May the 4th Be With You: What Agile Teams Can Learn from Star Wars

For Agile Success, Consider Taking a Page Out of Han Solo’s Book

It’s International Star Wars day, and as fans across the globe are dusting off their light sabers and donning their Jedi robes, I’d like to take a minute to reflect on the ways in which Star Wars can serve as perhaps an unlikely template for how agile teams should run.

At TD Ameritrade, we’ve had an effort underway to go almost completely agile when it comes to development. We’re about 80% of the way there, in a short amount of time, and have accomplished much as a result. Through our use of agile, we’ve been able to generate speed just like the Millennium Falcon – more than doubling our throughput of deliveries over the past two years. Agile has also been the seed that has sparked our innovation to enable to deliver new capabilities around emerging interfaces like Apple Business Chat and Amazon Echo, AI on our education platforms, and brand new capabilities like our new digital experiences in both our Retail and Institutional offerings.

As it turns out, our agile teams aren’t that unlike the Millennium Falcon crew we’ve come to love over the past 40+ years. A close observer can see that both adhere to the values of agile development. I’ll tell you what I mean.

Value #1: Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

Process is important, but people and teams get work done. Agile is all about people working together to bring a solution to market. Leaders of agile teams may not be able to fully Obi-Wan their way out of playing by of the rules, but it’s important to know how and when to put people first. Leaders enable empowerment on agile teams to set the stage for creating productive interactions between teams and breaking through bureaucratic procedures.

Value #2: Working software over comprehensive documentation

In an agile team, working software comes first, period. Delivery creates credibility and a feedback loop to spur new ideas. Balance is key, but it’s important that, like Luke and Han, team members maintain a laser focus on working solutions vs. getting bogged down in documentation. The map to Alderaan was important, but getting there was MORE important.

Value #3: Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

You may not have the benefit of being as connected to the force as a Jedi like Obi-Wan, but there’s no excuse for not keeping a close pulse on your customers and their needs. The product is only as good as the customer finds it to be, so collaborating with them whenever possible and putting their needs first is critical.

Value #4: Responding to change over following a plan

Perhaps most of all, what the Millennium Falcon crew embodies is a willingness to adapt to an ever-changing situation and stay focused on their goal. Structure and planning are important, but an team only stays agile if they can accept and strive forward in a changing environment.

When it comes to agile development and adhering to the values agile adheres to, perhaps you can draw a little inspiration from a galaxy far, far away. Your agile journey just may take your company to the stars.

May the 4th be with you.

TD Ameritrade, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. TD Ameritrade is a trademark jointly owned by TD Ameritrade IP Company, Inc. and The Toronto-Dominion Bank. ?2019 TD Ameritrade.