Question 1

Agile Manifesto

Accepted Answer

The Manifesto for Agile Software DevelopmentEstablished in 2001, also referred as Agile Manifesto comprises of four Values and twelve Principles that 17 manifesto authors agreed on to be essential to be adaptable for a team or an organization.

We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value:

That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

Principles behind the Agile Manifesto

We follow these principles:

Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage.
Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.
Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.
The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.
Working software is the primary measure of progress.
Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work not done--is essential.
The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.

Manifesto Authors: Kent Beck, Mike Beedle, Arie van Bennekum, Alistair Cockburn, Ward Cunningham, Martin Fowler, James Grenning, Jim Highsmith, Andrew Hunt, Ron Jeffries, Jon Kern, Brian Marick, Robert C. Martin, Steve Mellor, Ken Schwaber, Jeff Sutherland, Dave Thomas

Refer: Manifesto for Agile Software Development

Question 2

Business Agility

Accepted Answer

Business agility is the capability to quickly change or adapt to changes in a business. Building Business Agility is an ongoing process and not a one-time event. Business agility can also be referred to as organizational agility, or adaptive business.

Business agility is the ability of a company to adjust to changes quickly. In business, agility involves the ability to change one’s strategy, operational model, and operating processes in response to internal and external changes.

This changes can be external, such as changing market conditions or government regulations. Internal changes can also have a big impact on business agility, such as disrupting the company culture or stakeholder loyalties, swiftly reacting to customer demands and quickly launching new products.

Organizations that have a high level of business agility will be better suited to take advantage of emerging opportunities, that will allow them to grow and overcome competition.

Question 3

Cynefin

Accepted Answer

The Cynefin Framework is a decision making framework, that recognizes the casual differences between systems and proposes new approaches to decision making in complex environemtn.

Cynefin is a sense-making model not a categorization model.

If the question is How do we make sense of the world, so we can act in it.

In nature, there are 3 basic systems: Ordered Systems, Choatic Systems and Complicated Systems. Once people know in which domain / system they are in, they can choose the domain specific response.

Question 4

Design Thinking

Accepted Answer

Design Thinking is a human-centered approach to solving complex problems. Design Thinking consists of five key steps to creating better solutions:

Emphathize: Understand needs of the end user
Define: Define end user / customer persona(s)
Ideate: Brainstorm ideas, narrow down possible solutions
Prototype: A visual-interactive mock-up of an idea, created to test an early stage idea, and gather user's feedback.
Test: Invite feedback, insights and analyze the effectiveness of the chosen prototype.

Question 5

Extreme Programming (XP)

Accepted Answer

Extreme Programming (XP) is a light weight framework intended to improve software quality, responsiveness to changing customer needs and achieve higher quality of life for the team.

Aligned with the Values and Principles of the Manifesto for Agile Software Development, XP advocates frequent releases in short development cycles, intended to improve productivity and introduce regular checkpoints to adopt to the changing customer needs.

XP improves a software solutions in five essential ways:

Communication: XP favors simple designs, common metaphors, collaboration of users and programmers, frequent verbal communication, and feedback.
Simplicity: Simple system design with very simple code could be easily understood by most programmers in the team. XP starts with the simplest solution useful to the customers today. Extra functionality can then be added later.
Feedback: Short Feedback cycles from the System: ( by writing unit tests, or running periodic integration tests), Feedback from the Customer (Acceptance tests gets concrete feedback about the current state), and Feedback from the Team (team directly gives an estimation of the time that it will take to implement customer needs) help with communication and maintain simplicity.
Respect: Respect is a key value for programmers, which includes respect for others and self. Committing changes that break compilation, or delay the work of peers is not a sign of respect towards others. Members can show respect for their own work by striving for high quality and actively seeking feedback.
Courage: Courage enables developers to feel comfortable with designing solutions for what's important today and refactoring their code when necessary. Courage is to remove source code that is obsolete. Courage also means persistence to solve complex problem.

The original twelve practices are listed below:

The Planning Game
Small Releases
Metaphor
Simple Design
Testing
Refactoring
Pair Programming
Collective Ownership
Continuous Integration
40-hour week
On-site Customer
Coding Standard

Question 6

Kaizen

Accepted Answer

Kaizen is a Japanese terms referring to incrementally achieving excellence through the relentless and endless pursuit of perfection.

In a business context Kaizen is continuous improvement of processes, operations and functions involving all employees.

Kaizen is Change for the Better.

Also see: Lean Thinking, Lean Waste, A3 Problem Solving, Lean Product Development, Value Stream Mapping.

Question 7

Kanban

Accepted Answer

Kanban is a lean method, a framework to visualize work and improve the flow of value through the system.

Initiated by Toyota as part of the Toyota Production System, Kanban (in Japanese) is a visual card used as a scheduling system, showcasing the essential information and progress of the work through the product development system.

Following four essential practices help optimize the flow of value:

Visualize the workflow
Limit work in progress
Manage flow
Make process policies explicit

Through pull based movement of the work, Kanban helps achieve evolutionary improvements in process and product.

Question 8

Lean Waste

Accepted Answer

Lean waste is a type of waste that relates to non-value added activities in processes, communication, information sharing, product features etc.

Any non-value add activities that a team undertakes, is a lean waste and such waste is detrimental to any organizaiton, as it creates delays in value creation and increases cost.

8 Types of Lean Wastes are:

Work-In-Progress, Inventory, Partially Done Work
Over Production, Extra Features
Extra Processing, Relearning
Transportation, Handoffs
Delays
Task Switching, Motion
Defects
Unused Talent

Also see: Lean Thinking

Question 9

Organizational Topologies

Accepted Answer

Organizational Topologies (TM) can serve as a valuable coaching tool for evaluating, tracking, and modifying organizational structure.

Through Org Topologies (TM) Mapping, individuals and teams can take ownership of and advance their progress towards greater levels of adaptability, regardless of their current starting point

This approach can facilitate the development of a customer-centric, adaptable, and resilient organization better equipped to navigate change with confidence.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/iBXIwUgCog/resources/7siaLTzrSG/Org%20Topologies%201.png (Org Topologies 1)

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/iBXIwUgCog/resources/KJ5vHGV1zk/Org%20Topologies%202.png (Org Topologies 2)

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/iBXIwUgCog/resources/MNhIKtcgSH/Org%20Topologies%203.png (Org Topologies 3)

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/iBXIwUgCog/resources/TugpdgHX7K/Org%20Topologies%204.png (Org Topologies 4)

Further Reading: Organizational Topologies Website

Question 10

Spotify Engineering Culture

Accepted Answer

How Spotify (a music streaming company) built their engineering culture based on agile values, principles and techniques:

Part I:

Part II:

This video reflects Spotify's journey in progress, not the journey completed. Many teams blindly try to follow Spotify model and miserably fail at it, as the underlying context for every organization / team is different.

Question 11

Toyota Production System

Accepted Answer

Toyota Production System (TPS) is a management system developed by Toyota that comprises its management philosophy and practices.

Toyota identifies TPS as a framework for conserving resources by eliminating waste. People who participate in the system learn to identify uses of material, effort and time that do not generate value for customers. It aims towards lasting gains in productivity and quality with a commitment to positive change".

Two conceptual pillars:

Just-in-Time: Building only what is needed, only when it is needed, and only in the amount that is needed.

Principles:

Continuous improvement
Respect for people
Long-term philosophy
Develop the right process
Develop your people and partners
Continuously solve root problems

Many of the Lean ideas and Agile Frameworks including Scrum are based on or inspired by TPS.