Principles
Values and Behaviours are deeply embedded and only change slowly. In contrast, our Principles provide an intermediate point of change. We can adopt a principle. We can identify when we fail to adhere to the principle. We can learn and improve. We are not perfect at the beginning but by inspecting our adherence to our principles we adapt our behaviour over time.
We validate our work and our ways of working by seeking frequent feedback from customers, leaders, and other stakeholders. We respond rapidly and transparently to requests for feedback from others. Frequent feedback gives many opportunities to adjust requirements, priorities, and ways of working to better need stakeholder needs.
High performance is the expected norm for all teams. High performance is encouraged by a culture that emphasises the importance of Mastery, Autonomy and Purpose for everyone in the organisation. High performance is manifested through the rigour and discipline of teams and individuals and through the imperative to improve continuously.
Managers are appointed. Leaders emerge. Leadership is an emergent attribute of ourselves and of the people we work with. Leaders begin to emerge as they acquire, display and share mastery over their assigned roles. The circle of leadership starts small - within a team or other peer group. As depth of mastery and the ability to share it effectively increases opportunities arise to expand the circle of leadership more widely. Leaders choose when they expand their circle of leadership.
We take advantage of every opportunity to learn from events and from experience. We learn as teams and as individuals. A key part of the resilience of the agile mindset is how we react to the failures that we will inevitably experience as we work on complex, adaptive problems. Our resilient response is to treat a failure as an opportunity to learn. We seek the causes of failure and to learn how to avoid those causes in the future.
Our assertion is that the Agile Funnel implies a model of change. The funnel is a static model reflecting content and relationships. We need a more dynamic view of the model to understand how our Principles can act as the fulcrum of change for our Values and Behaviours.