Feeling All American!!

America may not look good but we have a lot to offer.

The United States is commemorating its Independence Day.  It is a time to look back at the nation’s history, celebrate the present and look to the future.  I am a business person and agilest.  I am also American which means I view the world with a, particularly American perspective.  This week, I want to talk about my American perspective and how it shapes my agile practice.

My European and Canadian friend tease me with the stereotype of the “Ugly American.”  To them, the stereotype posits that we American’s are uncouth interlopers with lots of money but no manners, style, culture or ideas which have value to the rest of the world.  I disagree with them politely and let the facts speak for themselves.  America for better or worse helped create the global economy in the aftermath of the second world war; we take for granted today.  America is why you can purchase a Coca-Cola in any nation in the world. 

We are not a perfect nation.  Our politics are deeply divided, and we are currently involved in on-going wars in the Middle East.  In spite of those challenges, American’s for the last century have stood up to totalitarianism, communism, and terrorism.  When asked, we have come to the aid of our allies and attempted to act as an example for the rest of the world to follow.  That said, I think our three biggest exports to the world are philosophical. Two of these concepts come from the nineteenth century; Transcendentalism and Pragmatism.  The other is from the present day – the agile reformation.  All three of these diverse ideas influence me and my agile practice.

Transcendentalism seems very high brow and something out of a high school American literature course, but we see its influence around us.  The focus on individualism and finding a spiritual connection with the divine links it with the current new age movement.  Thoreau’s ideas of civil disobedience are part of every social justice movement.  Finally, the desire to embrace nature and simplicity is the central framework of modern environmentalism.  I see the concentration on the individual and desire to make the most of one’s time on earth outlined in transcendentalism to be revealing.  Life is too short to be working on poorly run projects and being involved in drudgery.  Work must not only provide material comfort, but it must give people purpose.  I thank transcendentalism for that perspective.  

Pragmatism was a significant movement in American thinking.  Its central idea is, “…the practical application of ideas by acting on them to test them in human experience.”  In other words, a pragmatist does not worry about grand theories of how the world works.  They are concerned about what ideas “work” in the world.  It is responding to change over following a plan.  To pragmatists, an idea or action is only useful based on its practical application in the world.  Pragmatism is why all cities in the United States have water treatment.  Thanks to Pragmatists we set aside our notions of free markets and individual liberty to charge everyone taxes to make sure water is safe to drink.  To reduce the spread of cholera and dysentery in our nation, we sacrificed some individual liberty.  This a classic example of pragmatism.  For a scrum master or agile coach, it means you need to reject ideological rigidity if you want the team to be more successful; in other words, respond to change.

Finally, we have to discuss the agile movement and how it went from an American idea to a global reformation.  The Scrum Alliance has gatherings in Dublin and Singapore this year.  The Scaled Agile Alliance is spreading knowledge around the world.  Finally, business from Korea to Canada attempting to take the Agile manifesto and make it work for their companies.  The reason why we have this broad acceptance of the new way of doing business is that it delivers improved results.  We are turning out software better and faster thanks to the agile reformation than any time in the history of the industry.  It seems pragmatism encourages these new ways of doing things in the business world.

So, this “Ugly American,” takes pride in transcendentalism, pragmatism and agile.  They are uniquely American ideas which are making the business community and the world a better place.

Happy Independence Day and Until next time.