No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy.

  • Helmuth von Moltke

During the middle of December, teams prepared their objectives and their planning for the next year, defining what they are going to do next. Everything was presented to the whole company

The day before this new year eve, I had a meeting with a lot of persons about a new killing feature. Our concurrents already have this feature. With it, we can earn new customers which are waiting for this function to join the company. We should be able to get a significant increase in our market share.

Moreover, the director and the CTO have already promised the delivery and agreed on a planning. So, no other choice than doing it.

The meeting was with the business owner in charge of deploying this feature and teams involved and impacted by this change. I was surprised by the fact that the CTO has defined the solution.

At the end of the meeting, one of them said : “Already a change in the planning!”.

This remark striked me. That reminded me one of the values from Agile manifesto : “Responding to change over following a plan”

Even if precise plans have been prepared, it can’t resist the reality of the market. You have ideas and you want to implement them. However, when you face concurrency, you have to be flexible and adapt to the situation. The manifesto has understood it well. If we were continuing following the plan, we would have been defeated soon. Even Sun Tzu from “The Art of War” said : “According as circunstances are favorable, one should modify one’s plan”. You must be guided by the situation in attempting to secure a more favorable position.

Judo is a martial art. It means “gentle way”. In french, it is translated into “flexibility way”. What you should understand is not that you have to be like an acrobat in order to win, but you have to acquire a “flexibility” in your way of thinking. You try something against your opponent. If it doesn’t work, don’t push more. Change your plan and prepare for a new attack.

According to the book “les decisions absurdes” (dummy decisions) by Christian Morel, the most effective soldier units are the one which have freedom during the battle. At the beginning, generals define the objective and the initial plan. Instructions are given to soldiers. During the battle, anything can happen. At this moment, soldiers know why they are fighting. They will decide what to do in order to achieve the mission. They have been trained during years, they have experiences of previous battles. Generals let them free and don’t need to interfer.

We should not be afraid or surprised by changes. We should be prepared for them. We should train ourselves and build our minds in order to be “flexible” when we face something unpredictable. Teams should be free to take decisions based on the global vision. Directors and chiefs should give objectives and reasons. They should trust their teams because they will take the best decisions.

Agile means that :

  • teams have to became flexible in their minds
  • they have to know how to adapt in case of a new problem
  • they have to be trusted and free