| | April 20178CIOReviewIN MY OPINIONAgile, Scrum, Waterfall, Lean Startup, Lean Thinking, Extreme, Big Bang, V-shaped, Design Thinking, Six Sigma, DevOps, Getting Things Done...on and on and on. Do I need to continue? Name a month and I can point to the introduction of yet another new methodology for either building software, approaching innovation, driving productivity­quite honestly, whatever you're interested in. It's an industry unto itself. Take a handful of ingredients from predecessors, add a little spice and maybe some icing, and then write a book about some new methodology that will absolutely transform your company.After you've been leading a technology or operations group for several years, if you've been a good steward of your responsibility and studied new material to broaden your knowledge, you will surely find yourself with the understanding that it could be a full time job just keeping up with the latest hot topic in business process methodologies. If you've tried adopting any one, or maybe a few, you've also realized that changing people's work habits, mindsets, and thinking processes can be some of the toughest projects you've ever tried to execute. Just about the time you're rounding first base and eyeing second or third, a new batter with a shiny new methodology has already cracked a worm burner through the gap that knocks your feet out from underneath you.Before you know it, you may find yourself in one of two camps­either switching methodologies so often that you're in danger of losing all respect from your staff or ignoring modern trends to the point that you're labeled "out of touch". And that label is not a good one for any technology worker. Damn if it's not just technology that is changing faster than our brains can keep up with, but the way we're supposed to be leading our people is changing just as quickly.I have some VP's or directors that work for me that meet this challenge by digging a trench and doubling down on their choice of methodology, the one in which they've invested themselves, like it's a matter of personal honor. Others seem to want to stay out of the fray and simply give up on trying to drive change. "Just tell me what you want me to do, boss, and I'll do it." Neither of these positions are a win for the leader or the company.I remember reading long ago about some CEO that believed in making decisions based upon approximately 60 seconds of information. The most important thing he could do was simply to make a decision. The magic safety net in that concept was he could always change his mind if he received new information. Now, although the strict practice of this concept may stray into the extreme side of business sense, it is no doubt founded on assessing a situation largely due to the gut response and being willing to just make a new decision. I happen to be the type of leader that resonates with this idea although I'd say I exercise it with a little more conservatism than only a single minute. I'd like to share how I've applied this nimble mindset to the never ending flow of business process methodologies. In a nutshell, I listen to every pitch of a methodology, I approach every book espousing the new process, with a presumption that only a subset of the overall meal will entice me to invest the work to incorporate it into what is an ever-evolving process-goulash. I'm saying it's OK that we don't follow Agile to 100 percent to the letter of the law. It's OK that we've only incorporated parts of Lean Startup. What's better, it's not only OK, but it's the smart thing to do.Of course there are lot of similarities between different businesses. In general, Tales from Paradigm Purgatory By Brian Scott, CIO, ExperientBrian Scott
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