Episode A.039 The Agile Culture

Introduction
Even though the new quarter doesn't start until Wednesday, we are jumping into it with both feet. BTW - that is also the theme for July - Being Agile. Two quick reasons for this theme now. First is we are in new territory when it comes to the economy, social factors, government action and how it is affecting our ability to run a profitable business. The second is how it matches with our previous emphasis around building a "Lean Organization'. The difference is simple - Agile is a mindset that uses the principles of Lean to succeed in unstable times.
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Show Objectives
Any conversation about culture usually hinges on how important is it during the early stages of growth. Our position is to create it early because it is an internal branding statement and essential to creating an external brand - which is critical from the start of the business. Taking a longer perspective it is the the net which holds everything together by defining boundaries.

Our objective for today's show - how to design an Agile culture on purpose.

What You Need to Know
The following are previous shows where we covered the short and long term need for creating culture on purpose vs letting it happen by default.

• EPISODE D.006 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRODUCTIVITY & PERFORMANCE
• EPISODE E.007 WHAT DOES A SELF MANAGED ORGANIZATION LOOK LIKE

Culture refers to an organization's values, beliefs, and behaviors. It is a set operating boundaries that constrain how results are obtained. Most organizations are a combination of four cultural archetypes: Achievement - focus on results, Relationship - focus on interpersonal relationships, Rule - focus on best practices, Power - focus on authority. The challenge - does the culture fit the purpose?
The challenge we are going to address next is what does an Agile Culture look like?​

​What You Need to Do
​Most Agile Cultures have these common characteristics:

• Recognition for good or smart work;
• Communication on purpose, provide clarity, and alignment of resources;
• Trust because the at the core is the need for skill mastery and independent and team performance;
• Learning as demonstrated by investing in skill development;
• Urgency is an essential part of Agile because everything runs off of speed and time.

The place to start is take these 5 common characteristics and define each value in terms of your business.

• Value: Urgency
• Definition: Immediate action
• Expected Outcome: Projects completed on time enabling the organization to increase completed work over a designated time period.
• What Behaviors World You SEE: 
  • Full engagement during a Sprint Timebox
  • Little to no slack time between Sprint Assignments
  • Using slack time to help other team members complete assignments within their Timebox

I previous list is an example of how to build the list of Values, Operating Principles, or Boundaries that lead long term to a culture on purpose.

In case you wanted to know - here are our 3:

• be the industry standard - the number one global source for business growth tools; 
• do whatever it takes, get it right the first time, all the time - a total commitment to quality of programming and materials;
• ​best value - affordable regardless of the business's current success and resources.

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