Disruption and messiness is what’s on the menu

Recently I found myself saying, “Well, we better get good at disruption and messiness because that’s what’s on the menu.” Meaning that, whether or not we like it, we are getting served both. Disruption and messiness. In big heaping spoonfuls.

If we think there is any “going back to normal” after the COVID pandemic, we are sorely mistaken. If we think the business world is going to “settle down” and stop being devastated by so many changes, we may be similarly deluded. Not that delusion is all that bad. It gives the nervous system a needed rest. It just doesn’t work with reality and reality rules. Every time.

Here’s a dose of reality:

The world is more complex than it used to be.
Changes rock us one after the other,
many of which we don’t get to choose,
many which we don’t like,
although they impact us greatly.

When change is constant and NOTHING feels stable, what can we hold on to?
Certainly not a specific business outcome.
Certainly not political or environmental calm.
We can, however, hold on to one other and to Agile.
As we turn toward one another we find comfort, and then creativity.
As we turn toward Agile, we see something far greater than “getting more work done.”

We see that Agile is a way to metabolize change and come out the other end better.
Herein we encounter stability in our chaotically unstable time. 

How?

Agile practices help us make forward motion and create value even in
(especially in)
an uncertain and changeable world.

Agile values and belief system help us work with the world as it is,
not as we hoped it would be or as we incessantly try to force it to be.

Let’s get specific.

Agile practices for metabolizing uncertainty and change include:

• Short time boxes allow us to commit only so far ahead as we can see (a couple of weeks) which provides enough stability to produce real business value.
• Cadence of producing value along the way vs “when will it all be done?” allows us to use our money well by getting value as we go and pivot without losing time and money when the world wracks us with the latest change.
• Fast feedback loops allow us to see cause & effect more directly, and take informed action.

Agile beliefs & values for metabolizing uncertainty and change include:

• Belief in emergence. We are willing to experiment and let emergence guide us. Iterate. Experiment. Learn from doing. Let the better/best things emerge. This is how we build something enduring in a changeable world.
• Transparency + Accountability. We expect to learn and adjust. There is no need to “be right” or “bet the bank” on anything. As long as we bravely look at what is actually so, we can improve. We can also notice the harmful unintended consequences, own up to them and make it better. 
• Interdependence and Collaboration. We believe that many viewpoints, lived experiences, intelligences, and different kinds of smarts are needed to find — not the answer — but the next wise step in our complex situations. 

WELCOMING disruption and messiness will be this era’s super skill.
We can do it. We have what we need.
We can be welcoming because we know how to metabolize change.
There is only the difficulty at the beginning to overcome.
Once we get going, we use Agile and harness change for good.
For a better future.