The Agile Hero's Journey – or This is not the change you have been looking for

Speaker - William Knight
By embarking on an agile journey you are treading in the footsteps of ancient heroes and heroines, the fairy tale players of medieval Europe and the protagonists of modern Hollywood. You will make enemies and allies, climb obstacles and face setbacks, but only by understanding the entire journey can you hope to deliver lasting change.
Stepping into a world of change is no less a challenge than the twelve tasks of Hercules, the destruction of Jaws, or in particular Luke's journey to the dark side and back. But by accepting the call, you will face more and mightier enemies than you could possibly imagine, yet be rewarded in a magnitude beyond your dreams.
This is an ancient story to help make sense of a disruptive world, a tale told through narration, prezzie and drawing parallels between agile change, ancient heroes and the plot of Star Wars.

This is not just a delightful way of viewing agile. Using a pattern like the Hero's Journey serves to point out if your agile change is missing anything? It will answer questions like, Have you recognised all the players, obstacles and allies, and have you put in mitigating strategies for the disruption they may cause? Who typically populates this world and who will you meet upon the way? Who are the archetypes of the story, that you will meet again and again.

This story will teach you how to view disruption and conflict as a necessary ingredient of change, and a necessary journey on the path to improvement. You must consider the entire change process as a whole, not just a spot solution to a problem, and recognise there will be resistance and obstacles, allies and enemies. It will show why success can be narrow if not everybody has finished their own heroic journey.

William Knight is a senior technical practices coach with Assurity (NZ), former journalist and author. For fifteen years I worked as a software developer, architect and process guy, before taking a sharp turn into technology journalism when my kids were young.