Agile or not, it’s all about your worldview
What do you believe about how the world works? Do you believe it works like a machine, that a cause always leads to an effect and that makes the world predictable? Or do believe it works in random ways, where sometimes a cause doesn’t have the expected effect and sometimes effects appear from unknown causes, that the way the world works is unpredictable and emergent.
These two opposite ways of seeing the world are often so deeply rooted that we don’t recognise them, but they matter. They matter when we run organisations the way we see the world. And they matter when we try to apply tools and techniques in our organisations. Our tools and techniques fit with one or the worldview, and they aren’t interchangeable.
| Tools & techniques for a predictable worldview | Tools & techniques for an emergent worldview |
|---|---|
| Linear/waterfall process. Upfront planning. Targets. Outputs. Gannt charts. | Agile. Thinking in bets. OKR’s. Outcomes. Now, next, later roadmap. |
Predictable worldview tools and techniques make sense if you believe in a predictable world. Emergent worldview tools and techniques make sense if you believe in an unpredictable world. Using the wrong tools for the worldview doesn’t make sense.
So, when people say things like, “agile failed”, maybe the problem is trying to apply emergent tools in an organisation with a predictable view of how the world works.