creativity

Agile Creativity – Principle #8: Sustainability

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)

Let me say up front this is one of my favorite Agile Principles (#10 is up there too.). It’s obvious, thought-provoking, and in-your face.

Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.

Yes, the Agile Principles state outright that you should find and keep a pace that can be maintained indefinitely, and everyone should have that pace. I’d love to phrase this positively, but let’s face it, it’s a principle about not burning out.

Yes, way back in 2001 the Agile gurus were well aware of the potential for burnout, death marches, and more and made it part of their principles.

Agile Processes Promote Sustainable Development.

Agile processes make sure that development is sustainable – that the inputs, velocity, testing, processes, demands, etc. all are aimed so everyone (and I do mean everyone) involved could keep this up forever.  This of course makes sense – once you find a doable pace you’re able to continue, predictably, over time.  When there is deviation, you can adapt as you’ve got a stable pace going.  When it’s sustainable you can keep delivering value.

This flies in the face of so much we’re taught about work, leisure, and so on. We’re taught to expect death marches. We’re taught to expect rushes. We’re taught to idolize being overworked. This Agile Principle outright states ‘bollocks to that’ and says ‘no.’ Or if we want to put it positively, says ‘yes’ to sustainability.

But I’ve seen so many death marches and overtime pushes I like the “no” part.  But let’s get away from negative/positive, let’s talk about why this matters to creatives.

  1. Creatives are often in areas and industries that promote death marches and rushes.
  2. Even if we’re not in #1 we often do it to ourselves.
  3. The unpredictability of creative work may lead us to pace ourselves erratically anyway – and accept it as normal.
  4. Because of these issues we don’t try to find a way to work better.
  5. All this stress outright kills creativity – and the goodwill that’s needed for it.  It’s a testimony to many creatives that they’ve sustained in the face of so many things.

Because it is so important this means . . .

We Need to Consciously Work On Sustainability

You don’t just say “hey, let’s be sustainable” and it happens.  It’s something you work on – this principle reminds us to commit to it, to make sure we find a pace we can all work at, together.

This principle, despite the fact it’s a call to work appropriately, is also a call to work on sustainability.  You need to take the time and effort to make work sustainable.  You need to educate yourself on principles and processes to make things sustainable.  Hopefully this is the collective “you” – all the sponsors, users, and developers in your creative work.

But it might be the lone “you.”  Sorry, you might be the lone voice of sustainability and have to advocate.  Maybe these columns can help, but let me emphasize that if you’re using Agile, keep reading up on it and researching it.  There’s plenty of knowledge out there.

Note that this Principle means everyone in the project.  It could just be you and one client, it could be a giant team and users/audience.  So let’s talk about how the three different groups – sponsors, developers, users – can promote sustainability on a creative project.

Sponsors And Sustainability

Sponsors are the people asking for the work. It would seem their role is obvious – don’t overload people!  Of course it’s not that obvious.  Each of the three groups have different interactions on creative projects.  So how can Sponsors work with the other groups?

Developers:

  • Sponsors need to understand what pace Developers can work at and support it – perhaps even push back on those pressuring them.
  • Sponsors need to work with Developers and be available so they can both assist developers, but also stay aware of their pace and sustainability.
  • Sponsors need to listen to Developers; the developers know what they’re doing. In creative work, this is exceptionally important because of the little intricacies and intimacies.

Users:

  • Sponsors need to understand User expectations – not just what is wanted, but what can be handled. it might sound great to shovel out a ton of stuff (such as game patches), but this may limit feedback and communication. Users can only handle so much.
  • Sponsors should listen to Users and get feedback, finding ways to encourage sustainable development.  This may also mean understanding User perspectives – and what they want and you want may differ.
  • Sometimes the Sponsor is the User – and you’ll need to figure out how you feel in both roles.

In promoting sustainable development, a good Sponsor is realistic, listens, facilitates – and doesn’t overload Developers. I won’t lie – sometimes you become a firewall or a funnel. Be a good one.

Now a few warnings. Where does this usually go wrong in creative works?

  • Sponsors often come to Developers far too late in creative processes – I’ve seen it a number of times. Sponsors should engage Developers in creative works as early as possible and learn their pace.
  • Sponsors overload Developers. This often fails, leads to bad blood, and the “there’s more where that came from” attitude I see a bit too often in creative fields makes enemies.
  • Sponsors don’t pay attention to Users or assume on what they want. They often get it wrong.
  • Sponsors assume they know how the creative process works. Often they’re wrong because even if they are a creative, each creative is different.

With sponsors covered, let’s get to Developers – which, my guess, covers a lot of my readers.

Developers And Sustainability

Developers make the creative work. Also an obvious role, but a Developer’s role is really kind of strange – they’re an expert in making something who often deal with people who aren’t. Thus you’re trying to give people what they want when they don’t know how you do it. Though they probably think they do and it drives you crazy.

Worse, you’re sort of in the middle of the Users and the Sponsors. You spend a lot of time making something for the actual target audience, you do research, so sometimes you end up as a bridge. When the User and Sponsor is the same (say, if you’re doing an art piece for someone directly), they can still seem like two different people and you have to bridge the gaps in someone’s own head.

(Ever have someone argue with themselves about a creative work? Probably.)

Finally, you’re probably the one most aware of any burnout, overload, or unsustainability, and you have to tell people about it. Sometimes those people aren’t happy with you. OK most of the time.

So first up, if you’re a Creative (and you probably are if you’re reading this), get ready to do a lot of psychology for yourself and for others. You do the work others don’t do, see things differently, and are kind of in the middle. However, to make sure your work is sustainable, you have to think about them.

Sponsors:

  • Give Sponsors feedback and information to help them pace themselves and pace working with you. The more pre-emptively you give them an idea of what’s sustainable, the quicker they’ll get it.
  • Help Sponsors reach a sustainable pace – they don’t do the work, they may not know what it is. You might save them from burnout and being overly pressured – or help them find they can do more.
  • Help Sponsors understand your work and what you’re doing so they can work with you sustainably.
  • If needed, bridge the gap between them and the user on what’s sustainable.
  • You’re also probably the one most focused on using Agile methods, so help them understand them – including the Eight Principle.

Users:

  • Understand Users have a limit to what they can process and work with that. Their pace may be slower than yours, so you need to slow down, or faster, and you need to find a reasonable delivery.  That may need to be communicated to Sponsors – and in creative work the pace may vary a lot.
  • Users may not understand their own limits; be aware of the.
  • Remember to work feedback from the Users of your creative work into your plans and pacing. Feedback can consume a lot of time.
  • Learn to understand how the users think and communicate. Help bridge gaps with the Sponsors.
  • Users might not get the creative efforts you put in – find ways to subtly make them aware (it helps set expectations)

A good creative Developer is aware of their process and abilities so they can not only pace themselves, but pace themselves with others, and help others pace themselves. Because you’re where work happens, you’re the most able to understand what’s going on and what can probably be sustained. You just have to make the effort.

Now a few bits of advice for Creative Developers trying to keep a sustainable pace in Creative work.

  • Sustainability also incorporates probable interruptions – vacation, illness, training, etc.
  • Yes, there will always be rushes. Minimize them, adapt, work them into expectations.
  • Don’t assume because you know how the creative process works that you’re superior – don’t get arrogant. That can lead to over-confidence and/or poor communication with Sponsors and Users.
  • Also remember how unpredictable creative work can be – communicate that but also work to minimize it.

Users and Sustainability

It feels weird to even go into this part – this is pitched at Agile Creatives. That definitely covers Developers and may cover Sponsors. But Users? They’re the end consumer of a creative product. They may not be that interested in all this.

I include this however because you, doubtlessly a Creative of some kind, will be communicating with Users (and thus you can figure how they can work with you), and probably are a User at some point (and can work better with others). It’s my small way to bridge the Developer-User gap in Creative work. Whatever side you’re on, you can help the other side work better.

One thing Users forget is that they to have to have a sustainable pace, and it’s easy to think “I can handle anything” delivered to you because you want it. However, getting too much of a good thing is not sustainable – you can’t enjoy it, can’t give feedback, etc. You to, even as a pure consumer, have limits, and pushing those does no favors to the people doing work for you.

Sponsors:

  • I find Users are often very abstract from Sponsors, from idolizing them to being suspicious of them, to ignoring them. Instead, be aware of them and who they are – and their motivations.
  • Understand sponsors have their own limits. Learn to be a responsible User in your demands and interests.
  • Find ways to engage Sponsors realistically – if they actually engage you, be grateful (I find a lot of Sponsors aren’t to great at this).
  • Be aware that the pipeline between Sponsors, Developers, and you has a lot of bumps.

Developers:

  • Respect the Developers time and understand that they are often not only the limitation on delivery, they’e also the ones doing a lot of work.
  • Engage constructively with Developers. In fact, the more you engage with them, the better you understand sustainability, and the more you can help them with feedback.
  • if you’re really engaged with Developers, learn how they work on their creative projects.  It’ll help you appreciate them – and you may learn some things.

I don’t have a lot of other advice for Users promoting Creative Agile to use Sustainability except for this – remember you’re part of the process to.  Working with others means much better stuff on your end.

Moving On- Sustainably

Sustainable development requires everyone’s effort – and commitment.  In a creative project, this is even more of a challenge.  It requires everyone to get on board.

Of course if not everyone is on board, you’ll get to help with that because you’re the one reading this.

So let’s round up what we can learn:

  • Good Agile involves sustainability.
  • This sustainability requires all sides to be involved and committed.
  • Each of those involved in an Agile project – creative or otherwise – has a role to play.
  • Sustainability is more challenging in creative projects due to a variety of factors.

 

– Steve

Agile Creativity – Principle #7: Usable Work

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)

We’ve passed the halfway points! We’re now on the Seventh Principle behind the Agile Manifesto. It looks simple, and in fact is simple, which means I’m going to go on at length about it. Let’s take a look:

Working software is the primary measure of progress.

Yeah, it’s pretty clear isn’t it? I’m very fond of it because the idea is the measure of progress is something that actually works. No maybies, no charges, no plans, no mockups. Something that works is how you measure progress.

But let’s tweak it a bit for creatives, since creative work involves a wide range of stuff from art to presentations to films.

Usable products are the primary measure of progress.

There, not much of a change, but we broadened it out. You measure progress primarily by giving people things that are usable.

Now of course, I’m going to analyze the heck out of it.

You measure progress with something people can use – even if imperfect

Your efforts should focus on giving people something they can use and experience – that’s it.  It’s usable/working/review-able or whatever you want to call it.  That does not mean it is:

  • Complete.
  • Ready for public release.
  • Ready for all of your customers to use.
  • Even that good.

You may deliver work that’s incomplete and lousy, but at least each embarrassingly bad delivery there’s something people can use to give you feedback.  You will improve it over time.

As you may guess this means . . .

Delivering usable product means feedback

Giving people something they can use, no matter how incomplete or half-baked, at least means you’ll get feedback on it. It may not be nice feedback, it may mean a lot more work, it may mean a change of direction. But at least you know what to do next.

So the more often you deliver, the better you do getting people to their destination – because you learn how to better get there.  It’s a lot like navigation – in fact your customer or client may learn about what they really want once they have something they can really experience.

But it’s not just people who give feedback. You and your team give each other feedback. If it’s just you, then YOU give yourself feedback (even if it’s “that was dumb”). You also learn by making something usable as opposed to reaching abstract deadlines and milestones.

There’s nothing like having to make something workable to really learn what you have to do, and what you shouldn’t have done.

Now to do this . . .

This almost always means iterative development – so plan for it

So as you’ve probably guessed from reading so far, this Principle really hearkens to iterative development. You measure progress with usable product, so you’ll be delivering useable product over time – probably improvements of previous deliveries. That’s pretty common in Agile, obviously and we’ve already discussed it.

But this means that anything useable you deliver is something you should plan for and keep in mind. Don’t just work on something, work on it in a way that helps you give actual results as often as possible. This could mean:

  • Constant refinement, like putting a logo through more and more iterations.
  • Delivering in usable parts, like a costume where each piece is complete (and, say, at least display-worthy).
  • Delivering in review-able parts, like a piece of writing where each chapter is something that can be edited.

So you can keep getting work out, do that work in the best way that keeps delivering useable results. Because when you do that . . .

Usable Products Are THE Way to Measure Progress

Delivering usable products is the way to measure progress. There’s the obvious ones of “this customer is happy,” but you can also use this to get a bit more mechanical and procedural.

  • If you have a list of features for something, like perhaps a game, as you deliver them in prototype, you can check them off. Yes, some may be wrong or changed, but you can get a rough idea of progress.
  • If you are aiming for certain numbers, such as a performance score or loading speed or image size, then you can measure them – with workable product.
  • Of course, you get abstract feedback from others, maybe customers or even beta testers and early access users. They might provide other quantifiable forms of feedback, ranging from yes/no responses to answering polls and questions.

From simple lists of features to complex analysis, usable product is not just a way to measure results in general, but gives you a way to get specific results, maybe even complex ones that need some number crunching.  Thinking in deliverables and producing them gives you access to a wealth of data.

Though I wouldn’t overdo it. This is Agile after all, let’s not get complicated.

Rounding Up

Let’s review the Seventh Agile Principle for Creatives:

  • Frequently produce something usable for your audience, no matter how imperfect.
  • Iterative development is the best way to do the above, so organize your work accordingly.
  • Because you are delivering something usable, you’ll get feedback and learn, meaning you can produce a better product.
  • If you need to have deeper analysis, working products are a great way to do it.

It’s another simple principle, but it’s really great advice – progress is producing something.

Sounds like you could overload yourself with trying to constantly get stuff out, right?  Well, let’s move to the Eighth Principle . . .

– Steve

Agile Creativity – Principle #6: Facetime

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)

Agile principle #6 is a simple and sweet one about communications.  It needs no embellishment:

The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.

This is obvious.  If you want to get the most done, effectively, talk to a person directly.  I could probably stop here and you and I have easily discussed 70% of the value of this Principle.

Obviously I’m not done – and we’re talking Agile and Agile Creativity, so there’s some subtleties to go into.  So I’d like to discuss this principle in a bit more detail, and focused on creative work.  This probably would be faster if we were face-to-face, so revel in the irony.

Good communication is vital to all work – creativity moreso.

It’s obvious that you get more done productively if you actually go and talk to people, and in-person conversations convey a lot of information effectively.   In-person you can judge gestures, expressions, voice pitch and more.  In-person you sync-up with people better.

When you communicate effectively, you say more, hear more, and can work effectively.  You can adapt better because you’re actually talking to someone directly and saying so much more.  I’ve seen team behavior change and become more productive when face-to-face activities are introduced.

In creative works are challenging to communicate because they involve everything from intuitive interpretation to understanding complex emotions.  This makes face-to-face or similar far more important because there’s just a lot to convey.  So if you have to collaborate creatively, get talking face to face

(As you may guess, I accept we can’t always get face-to-face, which means) . . .

Face-to-face isn’t always possible, so make due

Communicating with people on your team face-to-face sounds great.  It’s also probably impossible at many times due to location, travel, mutual loathing, and what have you.  So what do you do?  You find the closest-way to face-to-face in order to interact.  This could mean:

  • Video conferences (with sharing)
  • Chat programs (of course)
  • Phone conferences.
  • Meeting face-to-face when you can and packing in all the communication you can do.

You do what you can.  This may mean when it comes to creative works, you have to get pretty innovative.  You may do things like sending people videos and following up with online chat, and it may not be face-to-face, but it’ll be as close as you can get.

Is this somehow violating the ideal?  No, because . . .

Face To face is the most efficient and effective method – not the only one.

This Principle is a recommendation and a statement of truth – face to face is the best way to communicate within your team.  It’s not the only one, it’s just the best.  Agile isn’t big on hard rules and structures.

But sometimes the best is not available, so you do what you can.  Don’t fret, don’t beat yourself up over it.  Just do what you can.

A quick thought for solo creatives.

Does this matter to the solo creative?  Actually, hidden within this Principle are two important lessons:

  • You may be solo, but changes are you still are depending on other people for some things.  Delivering supplies.  Providing editorial services.  Etc.  Face-to-face still applies to these “team-like” connections.
  • Are you taking time to really communicate with yourself?  Analyze results, do research, consider where you’re going?  You might not be – learn to pay attention to yourself.

A moment for review

This simple principle is pretty easy to review:

  • Face-to-face is the best way to communicate with your team members.
  • If Face-to-Face isn’t possible, learn the best alternatives.
  • Even when solo, practice good communications techniques and take the time to self-reflect.

Simple one there.  Good, because the next Principle seems simple – but has a lot of depth.  In a way it’s a core to a lot of Agile thought . . .

– Steve