Ken was very happy to have the opportunity to talk with Alistair Cockburn about the agile manifesto and furthermore about the Heart of Agile. Ken also felt that many agile frameworks are very complicated and not agile at all ..
The Heart of Agile
The agile manifesto was created many years ago. Since then, agile has become very complicated. Many frameworks have been developed, all promising to be the holy grail, the one thing that will transform your business. Let’s take a step back and simplify it. Alistair Cockburn, one of the first 17 signatories of the agile manifesto, has developed the heart of agile: a simple approach to get the benefits of agile directly.
Back to the roots, the heart of agile is not a framework at all
In the last years agile has been decorated more than expected. a lot of frameworks have appeared and it seems that the core idea has been lost. the heart of agile by alistair cockburn tries to take an opposite way. it is a kind of compass, not a new framework or anything like that. with the heart of agile you try to find out in which direction you can push your conversation. keep it that way, the new distillation of the agile manifesto.
Stop working for a moment
You and your team need to know what you really want and how you feel in the moment. It’s crucial to know this, or you won’t be able to improve. The Reflect part of The Heart of Agile is about exactly that.
Improvement is one of the important parts
It is important to know what you and/or your team really want and how you feel in the moment, otherwise you will not be able to improve.
Ken, Ray, Howard and Britta have had the same experience, their Happieness Score has decreased. Alistair Cockburn suggested using the Mirco-Improvement Technique. So celebrate every small improvement instead of aiming for a big one and never celebrating or improving.
