How does it compare?
You may have heard of the concepts ‘Heart of Agile’ and ‘Modern Agile’. Both came to existence because the creators looked to what has become of Agile since 2001. They both felt the need to refocus and hence they created their concepts.
But how do they compare? I will give my humble view on this here, starting with a short introduction of both.
Heart of Agile
Heart of Agile (http://heartofagile.com) is created by Alistair Cockburn. As one of the authors of the Agile Manifesto (in 2001) he probably doesn’t need any further introduction.
His point of view is that the whole idea of the Agile Manifesto is simple. But since 2001 Agile became more and more complicated, more things have been put on it. Agile became a complete industry.
Heart of Agile says that we should go back to the essence, which is four words:
Collaborate
Deliver
Reflect
Improve
Heart of Agile is considered to be the end-state of Shuhari, a Japanese martial art concept. See below Wikipedia’s description of Shurari:
shu “protect”, “obey” — traditional wisdom — learning fundamentals, techniques, heuristics, proverbs
ha “detach”, “digress” — breaking with tradition — detachment from the illusions of self
ri “leave”, “separate” — transcendence — there are no techniques or proverbs, all moves are natural, becoming one with spirit alone without clinging to forms; transcending the physical
Shuhari is beyond every box of the Heart of Agile. Here is a bit more on that topic:
Shuhari - the Japanese route to mastery
From tea ceremony to Heart of Agilemedium.com
Alistair Cockburn notes that after “Ri” true masters are entering the heart, the essence. Cockburn describes this as “Kokoro”: Heart. In this case the Heart of Agile.
You can expand the boxes of Heart of Agile, of which this is an example from the Heart of Agile website:
So Heart of Agile is only four words, but behind every box there is a lot to explore.
Modern Agile
Modern Agile (http://modernagile.org/) is created by Joshua Kerievsky, also a well known name within the world of Agile. The reason for Modern Agile to emerge is that the Agile Manifesto has been important, but the world has changed since 2001. Modern Agile is a concept that is taking many different areas into account, not just software development. It can even be applied in organizations without software development. It consists of four principles:
Make people awesome
Deliver value continuously
Make safety a prerequisite
Experiment and learn rapidly
Modern Agile is a way to reflect on your state of being on a principle, determine what to achieve and actions to execute to get to the goals. The four principles of Modern Agile are also easy to grasp with a lot under the surface. There are many items to be found under every principle.
Heart of Agile vs Modern Agile
Both concepts:
have a solid foundation in the original Agile Manifesto
are lightweight
are based on four principles
are easy to understand, with a lot behind them
are going back to the core
There are differences though.
Heart of Agile is going back to the basics of Agile while Modern Agile claims to be an evolved version of Agile.
I also see a difference in the practicality. Heart of Agile guides you to a way of doing and mastering things. Modern Agile’s principles are primarily to reflect where you are and where you want to go to.
Heart of Agile and Modern Agile both are inspirational concepts, bringing “Agile” back to a core. Both with a different perspective. And they are not mutually exclusive. I believe they can work perfectly together if you wish. Modern Agile principles can help you identify topics to improve or enhance and Heart of Agile can guide you on this journey of improvement.
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