What if driving followed Modern Agile principles?
How might driving on UK roads look if everyone was applying Modern Agile principles to their driving?
Make people awesome
Everyone wants to get where they’re going. If driving was Agile, and all drivers were trying to make each other awesome, there would be more cooperative driving where everyone has as their aim helping everyone get where they’re going, rather than focusing on where they want to go ahead of all the other drivers. Everyone would arrive where they wanted to go feeling less stressed and more awesome from helping others get where they wanted to go.
Make safety a prerequisite
Everyone wants to be stay alive. If everyone made safety a prerequisite of driving, everyone would always wear a seat belt, not use mobile phones, or drink and drive, and keep sufficient stopping distance between them and the car in front. Everyone, drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians, would be treated with more respect, feel more respect, and be much safer.
Experiment and learn rapidly
Everyone wants the best experience. If everyone experimented with what routes they take, what time they travel, what music they listen to, what they wear whilst driving, etc., etc. they could improve their experience of driving. Everyone would drive less on habit and learn different ways to improve their experience of driving.
Deliver value continuously
Everyone gets more out of driving than just getting somewhere. If everyone who valued fuel economy knew how to drive efficiently they would receive continuous value in reduced fuel costs, and there would be environmental value too. If everyone who valued nice scenery over shorter journeys took more scenic routes, they would receive their value in seeing different landscapes and add value to the drivers who want shorter journey times by avoiding more direct routes. Different values can be delivered continuously and concurrently.
This quick thought experiment taught me two things; Modern Agile principles could be applied to almost any set of circumstances where human beings are doing some kind of shared activity, and, in order to actually work, all those people need to be able to communicate and agree to use all the principles.