"To know, is good. To live, is better. To be, that is perfect." - The Mother During the Agile adoption, its a common complain that many team in many organizations get caught up in the ceremonies or mechanics of Agile and fail to understand/appreciate the true value and spirit of Agile. And because of this, the original intent of the Agile movement itself is lost. This is a serious issue! This workshop will highlight, a well-proven approach to transformation (not adoption) and show the distinct steps in this journey that an individual or a collective goes through when learning anything new. Activities, serving as examples, in the workshop, will focus to show the journey - that is, how to begin with rituals, then gradually move to practices, arriving at principles and eventually internalizing the values. Witnessing this gradual process of transformation will help participants discover for themselves their current progression. We hope this will serve as a guiding light during their Agile journey. Finally, we will leave the participants to ponder upon and discover for themselves their ideals in life and work as this is not only applicable to software development, but also to any discipline where humans are involved, including life itself. Mode details: http://confengine.com/agile-pune-2014/proposal/534/the-tao-of-transformation Conference: http://pune.agileindia.org

1. The Tao of
Transformation
A Workshop
dhaval.dalal@software-artisan.com
http://agilefaqs.com/about
@softwareartisan
nashjain@agilefaqs.com
http://nareshjain.com
@nashjain

2. Individuals and Interactions
over
Processes and Tools

3. Individuals and Interactions
over
Processes and Tools

4. To know, is good.
!
To live, is better.
!
To be, that is perfect.
The Mother

5. Values, Principles and
Practices

6. Values, Principles and
Practices
• Values
one's judgement and opinion of what is important in life and
form the basis of behaviour and action.
Values

7. Values, Principles and
Practices
• Values
one's judgement and opinion of what is important in life and
form the basis of behaviour and action.
Principles
Values • Principles
foundation for a system of belief and help with translating
values into action

8. Values, Principles and
Practices
• Values
one's judgement and opinion of what is important in life and
form the basis of behaviour and action. Practices
Principles
Values • Principles
foundation for a system of belief and help with translating
values into action
• Practices
the actual application of belief and are actions themselves.

9. Examples

10. Examples
Practices
Principles
Values

11. Examples
Practices
Principles
Values
Unit Test
Fail-Fast
Feedback

12. Self-
Examples
Documenting
Code
Declarative
Expression
Communication
Practices
Principles
Values
Unit Test
Fail-Fast
Feedback

13. TDD

14. TDD
=
Testable, Decoupled, and Simple Design

15. TDD
Ritual?
or Practice =
Testable, Decoupled, and Simple Design

16. Income Tax Calculator
TDD Demo
Income Range Tax % Income Take Home
0-2L 0 10,000 10,000
2L-5L 10 3,00,000 2,70,000
5L-10L 20 7,50,000 6,00,000
Above 10L 30 20,00,000 14,00,000

17. Ignite: Lean Startup - Paul Howe, Founder & CEO of
NeedFeed "How $40 Saved Us 9 Months and $2MM"
http://vimeo.com/24749599

18. Ignite: Lean Startup - Paul Howe, Founder & CEO of
NeedFeed "How $40 Saved Us 9 Months and $2MM"
http://vimeo.com/24749599

20. a series of actions performed a Ritual ccording to a prescribed order.

21. a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order.
Ritual
Practice
the actual application of belief.

22. Practice Vs Ritual
a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order.
Ritual
Practice
the actual application of belief.

23. Rituals
• Rituals are a helper.
• Starting Steps
• Their use lies in the training they give
• Preliminaries to values, but not the end themselves.
• Rituals are a bar.
• When made an end in themselves, they stop the
transformation

24. Discern
• When...
• Rituals are a helper
• Rituals are a bar

25. Discern
• When... Practice
Ritual
• Rituals are a helper
• Rituals are a bar

26. Discern
• When... Practice
Ritual
• Rituals are a helper
• Rituals are a bar

27. Discern
• When... Practice
Ritual
• Rituals are a helper
• Rituals are a bar
• Principles underpinning the practices
Values
Principles
Practices

28. Discern
• When... Practice
Ritual
• Rituals are a helper
• Rituals are a bar
• Principles underpinning the practices
Values
Principles
Practices
• Values underpinning the principles

30. Agility
=
TDD !
Refactoring
!
Stand-ups
Iterations
Retrospectives Futurespectives

31. Agility
=
Practice or Ritual?
TDD !
Refactoring
!
Stand-ups
Iterations
Retrospectives Futurespectives

32. Stand-up

33. Stand-up
=
What I did Yesterday?
!
What I am doing
today?
What problems am I
facing?

34. Stand-up
Ritual?
or Practice =
What I did Yesterday?
!
What I am doing
today?
What problems am I
facing?

35. Stand-up Exercise
• 7 Volunteers, 1 Scrum Master, 6 Team members
• Have a stand-up and Discuss the “Dinner
Project”
• What you ate last night?
• What are you planning to eat tonight?
• Are there any roadblocks?
• Rest - Observe body language and behaviour

36. What did you see?
Was there real value?

37. Stand-up Exercise - Take 2
• Let’s be genuinely interested in understanding
who is planning to do what and if we can offer
help.
• Let’s keep the 3 question format (but some of
them can be optional)

38. Stand-up Exercise - Take 3
We’ve guest for dinner tonight
• Let’s drop the 3 question format
• Let’s focus on the Game Plan for the day
• Set the goals for the day
• And plan to achieve them collaboratively as a team

39. Stand-up Exercise - Take 4
We’ve guest for dinner tonight
• No Standup instead we’ve JIT huddles to resolve/
improve specific problems
• For Ex: Someone is cooking a sweet dish and is out
of sugar. How can we collaborate and creatively
solve this problem as a team.

40. Stories Workshop

41. Stories - Sample 1
• As a developer,
• I want to create a database table
• So that I can access it from my service code

42. Stories - Sample 2
• As a Account agent,
• I want to create an invoice
• So that my company can request payment
from the customer

43. Collaborative Story
Mapping

44. Bob
explaining
the
context
scenarios
and
laying
out
the
ini5al
map

45. A
day
in
the
life
of
Ed
!

47. time
optionality
necessary
less
optional
more
optional
activity 1 activity 2 activity 3 activity 4
first release
second release
third release

49. Team
fully
engaged!

51. Customer Development
& Product Discovery

55. Retrospectives

56. Retrospectives
Regardless of what we discover,
we understand and truly believe that everyone did the best job they could,
given what they knew at the time, their skills and abilities,
the resources available, and the situation at hand.
=
!
What Went Well?
!
!
What Went Wrong?
!
What Still Puzzles us?

57. Retrospectives
=
Practice or Ritual?
we understand and truly believe that everyone did the best job they could,
given what they knew at the time, their skills and abilities,
the resources available, and the situation at hand.
!
What Went Well?
!
Regardless of what we discover,
!
What Went Wrong?
!
What Still Puzzles us?

58. Retrospectives - 1
What went well?
What needs
improvement?

59. Retrospectives - 2

60. Retrospectives - 3
• Root Cause Analysis
• Mistake proof
• Data-Driven
• Stakeholder involvement.

61. Retrospectives - 4
• JIT
• Pull based, not scheduled
• Micro-retros, not batched.

62. Inspect, Adapt and Evolve
• Jettison what does not work
• Retain or Improvise what’s useful
• Try or add different/new things that work
• Continuously curate and fearlessly discard
• Question and dispel gospels

63. If you don’t...
• Either fanaticism or indifference creeps in.
!
• Walk with the baggage all along.
!
• Closed for modification.
!
• Hard to get results.

64. Real-World is Messy
• Not a straight path.
!
• We are all in this personal discovery.
!
• Progressing upon Progress - Continuous
Improvement.

65. Values
• Neither handed out by the giver
!
• Nor accepted or rejected by the receiver
!
• In reality, values are inner dispositions of
human being

66. Values Permeate

67. Values Permeate

68. Values Permeate
Tell me and I Forget Talks, Discussions

69. Values Permeate
Tell me and I Forget
Show me and I Remember
Talks, Discussions
Demos, Screencasts

70. Values Permeate
Tell me and I Forget
Workshops, Tutorials, Pairing
Show me and I Remember
Involve me and I Learn
Talks, Discussions
Demos, Screencasts

71. Are you aware
of your own values?

72. In less than a minute,
write down what you value
the most?
Answer it from within before
your mind attempts to
manipulate it!

73. Examples
I know I’ve made a mistake
here, but now I know…
I can work on it
Hey, let me show you
what I found after we worked
on that stuff yesterday…
What do you deeply see in you…
that which you embody or you are that?
Or something that resonates with you
and you want to realise it?
Image Source: http://avastar.wikia.com/wiki/Stick_Figure, http://www.clipartbest.com/

74. What can lead to
authentic self-realisation?

75. What can lead to
authentic self-realisation?
Acting with Passion

76. What can lead to
authentic self-realisation?
Acting with Passion
Expressing
Feelings
Expressing
Thoughts/Ideas

77. What can lead to
authentic self-realisation?
Acting with Passion
Beyond
Self-Expression
Expressing
Feelings
Expressing
Thoughts/Ideas

78. What can lead to
authentic self-realisation?
Source: Sri Aurobindo Foundation for Integral Management, Harvesting Values.

79. What can lead to
authentic self-realisation?
Ideals that are in harmony
with higher nature of human
being
Source: Sri Aurobindo Foundation for Integral Management, Harvesting Values.

80. Ideals
set of Ideal standards or values to be aimed at
Values

81. Universal
Ideals
Expressed in Behavior and Conduct
Truth
• Honesty
• Transparency
• Integrity and truthfulness in thought, feelings and action.
• Impartial wisdom, ability to deal with each person or situation
according to deeper truth in it.
Strength and
Force
• Marshalling energies and resources for implementation of Ideas
• Courage
• Tenacity
• Firmness
• Will Power
Beauty and
Harmony
• Aesthetic Sensibility
• Graceful Movements
• Cleanliness
• Simplicity
• Charm
• Tenderness
• Rhythms in action and behaviour
Source: Sri Aurobindo Foundation for Integral Management, Harvesting Values.

82. Universal
Ideals
Expressed in Behavior and Conduct
Truth
• Honesty
• Transparency
• Integrity and truthfulness in thought, feelings and action.
• Impartial wisdom, ability to deal with each person or situation
according to deeper truth in it.
Strength and
Force
• Marshalling energies and resources for implementation of Ideas
• Courage
• Tenacity
• Firmness
• Will Power
Beauty and
Harmony
• Aesthetic Sensibility
• Graceful Movements
• Cleanliness
• Simplicity
• Charm
• Tenderness
• Rhythms in action and behaviour
Source: Sri Aurobindo Foundation for Integral Management, Harvesting Values.

83. Universal
Ideals
Expressed in Behavior and Conduct
Truth
• Honesty
• Transparency
• Integrity and truthfulness in thought, feelings and action.
• Impartial wisdom, ability to deal with each person or situation
according to deeper truth in it.
Strength and
Force
• Marshalling energies and resources for implementation of Ideas
• Courage
• Tenacity
• Firmness
• Will Power
Beauty and
Harmony
• Aesthetic Sensibility
• Graceful Movements
• Cleanliness
• Simplicity
• Charm
• Tenderness
• Rhythms in action and behaviour
Source: Sri Aurobindo Foundation for Integral Management, Harvesting Values.

84. Universal
Ideals
Expressed in Behavior and Conduct
Fraternity
• Teamwork
• Shared Vision
• Mutual Trust
• Goodwill and understanding
• Stakeholders community
Equality
• Distributive Justices
• Flattening of Hierarchies
• Trend towards greater sharing of wealth, power, knowledge and
culture
Liberty
• Empowerment - Energise people with minimum rules and
maximum freedom
• Individuals given freedom to think, initiate, decide, organise,
achieve, learn, progress and reach their potentials in work-life
Source: Sri Aurobindo Foundation for Integral Management, Harvesting Values.

85. Universal
Ideals
Expressed in Behavior and Conduct
Fraternity
• Teamwork
• Shared Vision
• Mutual Trust
• Goodwill and understanding
• Stakeholders community
Equality
• Distributive Justices
• Flattening of Hierarchies
• Trend towards greater sharing of wealth, power, knowledge and
culture
Liberty
• Empowerment - Energise people with minimum rules and
maximum freedom
• Individuals given freedom to think, initiate, decide, organise,
achieve, learn, progress and reach their potentials in work-life
Source: Sri Aurobindo Foundation for Integral Management, Harvesting Values.

86. Universal
Ideals
Expressed in Behavior and Conduct
Fraternity
• Teamwork
• Shared Vision
• Mutual Trust
• Goodwill and understanding
• Stakeholders community
Equality
• Distributive Justices
• Flattening of Hierarchies
• Trend towards greater sharing of wealth, power, knowledge and
culture
Liberty
• Empowerment - Energise people with minimum rules and
maximum freedom
• Individuals given freedom to think, initiate, decide, organise,
achieve, learn, progress and reach their potentials in work-life
Source: Sri Aurobindo Foundation for Integral Management, Harvesting Values.

87. An Exercise
Mapping to Ideals

88. XP Values
Communication
Simplicity
Feedback
Courage
Respect
XP Practices
Pair Programming
Collective Ownership
On-site Customer
System Metaphor
Refactoring
Simple Design
Coding Standards
The Planning Game
Retrospectives

89. XP Values => Ideals
• Communication
• Simplicity
• Feedback
• Courage
• Respect Fraternity
Truth
Beauty
and
Harmony
Strength
and
Force

90. XP Practices => Ideals
Refactoring,
Simple Design,
Coding Standards
Beauty and
Harmony
Pair Programming,
Collective Ownership,
On-site Customer,
System Metaphor
Equality,
Fraternity,
Liberty
The Planning Game,
Retrospectives,
TDD,
Continuous Integration,
Small Releases
Truth

91. Agile
Adoption?

92. Agile
Adoption?
Using Feedback
Permeate Agility
and
Manifest Ideals

93. Questions to ponder
• Would you be able to apply this on a daily basis?
If yes, how? If no, why?
• What ideals would you like to manifest in you
next?
• Is there a gap between inner values and outer
action? If yes, how will you reduce it?
• Have you matched your inner nature to the
psychological content of the job?

94. References
• Sri Aurobindo’s Works
• Works of The Mother.
• Harvesting Values Workshop
• Sri Aurobindo Foundation for Integral Management
(SAFIM), by Saikat Sen.
• Implementation Patterns
• Kent Beck
• Product Discovery and Story Mapping
• Jeff Patton

95. Thank You!
Questions?
dhaval.dalal@software-artisan.com
http://agilefaqs.com/about
@softwareartisan
nashjain@agilefaqs.com
http://nareshjain.com
@nashjain