Mile High Agile 2012 was last week – a great opportunity to
reconnect with fellow agilists, to learn a little something new, and to
generally have a good laugh at the Sogeti booth. I got to provide fodder for
some of those laughs. After a session where we learned how to coach teams to
better understand the values and principles of scrum and agile, I was
explaining the different parts of the tree that was created, and said something
inane: “…the trunk is the trunk.” I
don’t now remember the context but in retrospect, have an idea.
Throughout the agile conference, there was a lot of presentations
about how to practice X or how to
explain Y … success stories and
guidelines were in abundance. Old colleagues re-connected, new acquaintances
made stronger connections. All of this was the trunk of the conference, and the
trunk of agile.
Communication.
The scrum values (openness, courage, focus, commitment,
respect) dance around it. The Agile principles get a little closer (work together
daily, face-to-face conversation, team reflection). But one of the main
foundations of agile is simple. Talk to each other. Communicate as well as
humanly possible.
Communication is the trunk of our trees. Our roots may be
the strong values on which we base our business relationships. Our leaves may
be the agile principles and/or the characteristics of high-functioning teams.
Our fruits are definitely the outstanding results and achievements.
But that tree is nothing without communication.
Just as real estate agents will all say “Location, location,
location,” agile practitioners (experienced and novice) may want to adopt the
mantra “Communicate, communicate, communicate.” Or, for those who like more
simple language “Talk, talk, talk.”
