Transcript of the lightning talk at XP2014 about:
Agile Diversity, theme of XP2014 - 15th International Conference on Agile Software Development May 26-30, 2014, Rome, Italy
Who are you?
Who am I?
What defines yourself, your identity?
Each one of us is unique, is a distinct individual, and is different.
Without diversity there is no identity, without diversity we would be just an army of clones.
For the only fact that we exist, we have the right to our identity, we have the right to diversity.
This is true from a personal point of view, and it's also true in the workplace.
The company I work for, ThoughtWorks, for example actively encourage a diverse range of people in all parts of the company, in terms of such things as gender, religion, race, sexual orientation, and the like.
Everybody has the right to love the person they love, without distinction of gender, religion or race.
You have that right. I have it too.
In Italy we know it very well, without diversity and dissent there is fascism.
That’s why it is important both critical thinking and independent judgment, otherwise we become victims of an ideology.
When someone for example tells you “Do TDD because I know better than you”, this is ideology. I prefer to have the right to ask why, to try and experiment, to make my own decisions.
Diversity also means pluralism, the idea that there are several principle and value systems that may be in conflict with each other and still are useful and fundamentally correct.
Without pluralism we get trapped into tribal fights, as for example Scrum vs Kanban, Lean vs Agile, or TDD vs BDD.
With pluralism instead you can be a Lean and Agile polyglot, you can find contextual fitness for purpose instead of being limited to a 1-size-fits-all solution.
So make yourself, your dears, and those around you who you care about, a gift: recognize and accept diversity, give yourself the possibility to choose among a large rainbow of many different colors and options, and the right to change idea when you feel like it.
You’ll be a better Lean & Agile professional, a better community member, and a better person too.
Embrace change. Embrace diversity.
Print | posted @ giovedì 29 maggio 2014 22:24