• Agile Coach

Agile is Rock ‘n Roll with these 8 songs by Queen | Part 1

What is your Bohemian Rhapsody?

The journey to an Agile organization involves change. Often such change follows an archetypal journey with a number of steps. Steps that seem universal in any change.

Joseph Campbell once wrote a book about this: Hero with a thousand faces. Filmmakers around the world also know all too well the steps of this heroic journey and apply it to almost all their scenarios. Conclusion: often we have the same obstacles to overcome, choices to make and insights to gain.

Change usually starts with an intense cause, call it urgency. Then follows a phase of breaking free from the present and moving towards renewal. Just when you think you have achieved the first success (for example: the first Scrum teams are up and running), an unexpected setback follows. Old systems and cultural patterns rear their heads and block the way to true renewal. A new valley follows, but with combined efforts, the goal is eventually reached. And we live happily ever after….

But what does such a journey look like step by step? I take you through 8 songs by Queen to go through the Agile journey. Turn on the playlist and get carried away.

OPEN THE SPOTIFY PLAYLIST HERE

Step 1 |. Is this the world we created

The starting shot. The call to adventure! We hear the call, feel the urgency. We are stuck in the current context. Are we still innovating fast enough? Can we engage customers more? Can we be more efficient? Are we still attractive to the talents of this world? What are we actually contributing to the world? How do we create the best value for customers now and in the future? This mountain of questions makes us realize that we really need to change course. High time to go on a journey.

Lyrics

Just look at all those hungry mouths we have to feed

Take a look at all the suffering we breed

So many lonely faces scattered all around

Searching for what they need

Is this the world we created?

What did we do it for

Is this the world we invaded

So it seems in the end

Is this what we’re all living for today

The world that we created

Step 2 | I want to break free

Go-getters wanted! Now is the time to overcome old powers and break through automatic resistance. Because: everyone has 1001 reasons not to do it and yet we want to break free from the current frame of reference. Yes, then you get comments like: Agile that’s nothing for us, right? Haven’t we tried that before? The hype of Agile and Post-its will blow over. Anyway, we know the drill. We will have to fight the prevailing order to really grasp the first experiment. That takes courage, but ultimately gives us goose bumps!

Lyrics

I want to break free

I want to break free

I want to break free from your lies

You’re so self satisfied I don’t need you

I’ve got to break free

God knows, God knows I want to break free

Step 3 | Under Pressure

You don’t make this journey alone, so time to put together our travel party. In order to gather exactly the right forces, we will map out supporters and opponents. After all, for the first steps, we really need those supporters! Both in the Agile team and in Management. That puts pressure on things. But by really doing it together, energy is released and we break through the initial barriers. As a driven team, maximize the pressure and head for victory.

Lyrics

Pressure pushing down on me

Pressing down on you, no man ask for

Under pressure that burns a building down

Splits a family into two

Puts people on streets

It’s the terror of knowing what the world is about

Watching some good friends screaming

“Let me out!”

Pray tomorrow gets me higher

Pressure on people, people on streets

Step 4 | Now I’m here

Okay, the first miles are done and the safe home front is behind us. Now the real challenge appears on the horizon. Because even though we are well on our way as a team, the real big bang is not there yet. The flywheel is still missing. To be truly successful, we need to create more momentum. We want to get more people to join us, be more visible in collaboration and share achieved results. There at the top of that mountain lies the real success! But how do we get there?

Lyrics

Here I stand

Looked around, around, around, around, around

But you won’t see me

Now I’m here

Now I’m there

I’m just a

Just a new man

Yes, you made me live again

Click here to continue to part 2 of ‘Agile is Rock ‘n Roll with these 8 songs from Queen’