I just remembered I had this book above my desk. In Sterman's Business Dynamics, chapter 1, he has two diagrams of the "learning loop" (pages 16 and 19).
In my mind, the benefit of agile is that it encourages a movement towards the double-loop learning model (pg 19), which is a struggle for many people and most organizations, from a single-loop learning model (pg 16) (assuming there is even a learning loop present at all).
The single-loop learning model:
Mental Models of Real World
|
v
Strategy, Structure, Decisions Rules
|
v
Decisions <------------+
| |
v |
Real World |
| |
v |
Information Feedback --+
Note that the loop only goes back to the decisions, not the mental models and strategies.
The double-loop learning model (another ASCII art attempt) closes the loop and brings the feedback back to the mental models (using abbreviations to shrink it a bit):
MM ------> SSDR
^| |
|v v
IF------->Decisions
^ |
| |
+--- RW <---+
Agile promotes exactly this sort of thing, which many process-centric organizations do not. Waterfall doesn't promote learning. Most processes, as written or as implemented, fail to promote this learning and updating effort. For people willing to step back and read the Agile Manifesto, to read some of the texts on Lean (manufacturing or software), to read about the origin of the idea of DevOps (rather than assuming it's a job title), to read about the Theory of Constraints, you'll see this continuous learning and improving element is common to all of them and to many of the case studies. It's not about standups, it's not about time boxing, it's not about cross-functional teams. It's the ability to introspect, learn, and adapt.
Honestly I only got a few chapters in before life took over. But I have liked what I read. It’s my sisters copy from a grad school class and she and her classmates liked it but I don’t know how much of that was the class versus the book.
Great thanks, I'm considering applying to grad school as well. This book is a big part of their core curriculum, so I was curious to see if it was any good.
In my mind, the benefit of agile is that it encourages a movement towards the double-loop learning model (pg 19), which is a struggle for many people and most organizations, from a single-loop learning model (pg 16) (assuming there is even a learning loop present at all).
The single-loop learning model:
Note that the loop only goes back to the decisions, not the mental models and strategies.The double-loop learning model (another ASCII art attempt) closes the loop and brings the feedback back to the mental models (using abbreviations to shrink it a bit):
Agile promotes exactly this sort of thing, which many process-centric organizations do not. Waterfall doesn't promote learning. Most processes, as written or as implemented, fail to promote this learning and updating effort. For people willing to step back and read the Agile Manifesto, to read some of the texts on Lean (manufacturing or software), to read about the origin of the idea of DevOps (rather than assuming it's a job title), to read about the Theory of Constraints, you'll see this continuous learning and improving element is common to all of them and to many of the case studies. It's not about standups, it's not about time boxing, it's not about cross-functional teams. It's the ability to introspect, learn, and adapt.