Exploring links between Agile ideas and complexity science

Adam Timlett will give a presentation with discussion about Agile and complexity

Agile is a popular and proven approach to increasing the odds that complex software projects will succeed. In this talk I will set out to explain how Agility needs to be re-cast as an idea on the new frontier of a productive science of complex systems in areas as diverse as economics, biology and cognitive science.

The approach to software development known as 'Agile' is an excellent yet overlooked subject for a rapidly evolving complexity science. It currently lacks a theoretical underpinning, something I will try to redress in the talk, but I will clearly show how Agile already addresses many of the key ideas that concern complexity theorists and that it can make a valuable contribution to the study and design of complex systems in both nature and society.

Fractal Agility
I believe when done properly, Agile software, systems and methods allow a non-reductive approach to organisational and design problems; Agile involves flexible and emergent working processes and encourages self-organisation rather than rigidly pre-specified methods and organisation. Crucially, (and the main focus of the talk) is my proposal that Agility involves the ability to react to events that occur 'late' in the evolution of a system. In this sense, I will be outlining the idea that Fractal Agility can be analysed as a desirable property of many complex systems in biology, economics and the brain, because it lowers the organisation required to successfully create complex things. I will argue that in nature, Fractal Agility may increase the odds of complex products occurring by lowering the organisation (and therefore resources) required to make something, even if that thing is very complex.

Where: Gustav Tuck Lecture Thearter UCL. Enter UCL via Gower St main entrance. Walk diagonally right across the courtyard towards the right corner of the main quadrangle (follow the signs for Complexity Science). Enter the Wilkins Building at the South Cloisters (you'll see see the building name) turn right and then left. Then, look for the staircase, head up to the second floor, where you will find the lecture theatre. See map below.

Can't find the room or will be a bit delayed? Call or text 07767221018

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Bio
Adam Timlett has a research masters in philosophy from the University of East Anglia, and a paper on complexity and commonsense forthcoming in an an academic book about the mind. He currently works as an Insight Solutions Developer at the company PPL, and lives in London, United Kingdom. He has a keen interest in science, philosophy, technology, and innovation. He blogs on the subject of 'complexity' and also collaborates with the 'complexity' artist James Robert White. His current blog is found at http://www.jamesrobertwhiteart.com