I recently met the head of one of the world’s oldest organisations. Despite being incredibly high profile and serving millions of customers each year, their delivery process is far from perfect. As we sat chatting over a glass of sherry and a mince pie (apparently he never tires of them), the big man asked, “so, are we agile?”.
Below is a summary of our conversation.
The Agile Manifesto
In terms of The Agile Manifesto’s core values and principles, it’s a mixed bag:
- They are very much about individuals and interactions; processes and tools are certainly secondary
- Delivering working products is definitely considered more important than documentation
- There is a healthy dose of communication with customers … but it’s a bit one-way to be considered collaboration (the requirements come in, then his team delivers what they deem appropriate!)
- On the surface, their team seems to be about following a plan, but they certainly have had to respond to change: the introduction of central heating and the gradual disappearance of chimneys has apparently caused them no end of inconvenience. However, change is slow. “We’ve never run a retro”, he admitted, “because the elves are so wired after the big day, they just refuse to turn up”. Feedback from customers is also rare – although he did recollect a certain Mikey Burrows writing a letter of complaint about a Chopper bike that he didn’t receive one Christmas!
The Twelve Agile Principles
| MANIFESTO PRINCIPLE | HOW WELL DO THEY DO? |
| Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software. | VERY POOR This is the epitome of big bang delivery |
| Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage. | FAIR Stakeholders are able to change requirements up until 2-4 weeks before delivery |
| Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale. | VERY POOR There is an annual delivery cadence |
| Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project. | FAIR There is a reasonable level of collaboration with the business [parents] throughout the project |
| Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done. | GOOD Most of the time the elves are motivated and they have a good environment to work in. Trust levels vary – but elves are mischievous in nature so this may be warranted! |
| The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation. | VERY GOOD FC is very hands-on and communicates almost entirely face-to-face |
| Working software is the primary measure of progress. | VERY GOOD Products in the hands of customers is how they judge success |
| Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely. | VERY POOR The pace has a definite peak towards delivery time; this is not sustainable |
| Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility. | FAIR Although there is a good level of focus on technical and design quality, this is sometimes excessive and there is sometimes an element of gold-plating |
| Simplicity–the art of maximizing the amount of work not done–is essential. | FAIR This varies and is inconsistent: in some instances the minimum is not delivered, whilst other times delivery is bloated |
| The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams. | GOOD There is good team spirit and they are often left to organise themselves – which they do well. However, at delivery time, he tends to revert to form and insert a command-and-control approach |
| At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly. | VERY POOR Little reflection is given and evolution of processes is very slow |
Successes and areas for improvement
Stroking his beard, he looked at me contemplative. “So, what could we do to improve?” For once I was a bit nervous in making suggestions. After warning him that delivery might get worse before it gets better, explaining how he might use the scientific method to implement improvements, and discussing his team’s attitude to change, we discussed a few possible improvements:
- Many of the elves felt his style was command-and-control. Could he include the team more in what they are doing?
- The single annual, big bang, delivery approach carried with it a high risk of failure and required a pace that isn’t sustainable. Could he consider more frequent (maybe even incremental) deliveries spread over the year?
- He accepts solution-based requirements from stakeholders (e.g. “I would like a Care Bear”) rather than focusing on the problem (e.g. “I would like something to cuddle”). Maybe he could work with his stakeholders on requirements gathering?
- How could he improve the feedback loops? Has he thought about user testing?
Unfortunately we didn’t get to discuss more because a child wanted to speak to him. “Am I on your good list?” I blurted as I was being ushered out the door. “You’ll have to wait and see”, he said, with a roar of laughter and a tap of his nose. I smiled half-heartedly and muttered under my breath. “That’s the last time I do pro bono work!”
How would you suggest FC improves his processes?
I hope you like my flight of fancy.
Yesterday, I actually met the ‘real Father Christmas’ at Lapland UK – my children thought it was a truly wonderful experience and, before we left our 1-to-1 with him, I did suggest that he considers more frequent deliveries. He looked a bit surprised and replied that he thinks one big delivery “keeps the magic” 🙂
Three words: Typical Bl**dy Consultant
Did you actually examine the process or did you just read the publicly available case studies?
Did you talk to anyone except the top man?
In short did you examine the actual practice or just “what it is supposed to happen?”
And you propose solutions like leveling work load without noting this already happens.
– Most children in continental Europe receive their presents on the 24th of December or before
– Children in Russia receive presents at New Year even though their own Christmas is not until 7 January
In short your analysis is rooted in an Anglo-Saxon view of the world without adequately considering culture.
In fact concentrating work at the end/start of the year brings advantages too. I’ll leave it to you, Mr Consultant to spot the buying power he is able to exercise to keep the toy company costs under control. Then there is the logistics of getting the presents from China to the North Pole in time for dispatch. (Melting of the ice cap will help here.)
(You overlook the opportunity to regional delivery centres supplied direct from China without using the Arctic Hub.)
More importantly there is the shared experience of the millions of children who receive their presents in the same time frame. Spreading delivers through the year would negate the marketing effects. Santa Claus has long worked with the Christian Churches to further both brands. Indeed many of the same questions asked of Jesus (“Was he real?”) are asked of Santa.
Because of the combined marketing efforts children in Asian countries are clamoring for Santa visits, surely this is just a precursor to embracing Christianity?
(A far more attractive marketing position than “Worship our god or we’ll cut off your head” used in earlier times.)
Farther Christmas and The Pope long ago agreed with the school system to divide the year into three period: Christmas, Easter and School Start (December, April, September). If presents were delivered throughout the year cozy carve up would be disrupted.
At least you didn’t have the nerve to charge him for your shoddy Anglo-Saxon ramblings.
😉
Haha, trust you to write a funny response that’s the same length as my original joke!
🙂