Be original, don't just follow a 'manifesto' or 'guide'

One original thought is worth a thousand mindless quotings - Diogenes

It's been said by many that there's no such thing as an original thought or idea. Mark Twain one of America's greatest writers of all time author of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn famously said;

There is no such thing as a new idea it is impossible we simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental Kaleidoscope we give them a turn and make new and curious connections

So, how did Einstein come up with the theory of relativity, Newton with gravitation theory or Plato with his philosophy? Or how about something closer to home, how about the Agile Manifesto how did they come up with that? Let's have a chat about it.

Now for 30 seconds try and think of something original anything at all. Start with something important to you. Coming up with the original idea is not the goal here, the important part is the process.

So pause for a moment and give it a go, I'll wait, go on try it, have a think...

Ok look if you tried it then most likely you drew upon your shared experience with others, experimentation and past observation, combining knowledge and techniques and any socialising you've done outside of your normal circles, gaining knowledge you otherwise wouldn't have had.

This is how all great original ideas and thoughts start. Now there's a well-known quote by Diogenes famously turned into graffiti art by Banksy in New York:

One original thought is worth a thousand mindless quotings

Meaning, one original thought is worth a thousand that are not but which is itself another quote. Diogenes was a famous cynic and did live nearly two and a half thousand years ago.

Agile values and principles advocate collaboration, interactions, communication and group reflection so we can adapt together. It's part of the journey to being agile rather than just doing it.

But knowing the Agile Manifesto by heart or being able to quote the Scrum Guide word for word is not going to lead us to new and better ways of working. It won't lead us to anything original for the context we’re working in.

Look, there's no magic recipe and although it's a cliche and makes me start shivering saying it, agile, Scrum or any of the other frameworks are not silver bullets.

The reality is that in life excellence and Innovation don't come from memorisation and regurgitation or from consistent execution of well-known activities. In order to move the bar, in order to create something new, in order to push the boundaries there has to be original thought.

The ability to connect the dots in new ways. Yes you have to have the basics to do that but you can connect the values and principles to all the others finding how they interact and amplify each other drawing conclusions and theories from study and lived experience.

Connecting the dots is what it's all about.

So you're never going to actually be agile, achieve agility, by simply following a manifesto or a guide. Not only do you have to understand the connections and relationships between the values and principles, how? By experimentation. But you also need to expand your thinking, how? By collaboration and communication with others, by reading, attending events and conventions, study.

Look, Einstein didn't come up with his theories by reading one physics book or sticking to established theories at the time. The 17 people who wrote the Agile Manifesto didn't meet up at a Snowbird Ski Resort back in Utah in 2001 and miraculously come up with it there and then. It was from their experience over many years, through inspection and adaptation and their shared experiences on what works and what doesn’t.

Agile Manifesto meet up at a Snowbird Ski Resort back in Utah in 2001

Experimentation trial and error, learning from failure, starting again and never thinking that you've reached the goal, that's what it's all about.

Now you hear of many agile transformation failures and even that agile is dead, there are many reasons for this but one of the main ones is that people think that they can simply follow a guide or a Playbook that will show them the way, well, it won’t.

Innovation and original thought aren't limited to management or the C-Suite in fact some of the most valuable original thoughts come from the ones who execute the work daily, finding a process or technique that creates efficiencies or solves a practical problem.

Ideas don't go anywhere it's about the execution of the idea

So actively make time for this and create the time and space for the next great original thought or idea by being open to new, and old, thinking through collaboration and communication by building relationships by learning.