’re more able to pick up on cues and clusters of information when you’re looking to connect some dots Wondering what's going on and what you should do will help.

Map it out
The best way to look at what the story is and what’s going on is to map it out. Do this for yourself on a piece of paper, on a tablet or a whiteboard and most of all... for the people you're working with.
 
This is 'making sense' and it often starts with chaos. Phew! That’s a relief, because we need sense making most when things are a tad crazy. Like VUCA crazy.
 
Sense comes after action
Don’t just sit and wonder or be all talk. Making sense is about action. Think, map and act and then think and map some more.
 
In sense making we are constantly iterating, changing, building, developing, growing and shifting our understanding. Things can’t help but be shaped and shifted when we talk about them.
 
In a VUCA world, things will never be totally ‘right’ or ‘all right’. There will always be more change. Get used to that and keep making sense by mapping it out.

3 Questions to help them 'get it'

Speaking with a leader last week and there was that frustration you get when people in the team and across the business just don’t ‘get it’.

The leader said 'people aren't understanding what the change project is really about, even though there have been plenty of presentations, packs, information sessions and hours spent talking about the information.'
 
Yes there’s plenty of information available, but which pieces are important; how do you help people make sense of it… and quickly?
 
My distilled visual is from a presentation by Tom Shanley on Interactive and Immersive Data Visualisation and there's some insight there about beautiful, insightful and functional information. 
 
When there’s a torrent of information flooding in from all directions, people are secretly asking three questions in their mind:

1. What are you trying to tell me?
2. What’s the story?
3. What am I meant to be looking at?

The rise of infographics and data visualisations certainly help convey deep information and data quickly, clearly and with creative appeal.
 
These and other visuals work because our eyes see patterns – it’s Gestalt Theory. Images help people see the trees and the forest ... and helps it become a two-way conversation.

And what's so beautiful about information? I love thumbing through David McCandless' book 'Information is Beautiful' (also called The Visual Miscellaneum in some countries). It's one for the coffee table, reception or waiting area or the meeting room, to give you a boost of visual inspiration. 
 
So what do you need to help people ‘get’ right now? Answer this:

1. What are you trying to tell them?
2. What’s the story?
3. What are they meant to be looking at?

Answer those questions and you'll help people 'get it' and make sense of it all – otherwise it’s all too much and they'll give their attention to someone else answering those three questions.