I was cruising through some favorite web sites tonight and came across the INCOSE UK proceedings from their Autumn (Fall) 2002 slides. I know, I've got to get a life.
In there was a presentation titled "Intelligent Enterprise for Systems Engineer." One slide presented a comparison between Stability and Maneuverability.
Anvil are very stable but not very maneuverable. A motorcycle is very maneuverable but not very stable. Rules driven organizations are somewhere in between. Goal seeking organizations are higher on both scales.
Agility is known as Dynamic Stability
Agile = the ability the thrive in an environment of unpredictable change
I like these definitions especially the first. For me this means processes that have been shown to work, are repeatable in the same context, and have process performance outcomes that can be forecast in the future. Like
- If you apply Earned Value to discrete performance projects, you can measure the value delivered as a function of the investments, or
- If you define the significant accomplishments and their accomplishment criteria you can measure the increasing maturity of the project as a function of time.
