Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Community change through agile software principles?

I finished day one of "Certified Scrum Product Owner Training" and I am reminded of why I like agile development. While it can do great things for products, I really appreciate the community building aspects of it. Taking a closer look at the values of agile...

...to me, these have direct parallels to community work.

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools -- people and their interactions with one another are pretty much at the center of any community.

Working software over comprehensive documentation -- Ok, so community work is not software. That being said, I interpret this as focusing on what we can do together (build working software, communities, interactions, etc) rather than focusing on how people think we get there (detailed documentation, program initiatives, etc)

Customer collaboration over contract negotiation -- again communities aren't always made of of customers. To me, I see this as really getting all of the people involved in decisions and issues that impact them.

Responding to change over following a plan -- communities are dynamic, as are product roadmaps. You have to adapt to be relevant whether in business or in our communities on a day to day basis.

I love it when my work and civic life blur.

Loosely related...
Achieving that flow state for user experiences
When individual interests and the public good intersect

mmm, johnnycakes

Just ran across this video clip of Obama talking about Dixie Kitchen's johnnycakes. Man, I miss those. Maybe next time I'm in Chicago....