I was on a Mass Care conference call given by the American Red Cross Disaster Services from their headquarters in Washington D.C.

Right before the start of the call there was a fire alarm evacuation of the building. Instead of canceling the call, the participants conducted it outside on the sidewalk via their cell phones. They did a great job.

Good cell phones and noise cancelling head phones worked well so that the street noise was not a major interrupter or distraction. The transition between the presenters went smoothly as each had called separately into the Web Ex conference phone number instead of convening together around one speaker phone. While one person was talking another was able to multi-task and check on return status, which changed more than once. I believe we even remained connected while they were on the elevator back to their desks.

Most importantly was the calm and professionalism demonstrated by these Red Cross people in a crisis. Hey, they don’t let a little thing like a fire alarm stop the emergency business at hand. This incident is a good indicator of what is needed by good Red Cross staff and volunteers – the ability to be flexible, mobile, punt, adapt, think on their feet, include technology as a resource to facilitate – to respond and work well in a crisis or under pressure. Kudos colleagues!

 More companies need to understand the mindset and skills that result in this behavioral ability. In an area such as the Silicon Valley, reputed to be fast paced and progressive, I have unfortunately seen more than one person/group/division/company freak out at the slightest change in – routine, outlook, space, facility, place, technology, time, work, work arrangements, ad infinitum.

Here we have somehow groomed a workforce of drones unable to adapt or incorporate change without great pain and panic. Unable to work in any other place than their cube; unable to manage anyone not within line of sight; unable to lead any company without the symbolic full parking lot indicator that all are in attendance on site; unable to work anyplace, in any workplace.

Yes, there are the infamous “innovators” and even “early adaptors”, terms from Everett Rogers’ theory on the Diffusion of Innovations. But more often than not (as in mostly always) if the innovation is social it slides back down into the chasm between these two first stages. Momentum never to be recovered and forces lost that would push the innovation, the change, over the top into critical mass adoption by the majority.

I believe a mindset change is required, or rather a mind shift – a change of perspective, priorities and precedent in order to achieve work in anyplace. To do so, emphasis shifts from rote and repeatable to different and flexible/agile/mobile. Plug and play is replaced by try and progress. One size fits all instantly is replaced by the understanding of the various relational stages of transition such as knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation, and confirmation, to name a few. And that people are in different stages at different times.

Change, transition, movement is a process – a dirty word in some companies with short, quarter-driven spans of sight. Like thorough-bred race horses, their blinders keep them running fast around the track, but unable to see the speeding train coming at them from the side and thus, unable to jump to another track to survive.

The more I learn and am involved in the Red Cross the more I respect and admire the organization. They are a learning organization, from others and their choices, the bad and the good ones. They see the need to adapt and adopt new process, procedures and tools to meet their goals and mission, which ever remains solid and constant.- helping people in times of crisis and disaster. They are unafraid to say “no” when the world at any given time is not in accord or puts up road blocks and leap forward when and where the paths suddenly appear. Corporate American can learn a lot from this organization. I am proud say I am a volunteer.

I am once again returned from my travels, this time from Washington D.C. The main reason for the trip was an invite from Kennan Kellaris Salinero to participate in her first “UnSummit”. She gathered thought leaders from science and various other professions and industries to advance the mission of her non-profit Yámana Science and Technology  and “bring together the ideas, people, and resources alongside new trends in workplace practices to bring out the best in science”. It was an honor to be invited and participate. Thank you Kennan! More about the UnSummit in a future blog. 

 Kennan timed her Science UnSummit 2010 to coincide with Larry Bock’s USA Science and Engineering Festival in D.C.  They closed off blocks of Pennsylvania Avenue on the National Mall, put up rows of booths and drew a huge crowd.

Each booth involved some form of Science. Represented was anything from genomics (there was a traveling RV exhibit), to earthquakes (kids were tumbling blocks), to space (you got into a real space suit) to robotics (a small remote vehicle was traveling around). And all were mobbed by kids. My first thought was “how was this going to work?” You couldn’t just stroll down and see what each as about. You had to stop and participate – become involved. That, it turned out, was the real genius and success of the event.

As I wandered down row after row of booths, there wasn’t a single one that didn’t have at least 4 -5 kids with their hands active or mouths agape, brains raptly engaged – and parents beaming. Kudos to Larry and his small group! I heard that he and only three other people pulled this off. Talk about what a small group can do. If anything should become viral, this is it.

What a way to teach …

….. by and for all people of all ages.

At one point I was strolling down a whole row of NASA booths and looked up to see the signage above the booths. Each had a slogan that was individually and collectively inspirational. I was so taken by the words that I was about to snap pictures of each. Then I spotted a NASA literature booth so I went up to it and asked one of the young women if they had all of the words printed on something I could take with me or could be emailed to me.

She smiled and said no, but they were thinking of posting them on their web site. I exclaimed how much I like them and she answered with a thank you, I created them. Talk about fortuitous serendipity! I happened to go up to the one person that developed them. I think I made her day, as she seemed surprised that anyone noticed them let alone would want more info. Creativity and curiosity, the underpinnings of scientific and other kinds of discovery, comes in many forms. This reminds me that I have to find her card and email her at NASA.

Here are some more of her inspirational words.

Learn it. Engage it. Build it.

     Invent it. Pursue it. Code it.

            Know it. Brainstorm it. Try it.

                        Dream it. Imagine it. Find it.

                                    Define it. Invent it. Try it.

                                                Boost it. Encourage it. Form it.

                                                            Style it. Provoke it. Own it.

                                                                        Share it. Inform it. Plan it.

                                                                                    Find it. Create it. Engage it.

 Coda:

A couple of months ago I was talking with a business associate. At one point she exclaimed that I was so much like a child in my enthusiasm and curiosity.  At first I was sort of insulted. She seemed to imply I was acting like a child. She assured me that she meant it as a compliment and I thanked her.

Afterward it occurred to me how sad it was that the only way we have to describe joyful curiosity and the extensions of creativity, exploration and discovery was “childlike”. Implied is the expectation that after the age of say 6 or 7 we would, and should, lose that, and grow up, become what – dour and serious? How unfortunate for us as a society and the world. And does the latter behavior really produce creativity and innovation? I don’t think so. Something to think about next time you try to crush that energy – from any age.

I attended the Northern California 2010 Agile Open Conference in San Francisco last month.

For those of you who have not experienced an Open Space gathering, I highly recommend it. I have participated in many, each with a completely different type of group, and found self-organization and participation amongst intelligent people to be highly gratifying. I recently met Harrison Owen who founded the open space concept – a real treat. I’ll save that for another blog.

Basic to an Open Space, self-organizing conference is that the participants develop the agenda. They create and host sessions based on topics they want to discuss or learn about that relate to the general conference topic. I hosted a couple of sessions. Below is one I titled “Why Agile?” I wanted to know, to better understand why people were drawn to this way of working.

 Below are my notes on the discussion and “insights” from the session. Thanks Jim, Mark, Mike, Oluf, et al for your great participation!

 Why Agile?

Agile:

• Has a personality orientation. Parallels actual work of coder
• Is trying to address change, attrition, problem solving; managing business better
• Is expandable and scalable
• Has more communication, especially if you do the daily stand-ups, it can shorten the time blocks
• Has the ability to change more quickly to get excellence, less bugs.
• Employs common ownership that leads to visibility (like Open Source) and potentially better cross-collaboration.
• Ownership issues need to be overcome and can be stumbling blocs.
• Is a socialized form of programming, if all teams buy in.
• Raises the team to a higher level.
• Communication – having to verbalize ideas to others has value and brings the ability to evaluate.
• Egos break down, letting go occurs and supportive roles occur
• Brings more career opportunities vs. trapped, pigeon-holed employees/programmers in one spot or role
• More exposure to experiences and experienced people with other skills and knowledge
• Increases retention vs. risk management
• Goes in waves of creativity/productivity. Only so much people can take of constant group communication. People need down time between sprints/scrums.

Lots of interesting insights into the dynamics, people, pros and cons of working on an Agile team.

Thanks all for sharing!

I have recently undertaken Scrum Master training in southern California.

 “Scrum”, as per the Scrum Alliance, “is an Agile framework for completing complex problems … an innovative approach to getting work done.” Most often Scrum is applied, and has evolved from, the software development community. Its practices of fast iteration, sprints, daily communication (Scrum standups), transparency and team work are some of the parts leading to its blossoming success.

 Why Scrum for me?

1.  I was first introduced to Scrum about three years ago. The framework I experienced in support of the creative process was so similar to what I had experienced in my own company and its creative processes years ago that I was overcome with wafts of déjà vu. Scrum mirrors in many ways the original collegial gatherings of old design and architecture charrettes, which most A&D firms have lost or abandoned over the years. The camaraderie, appreciative critique and inquiry and team participative creativity of those days I find can be present and emergent in the current practice of agile.  Finally a vehicle for creativity in the corporate world!
2. Having spent years creating workplaces for software and hardware engineers I have come to the conclusion that there is a huge mismatch, a chasm of incongruence, between the workplace delivered and the real workplace needed by the knowledge workers within them. Watching the systemic business process changes emerging from Scrum further cements my belief in its application and success. However, Scrum’s success is only as possible as it is fed, supported and under the umbrella of the larger concepts of Agile.
   Agile has four overarching principles, paraphrased from the Agile Manifesto:   

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
• Completed functionality over comprehensive documentation
• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
• Responding to change over following a planThat is, while there is value in the items on the right, the items on the left matter more.    

It is clear that without these principles Scrum would fail and that, conversely, the very adherence to the framework of Scrum is  inherently enacts the  principles. They are symbiotic concepts, one dependent on the other for success.

3.

I have come across emerging interest in Agile and Scrum in both of the traditional worlds of Organizational Development (OD) and Project Management (PM). OD comes at it from interest in the new organizational behaviors they represent that are seemingly compatible with trending in change and change management. PM’s interest is from the new project  process perspective. Unfortunately I see each interest looking at it mostly within their current siloed points of view. Scrum is not interested in change per se and adamantly eschews the labels of process and methodology, favoring the term “framework” instead.

But Scrum is not perfect. My research and discussions inform my current thinking. Scrum and Agile are only successful when there is a marriage of:

• A change to partnering and collaborative behavioral skills
• Adherence to the Scrum structural framework, including having the roles Scrum Master – team facilitator and  Product Owner/Manager embodied in two people, not in the same person.
• Respect and utilization of the Agile principles

There is a movement afoot within the agile community to take Scrum and Agile outside software development and into other parts and types of organizations, including non-profits. Stay tuned for my journey there.