An Agile Mindset is triple distilled and matured, like a good Irish Whiskey
Distilled Beliefs, Values and Principles mature to make a Mindset
I recently visited the Teelings Whiskey distillery. Remarkably, it is the first new whiskey distillery in Dublin for 125 years.
The sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of the distillery were memorable of course, but I found the triple distillation process particularly fascinating.
In the photo above, the three bottles contain whiskey as it passes through three separate distillation processes. Beside the bottles, you can see a piece of one of the barrels in which the distilled whiskey is then stored for maturation.
After the first distillation, the liquid produced is called ‘low wine’ and is not fit for consumption. The second distillation produces a liquid called ‘feint.’ Still not ready. After distilling a third time, we have something called ‘new make’ which is sometimes called moonshine or poitin (among other names!).
Even after the triple distillation, the whiskey is not yet ready. It must rest in wooden barrels and mature.
These wooden barrels are also important. Different types of wood can introduce different notes of flavour into the whiskey. In addition, the barrels have typically been used before to store sherry, port or other spirits and their former contents also inflect the whiskey with different flavours.
It got me thinking: isn’t this a nice metaphor for the process of developing an agile mindset?
Developing a mindset takes time. We need to go through processes of learning to understand and incorporate agile beliefs, values and principles. Even after that learning, knowledge needs to rest and mature in the barrel of our mind.
Our mindset takes years to mature in our coopered consciousness. It will ultimately be flavoured by our own prior experiences, and develop in a subtly idiosyncratic way.
Distillation is “the purification or concentration of a substance, the obtaining of the essence or volatile properties contained in it, or the separation of one substance from another, by such a process.” (Source: Dictionary.com)
In order to develop a more effective agile mindset, it is necessary to distill beliefs, values, and principles. Just like distillation, real learning takes time.
Distillation of Beliefs
Humility is required in your interactions with others. Is that something you believe in? In order to truly learn this belief, it may be necessary to examine your relationship with your ego and how it influences your behaviours.
Do you believe in the value of different leadership styles, appropriate for different contexts? Initially, we may believe that one leadership style is enough.
Then there is a belief in empiricism underpinning the activities of an agile team. A belief in transparency, inspection, and adaptation is at the core of an agile mindset. Solution intent and discovery are another related and important part. The alternative is to believe in understanding all the ‘requirements’ before starting a ‘project’…
It takes time to distil learning on humility, leadership and empiricism and to incorporate them into your own beliefs, but distilling this learning will help you develop an agile mindset.
Distillation of Values
Do you know the five Scrum Values? Living the Scrum Values will help you build upon your own personal values and how they interact and coalesce with an agile mindset.
Embracing the four values of the Agile manifesto is undeniably important. Regardless of the framework you are currently working with, or the context in which you work, it is not enough to have simply read these four sentences. We also need to understand the value of each and why they are important.
Do you bring a lean perspective to your approach to work, prizing the reduction of waste, delays and important bottlenecks? Lean thinking is at the core of Scrum and many agile approaches, so this learning needs to be incorporated.
It takes time to distil learning of these values and incorporate them into your own, but this second distillation process will help you develop an agile mindset.
Distillation of Principles
Do you have a deep understanding of the 12 principles of the Agile Manifesto? Genuinely understanding how these principles relate to you and your personal experiences will give you a more authentic agile mindset.
Internalising the 14 principles of eXtreme Programming and using them to guide your own decision-making will also help build your agile mindset.
The simplicity and applicability of the 10 principles from the Scaled Agile Framework might surprise you. They are certainly worth understanding, distilling and internalising.
It takes time to understand all of these principles and incorporate them, but this third distillation process will help you develop an agile mindset.
Allowing a Mindset to Mature
When you have learned and internalised beliefs, values, and principles, your agile mindset will undoubtedly be developing.
However, it takes time for this to mature, and the learning journey never ends.
In order to mature your agile mindset, some further learning is needed. Indeed, it will be difficult to lead or coach others without a deep interest in maturing your own mindset.
Do you know what a growth mindset is? Believing in the potential for others to learn will help your own mindset to mature. Alternatively, perhaps you believe that it is the responsibility of a leader to know more than a team of knowledge workers, or that it is difficult for others to learn…
Perhaps you have ‘passion’ for agile approaches. How is your perseverance, or your ability to stick with it when things get difficult? A mature agile mindset requires a healthy dose of perseverance to succeed.
Do you understand why complexity is important? Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity should become part of your vocabulary. Understanding the different approaches available in different contexts will help your agile mindset to mature. Alternatively, you might believe in the need for certainty…
In order to mature your agile mindset and genuinely live the Scrum Values, consider how clear your understanding is of empiricism. Values and principles can guide your decision-making. Empiricism will help you understand if you are on the right track.
If you can distill your understanding of agile beliefs, values and principles, the next step is allowing your understanding of complexity, perseverance, and growth to mature. This knowledge cannot be crammed or certified in two days. It need to settle.
With all of these elements working together, your agile mindset will start to develop and mature. But remember, there is no need to rush this process. Take your time with it. Do your best to avoid diluting it.
In other words, treat the process like making a good Irish whiskey.
