When we talk about the agile methodology, it’s typically discussed within the context of software development at the company where you spend 40+ hours a week. It’s been gaining popularity as the superior methodology since the early 2000’s and the positive impact on overall business has been validated time and time again. In today’s world, agile is king, and for good reason. Agile puts the customer in center view by engaging end users and gathering consistent feedback. It focuses on frequent and iterative development, continuous improvement is built in it’s DNA, and teams are self-organizing, highly collaborative, and cross-functional in nature. Agile is easy to implement but only the best master it. It has solved a lot of problems in a world that remains ever changing and infinitely complex… so why don’t we tear a page out of this book and apply these concepts to our every day lives?
Now, before your mind starts to wander, no, I am not suggesting that you become your families Scrum Master, assign your wife as the Product Owner (Very, very bad idea), and let your kids run around as part of your scrum team. I’ve tried, it was fun, never doing it again. That being said, I do believe there are core concepts and principles that are derived from my experiences teaching, coaching, and living agile that everyone can adopt in their day-to-day lives. Among all of the agile concepts, here are the top four that have dramatically improved the quality of my work, personal life, and competitive sports that I play (or did play). So, what are these four game changers? I call them the “3 + WE”. 1, 2, and 3 together are the perfect recipe for success in life but when you add the 4th you will maximize your overall impact which will drive your quality of life to new heights in each of the areas mentioned above. Here they are:
Continuous Improvement
Iterative development
Continuous feedback
Servant leadership
Continuous improvement - This should be the single most important aspect of your life if you want to be successful. If you focus on one thing, and one thing only, make sure you get yourself extremely comfortable failing fast, owning the failure, identify the reasons why you failed, and then continuously improving so that the next time you do it you don’t fail for the same reason twice. If you are able to apply continuous improvement to your work, life, or sport you will find your self continuously learning, continuously practicing, continuously failing, which leads to continuously succeeding, and continuously improving over longer periods of time. “It’s not about where you start, it’s where you finish”. A good agile coach will ingrain this concept in the scrum teams they support and overtime it becomes part of your overall culture. A person that ingrains these concepts into all aspects of life will find success that few achieve over a period of time.
Iterative development - As humans, our bodies and our brains are developing and learning from the time that we are born to the time that we die. There is no magic pill that you can take to become that fortune 500 executive, a loving family man/woman, a top of your class graduate, a professional athlete, or a high performing scrum team. Accomplishing this takes hard work over long periods of time which is achieved through iterative development towards your end goal. There are dreamers who dream about these big things in life and then there are doers that see the long term vision, break things up into small increments, develop frequently, and eventually deliver against their goals. Those that try to accomplish big things without breaking it down, visualizing the path to success, and delivering incrementally will always end up failing or even starting. Desmond Tutu once wisely said that “there is only one way to eat an elephant: a bite at a time” and this is how we should approach life.
Continuous feedback - The key to continuous improvement and iterative development is the feedback loop. In agile, this concept is key and the most successful companies in the world have become the best at it. It puts end users in the drivers seat and allows them to provide feedback incrementally which helps product teams maximize end user value and ensure long term success. At work, you may call it an ‘end user’ or mentor. In sports, you may call it a coach. In your personal life you call it mom/dad. The most valued mentor, coach, parent, or end user will find ways to provide feedback in a constructive way that leads that person, team, or product down the road of success but it is up to you to accept that feedback in a meaningful way that allows you to realize growth in the right direction. Not all feedback is good so it's important to be selective to ensure you are maximizing the value you want to deliver.
Servant leadership - If you are able to master continuous improvement, iterative development, and continuous feedback then servant leadership becomes your success accelerator in all aspects of your life. Imagine being able to project 1-3 on other individuals, other teams, and other peers helping them reach new heights. When you are able to do this, your impact scales horizontally to levels you couldn’t have ever imagined. Scrum.org defines servant leadership as: “A philosophy and a set of practices that enrich the lives of individuals, to build better organizations, and ultimately create a more just and caring world. It's a transformational approach to life and work that has the potential for creating positive change throughout our society. Servant-leadership focuses on collaboration, trust, empathy and the usage of power ethically.” To me, a true servant leader consistently finds ways to drive value for others but this is only maximized once you have internalized continuous improvement, iterative development, and continuous feedback in your own life. Some people are born with this mindset, others have to learn it but once you do it is truly life changing and ever evolving.
We spend our entire lives learning, evolving, changing, and becoming better in different ways. Our most successful peers have found ways to master 1-3 but the most influential people in the world add servant leadership to the mix which allows their influence to scale to incredible levels. Agile is a methodology, it doesn’t just apply to software development and those that only think of it only within that context are doing themselves a disservice. We all need to realize the powerful impact we can have on this world. If you are able to realize these agile tools and apply them to your everyday personal, professional, and/or athletic careers you will find yourself growing faster and having an impact in more scalable ways that are life changing for you and those that are part of your life.
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