Scuze me? I am Dutch. Does that count?

Of course I know about agile approaches. Yes, I know Scrum.

Yes, I know the devastating effects a single minded, too narrow focused, command-and-control fanatic can have on the workplace.

But I also know that you can create a balance between plan-driven and agile approaches.

Image by SuperFantastic.

I also know that humans need to categorize everything just to make sense of the world.

When combining the two statements, it will become obvious that “plan-driven” and “agile” are also some arbitrary concepts created by humans to support the limited mind. There is no natural law defining “agile”, there is no eternal balance putting each of them on the extremes of some kind of scale.

It is just us, making up a context we can understand. You can call it whatever you want. And you can put in anything you like. Or out, if you want.

Brian Marick believes Agile is being dumbed down. So he created Artisanal Retro-Futurism crossed with Team-Scale Anarcho-Syndicalism. Just to be sure no one would take that name and create it into something else.

Paul Ritchie mentions the emergence of “Sim”: “… because this piece is in Forbes, I’ll bet that smart c-level folks will soon be asking their PMOs about whether they are incorporating this approach into their methodologies.”

People!

There is just a problem that needs to be taken care of. There is just a team that must be managed. Just observe the situation and look for the cause. Don’t get caught up in “finding the right method”.

Find the problem. Find the solution.

We don’t need sexy flexi Agilist. We don’t need plan-driven commanders.

We need people that can use any technique, any mindset, any approach at the right time.

We need: Freestylers!

You need to be Freestyling.

We need our own song!

Agile. Plan-driven. Waterfall. Freestyling.

I did it again, didn’t I?

Bas de Baar helps people find ways to enjoy the diversity of human interaction in their organizations so that they can get out of their own way and achieve their goals. - Freestyling: Beating Agile, Lean And Plan-driven Hands Down is a post from: Project Shrink.