In this podcast Shane Hastie, Lead Editor for Culture & Methods, spoke to Arie van Bennekum about Liquid Manifesto, a transformation framework to help organisations shift from old paradigms to new ones.
Key Takeaways
- The Liquid Manifesto is a transformation framework to help organisations shift from old paradigms to new ones
- Changing paradigms is the most difficult thing to do because bringing in new paradigms takes time and old paradigms define reflexes under stress
- Your organisation has the have the capability to respond to change, if not you die
- A Liquid organisation has people and teams who can work independently while remaining coherent, flowing together towards a common goal
- A liquid organisation has a common cause, you know why you are there, you are connected while being very self-organising and you look for continuous improvement
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Show Notes
- 00:32 Introductions
- 01:02 Focusing on delivering value rather than working on predictably failing projects
- 01:42 The moral problem with wasting public money
- 02:08 There is always an excuse to sustain the status-quo, despite knowing that new ways are needed
- 02:22 Stop nagging – start doing. Is something is wrong you have three options – accept, change or leave
- 03:09 Focusing on agile transformations over the last 10 years
- 03:31 Many organisations are undertaking transformations yet not achieving the benefits of agile
- 03:42 Helping organisations become agile and achieve the benefits
- 03:52 The Liquid Manifesto is a transformation framework
- 04:03 The biggest problem in an agile transformation is that you shift paradigms
- 04:12 Changing paradigms is the most difficult thing to do because bringing in new paradigms takes time and old paradigms define reflexes under stress
- 04:32 The Spotify approach is not a model – it was just a way that worked for them at that point in time
- 04:54 The liquid manifesto provides some principles as guidance around how organisations can structure and work to deliver technology products and services more effectively
- 05:27 Agile is inevitable because it gives the organisation the ability to respond to change, which is critical in today’s business environment because the pace of change is constantly increasing
- 05:48 Your organisation has the have the capability to respond to change, if not you die
- 06:25 Technology disrupts business models
- 06:46 You may have an extremely fast IT department but without agility at the highest levels then you it doesn’t matter
- 07:58 If you build the wrong stuff in the right way you still get nowhere
- 08:14 Examples of projects that have wasted hundreds of millions of Euros
- 09:02 While there are some massive complex problems to be solved, over 95% of work in most organisations is either improving the business we currently have or developing new areas and new business models
- 09:27 Air traffic control as an example of the other 5% where change can be slower
- 09:29 Examples of the types of fields where disruptive change is happening and rapid change is necessary for survival
- 10:07 While these ideas have been around for a quite a while, but people don’t want to change
- 10:36 Many of the people who run organisations want to maintain the status quo rather than respond to change
- 10:58 The middle-management layer in many organisations is “permafrost”, not open to change
- 11:25 Standing still is falling behind die
- 12:25 There is a lot of agile in name only adoption
- 13:09 Telling the story of Arie’s switch to working in self-organising teams in 1997
- 13:41 The experience of working in this way, focused on business value became the inspiration for Arie’s contribution to the Agile Manifesto
- 14:41 The longer you remain with an organisation the more rigidly you align with the paradigms and the harder it becomes to change
- 15:05 Contrasting old and new ways of working
- 15:21 Most managers interfere in the day to day activities and requirements rather than trusting their teams to do what is needed
- 15:34 The dangers inherent in silo structures
- 17:05 Introducing the Liquid Manifesto book
- 17:18 You need to clarify and expose what constitutes value in your organisation and product
- 17:36 Examples of ways to find value
- 18:04 Start by generating data that helps to identify value
- 18:28 Examples of how agile/digital transformations can be approached
- 19:10 The panic around wasted money on cancelled projects vs the seeming lack of concern about not having the solution in place shows that the perceived solution had no value
- 20:00 A Liquid organisation has people and teams who can work independently while remaining coherent
- 20:21 Liquid means flexible – able to change direction while flowing together
- 20:41 The value of architecture as a goal framework
- 20:58 Exploring the finance industry as an example of organisations that need to change and how they are limited by the legacy
- 22:00 The liquid manifesto provides principles and guidance around ways to make the changes needed
- 22:38 Transformation takes time
- 22:41 The value of technical excellence in enabling liquid architecture
- 23:17 If you want to have a liquid organisation then silos must be broken and the whole business aligned
- 23:31 Quoting Winston Churchill “Perfection is not a state, it is an ambition”
- 24:12 Agile as a core capability which spans all areas of the organisation
- 24:40 A liquid organisation has a common cause, you know why you are there, you are connected while being very self-organising and you look for continuous improvement
- 25:10 Continuous improvement requires accepting that it’s OK to say that you can do better – it’s not a criticism
- 25:25 Working in a liquid organisation feel natural and flowing – you can get the best out of yourself in a safe environment
- 25:38 The importance of the common cause
- 25:58 For people who suffer from old paradigms this shift is not easy
- 26:27 The importance of taking personal responsibility in a trusting environment
- 27:08 The importance of leadership as a role model for change
- 27:28 Don’t tell people what to do – give them strong support and safety so they can find the best ways for themselves
- 28:26 The people who resist change have logical reasons for doing so – you need to help them see the benefits for themselves
- 28:51 Examples of organisations who failed because of management decisions, not because of team and individual actions
- 29:01 Sustainable change takes years
- 28:28 The value in enabling the management layer to become change leaders for the new ways of working – moving from permafrost to becoming the lubricant of transformation