Learning "Being Agile" from National Geographic

There is a major difference in “Doing Agile” and “Being Agile”. Many teams start their Agile transformation by following certain principles and rules – though there is absolutely nothing wrong in that. But then as we progress in the journey of transformation, we should not miss the most important fact of Agile – Its philosophy.

More than principles and rules, Agile is all about the mindset and we need to understand and always remember the philosophy behind that mindset. As per definition, Agile means – “changing quickly and swiftly”. In my views, a team qualifies to be called as True Agile if and only if the members in that team have a mindset of quickly and swiftly adapting/responding to changing situations – without losing sight out of the end goal.

Now, let us turn on National Geographic channel and watch how a leopard chases deer as its prey. I learnt a lot of good lessons from this chase…few of them I am sharing here within:

• Leopard takes up the position (sits down quietly) and keeps his eyes focused on the far away deer - [Learning] Clearly understand what team needs to focus on and accomplish as the end goal.
• Spends time to understand and gauge what all he needs to hunt down the deer - [Learning] Understand what all it will take for the team to accomplish that goal
• After the leopard is confident of his understanding he does not wait – He pounces and start chasing the deer with full throttle - [Learning] Once team understand what all is required…its time to start the sprint and work in full throttle keeping focus on end goal
• During the chase, deer keeps on changing its course of running very frequently - [Learning] While working, situations will change (timelines, requirements, environments, management, team members etc…)
• The leopard responds to the change and accordingly changes its course “Very quickly and Swiftly” – without losing sight of the deer - [Learning] Team needs to get together very quickly and swiftly change the course of plan of action based on changing situations.
• Ultimately after a long chase and good efforts, leopard grabs the deer and brings it down - [Learning] Ultimately after all good efforts team achieves the end goal
• However, in case the deer still escapes… - There is always next sprint to work on spill overs ??

If the Leopard would be “Doing Agile” instead of “Being Agile” (an agile mindset) – it would have to go hungry every time - would have never been able to catch the deer :)

Next time when you measure Agile maturity of your team, make sure you keep "Agile Mindset" as one of the primary parameter. Ask the question - Is my team merely "Doing Agile" or are they actually "Being Agile" in mindset !

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