The end of agile (X)

(to listen to the soundtrack of this post click on this link)

Spirit with a vision
Is a dream with a mission
– Rush

In February 2011 we had put into production one of the most ambitious projects my team had taken on up to that point.

We met the deadline, although technically the system wasn’t finished. As I explained before, if we commit to a date our focus is on meeting the deadline. Management is aimed at hitting that milestone first; if that requires cutting scope, then scope gets cut. Another important measure is risk management: keeping everyone informed of the impediments that stand in the way of the date and taking steps to mitigate them. So once the go-live milestone was met, a later stage of continuous improvement began, to stabilize the system and cover as many of the requirements in the original scope as possible.

Boston

“I'm shipping up to Boston
— Dropkick Murphys

After that milestone, in May 2011 I traveled to Boston, Massachusetts, to attend that year’s Red Hat Summit. I had also received recognition from the company for my work in those first years, so I was feeling happy.

The event was interesting, because there I got to attend the launch of the first version of Openshift.

That is how the memories of what I saw on that visit to Borland in the 90s came back to life. I wanted us to work with continuous integration. It would still be a couple of years before we started implementing this technology in our company.

One of the first important changes of that period also took place. Rubén Valenzuela told us he had decided to accept an offer from Oracle and would be leaving the company. That meant a major restructuring. So we decided to split our systems area: the team of DBAs and systems engineers would join Previred’s main systems team. The support and QA group would report to me. So we began the search for someone to take charge of this area, which we temporarily called the “operations area”. That is how Elizabeth Sepúlveda joined our team.

That year Carolina Rojas also took charge of the entire development team, and that is how the core organization of my team was born.

The power trio that would support my management over these years was born at that time, although it wouldn’t be consolidated until a good while later. Carolina Rojas in charge of project management and the team of developers, Elizabeth Sepúlveda in quality control and support, and Miguel González in architecture. These three people were with me in 2011, but their titles and final positions took shape over several years.

Power Trio

Today is the day for you to rise,
Take my hand, you're gonna be my man,
You're gonna rise
— Jimi Hendrix Experience

In rock, a power trio [is a lineup originally made up of an electric guitar, an electric bass and a drum kit. This lineup was born in the sixties; some of the first examples are Cream and The Jimi Hendrix Experience.]{style=“letter-spacing: 0.01rem;”}

ZZ Top is an example of a famous Texas blues power trio, formed in 1970. In prog we have Rush, and Emerson, Lake and Palmer; in the latter case the guitar is replaced by synthesizers.

And one of the best power trios of the eighties is of course The Police. When they came to Chile in 2008, my sister gave me tickets to see them for my birthday. It was an incredible night, seeing the three Brits and in particular Stewart Copeland, one of my favorite drummers, live.

Intermezzo

And the colors of the sea
Blind your eyes with trembling mermaids
And you touch the distant beaches
With tales of brave Ulysses
— Cream

In July 2010 I reflected on the number three:

“Triple is the manifestation of the Goddess, as Maiden (Kore), as Mother or grown Woman (Demeter) and as Crone or Witch (Hecate). Like the moon: Waxing, Full, Waning.

Three are the Moirai (or Fates), who decided the destiny of men: Clotho, who spun the thread of life, Lachesis, who measured it, and the most terrible, Atropos, who cut it.”
Three the Gorgons: Medusa, Stheno and Euryale. Three the Graeae, the nymphs of the Styx, who shared a single eye and who were tricked by Perseus into giving up the helm of Hades and the magical objects he needed to accomplish his feat.

Triple was the division of the calendar of the ancients, into 3 seasons, not four like ours. 360 days, in 12 months of 30 days, and 4 days of renewal. Multiples of 3, like the 24 hours.

Triple is the god of the Christians, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, represented by an equilateral triangle pointing upward.

Triple are the stories of the brothers, the eldest, the middle one and the youngest (who is always the hero). Like the three little pigs, or Silvio Rodríguez’s fable of the three brothers.

Triple are the jokes, with a first act, second act, third act, and the jokes with 3 characters, usually from neighboring countries (an Argentine, a Peruvian and a Chilean…), or from three powers (the president of the United States, the president of Russia and of course the president of Chile are on a plane…).

Three are the chances, three are the wishes granted by the genie in the bottle.

Third time’s the charm!

Three parts a drama must have, says Aristotle: beginning, middle and end. Three acts, according to Syd Field’s paradigm for screenplays: setup, confrontation, resolution.

“I love, I love, I love you”, Mr. Darcy repeats three times to Lizzy in the film version of Pride and Prejudice, my wife’s favorite. And the three women in my house sigh in unison when they watch that scene. I prefer it when Leonidas uses the triple formula in 300: “My Queen, My Wife, My Love”.

Three, always three.
Something is wired into our brain that demands this triple structure, this triple repetition, the triple sigh. Three.

Three points define a plane, which is why the [most stable table is the one with three legs. So what does the number three have to offer us?

The three Ps

When the world is running down
You make the best of what's still around
— The Police

As a leader, administrator, manager, boss, your main concern should be three things, Julie Zhuo advises in her book: The Making of a Manager.

I call them the 3 Ps of management:

Purpose, People and Process

Purpose is about defining the reason, the Why that Simon Sinek talks about in his famous TED talk. Sinek doesn’t propose a business strategy in that talk; what he explains is the way leaders inspire. It’s important to draw that distinction.

The second element is people, that is, the who. They are the most important element; they are the ones the vision must be addressed to.

The third element of this golden triangle is the how, that is, the process. Take care to establish and communicate the purpose well, choose the right people, then set up and continuously improve the process, which is the way things get done. That is the key to start moving forward.

I’ll sum them up in this diagram:

This is a true power trio that, I believe, will let you pull through on every project you take on and commit to.

Purpose, People and Process.

At the center of the triangle the what emerges: the product, the result of your management.

Coda

Synchronicity
A connecting principle,
Linked to the invisible
Almost imperceptible
– The Police

I just want to add one more thing.

Kierkegaard tells us that life consists of a series of decisions we make day after day. Our existence is, in the end, the result of those decisions. We make those decisions based on what we are and what we want to be.

“Life is not a problem to be solved but a reality to be experienced”.

You’ll understand, then, that in 2011 this triangle I’ve shown you was not a concept I had clear or defined. I was barely moving forward, making the best decisions that seemed right to me at the time. Every choice was a bet. Every bet had results and consequences. Not every decision was the right one, and we made many mistakes.

Kierkegaard says “Life can only be understood looking backward, but it must be lived looking forward”. What the Danish philosopher is telling us is that to understand what we are we must look to our past.

This series has let me understand many things about who I am as a person, as well as how our team came to be and to work the way it does. But the most important thing is that we mustn’t get trapped in the past. There are situations we can no longer change, and staying stuck lamenting them is dying slowly. I refuse to do that, of course. When I feel calm and complete it will mean I’m ready and resigned to die. So as valuable and entertaining as these memoirs are, the best is yet to come.

Notes

Chapter 9 of this series is here.

The start of the whole series is at this link.