Agile for Anarchists - by Joe Kendall - Into the Hedge

It’s important for us, riders of the hedge, to face two facts at regular intervals: one, we lack essential farm experience, and two, any farm venture has the potential to consume all our time.

To collaborate our best, Maren and I use a system called  Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA). Forged in the hellfire of global mega corporations, PDCA is an anarchic system with many derivatives. The most popular among them is Agile.

PDCA is anarchic because  it doesn't require an authority. Unfortunately for people trying to get work done, bosses usually don’t endorse systems that obscure their own presumptive utility. Because PDCA makes many management practices superfluous, it doesn’t often thrive in the corporate environment.

That doesn't mean PDCA can’t work well for corporations. I've spent two decades running some form of PDCA in large complex companies. But without a supportive workplace, the anarchic ethos will probably only exist in silence or disguise.

At the Hedge we feel most  comfortable navigating our inexperience with caution. And by reviewing our work at fixed intervals we check that we're still doing what we want to do.

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