Agility and the Cargo Cult - Part 1

This article is the first in a series about Agility at work. Before diving into methods and practices, let's take a moment to explore a little-known story. It illustrates the problems of imitation without really understanding it: the Cargo Cult.

The Cargo Cult: an essential lesson for Agility at work

Some business practices are inspired by models that have been tried and tested elsewhere, but imitation isn't always the best way to go. In this article, we'll look at how the Cult of Cargo still affects us today and why it's important to understand its risks.

The origins of the Cargo Cult

Back in the 1940s, during the Second World War, some isolated Pacific tribes witnessed a mysterious phenomenon. Foreign soldiers landed on their islands, built airstrips and, with the help of radios, received air-dropped cargoes of food and equipment. To these people, these events seemed like magic. When the war ended and the soldiers left, the shipments stopped arriving. Hoping to bring back these precious goods, the tribes tried to recreate the conditions they had observed. They built rudimentary runways, made pretend planes out of wood and imitated the soldiers' gestures, praying for the planes to come back.

This behavior became a symbol of blind imitation: the Cargo Cult, the act of reproducing the outward forms of a success without understanding the mechanisms and root causes that brought it about.

The parallel to Agility at work

Surprisingly, this phenomenon is sometimes echoed in the modern corporate world, particularly in the way Agile is adopted. For several years now, many organizations have been trying to become “Agile”, hoping that this transformation will bring them innovation, speed and success. Unfortunately, many fall into the Cargo Cult trap: they adopt Agile rituals - ceremonies, Kanban boards, sprints - without really integrating the underlying philosophy. They focus on the practices rather than the essence of Agile.

To understand this phenomenon, it's important to go back to the basics of Agility. Born in the 2000s in response to the challenges of software development, Agility is an approach that favors flexibility, adaptation and collaboration. Unlike traditional project management methods from the industrial sector, such as Waterfall or V-Cycle, which are linear and sequential, Agility is based on an iterative, empirical approach.

Understanding the Agile manifesto: The basics of a successful approach

Agile is based on a set of values and principles formulated in 2001 by 17 IT development experts in what is known as the Agile Manifesto.

This manifesto contains four fundamental values:

1. People and their interactions more than processes and tools.

2. Operational software rather than exhaustive documentation.

3. Collaboration with customers more than contractual negotiation.

4. Adapting to change more than following a plan.

These values are underpinned by twelve principles, some of which are critical to avoiding the Cargo Cult. For example, the principle of “deliver working software frequently” encourages short development cycles, enabling us to gather feedback quickly and adapt accordingly. Emphazing daily collaboration between users and developers ensures that the products developed truly meet the changing market needs.

The dangers of the Agile Cargo Cult

When Agile is adopted without really understanding its basics, organizations risk falling into surface-level behaviors. For example, some organizations set up Daily Stand-ups, Sprints, and Retrospectives, but without any real commitment from the teams or understanding of why these practices exist. The result is often a false sense of Agility, where the appearance of Agility is present, but the promised benefits are not achieved.

The Cargo Cult in Agile also manifests itself when tools and processes are privileged to the detriment of human interaction and collaboration. Substantial investments are made in Agile management software, but the importance of creating a culture of trust and autonomy within teams is neglected. The risk then is that Agility is reduced to a series of checkboxes that stifle true innovation and flexibility.

It's the same with tools like Scrum or Kanban. They're just ways to apply Agile, not the whole deal itself. Take Scrum, for example. It has specific roles, ceremonies, and artifacts, but if you don't really get Agile values, these practices can quickly become empty rituals or even worse, constraints on teams.

Getting back to basics: The Heart of Agility

To avoid these pitfalls, it's critical to get back to basics. Dr. Alistair Cockburn, one of the signatories of the Agile Manifesto, sums up the heart of Agile in four key actions: collaborate, deliver, reflect, improve.

These actions are interconnected and must be integrated into the corporate culture if Agile is to become more than just a set of practices.

1. Collaborate: Foster open and continuous communication among all stakeholders.

2. Deliver: Focus on delivering value frequently, even in small increments.

3. Reflect: Step back regularly to assess what's working and what needs improvement.

4. Improve: Integrate lessons learned to continually adapt and evolve.

By integrating these principles on a daily basis, companies can transform Agility into a true driver of innovation, rather than simply following practices and rituals whose meaning and value have not really been integrated.

Escaping the Cargo Cult

To apply Agile successfully, it's important to take a pragmatic, empirical approach. Here are a few tips to avoid the Cargo Cult trap:

1. Understand the real needs: Before adopting Agile practices, identify the specific problems you're trying to solve. This allows you to adapt Agility to your context, instead of blindly following it.

2. Educate teams and organizations in the Agile philosophy: Invest in training so that teams understand not only the practices, but also the principles and values that underlie them.

3. Promote a culture of experimentation: Encourage teams to experiment and adapt Agile practices to meet their specific needs. Don't think of Agile frameworks as immutable rules, but as tools to be adapted.

4. Evaluate the effectiveness of practices regularly: Organize retrospectives not only for teams, but also at the organizational level. Ask yourself: Are we really agile, or are we just imitating rituals?

Conclusion

The story of the Cargo Cult teaches us an important lesson: imitating the outward forms of a success is not enough to reproduce it. Similarly, for Agile to deliver the expected benefits, it is necessary to understand and adopt its fundamental principles, rather than limit oneself to superficial practices. Embrace Agility for what it really is: a culture of adaptability, collaboration and continuous improvement, not a set of rituals to be blindly followed.

If you really integrate the principles and values of Agile into your corporate culture, you'll be able to avoid the pitfalls of the Cargo Cult, and reap the full benefits of a truly Agile approach to both organization and product development.