One of the aspects of life that we overtly recognise when we have anAgileMind is change. Change is emotionally challenging because we are recognising that things will be different tomorrow. This may involve us in loss of things we value today. There is always uncertainty about what we will gain tomorrow. Stress, reduced effectiveness and changed behaviour are typical responses when we experience change.

Cognitive load is about the weight of knowledge we have to carry in our brains in order to get our work done. Excess cognitive load brings stress and an inability to focus. This further increases our cognitive load, creating a vicious circle. An important part of the sustainability of anAgileMind is the use of practices to limit cognitive load. Practices that ensure short delivery cycles, small batches of work, focus on one thing can all help to reduce cognitive load.

Cynefin is a framework that helps us to think about the nature and complexity of the problems that we face. When we can classify the nature of the problem we can create a strategy and plan to resolve the problem. Cynefin is deliberately simple in structure and easy to internalise. As it becomes an inherent part of your thinking, analysis of problems comes more readily.

Empiricism is the idea that we learn best from experience and observation. This concept is embodied in many of the principles, ideas, beliefs and practices espoused by anAgileMind. We start our agile journey guided by others but as we experience and observe the reality of our work we will ultimately finesse those ideas and move beyond them. Improvement based on our experience and observation is the basis of Shu-Ha-Ri.

The forming-storming-norming-performing model of group development was suggested by Tuckman in 1965. It remains an effective way of thinking about the development of a group - of teams, in particular. Understanding the model and its implications helps leaders to focus on how they can create a culture within which high performing teams can develop.

The INVEST acronym provides a useful checklist when refining User Stories. Well refined User Stories will reflect the INVEST criteria: Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Small and Testable.

What is it that motivates us to deliver a great performance for our customers, colleagues and our employer? What is it that makes us happy in our work? A simple assumption is that money makes all the difference. But there is a lot of evidence that other factors also play an important role in motivating us to succeed.

Our commitment to our customers does not end with the release of our product into production. Customers have expectations of the level of service that they will receive as they use the product. If our service underperforms, our customers will be unhappy and will transfer to competitive services. But overperformance - gold plating - can also cause problems. If the service is better than our customers anticipate, it is unlikely we will add sufficient new customers to compensate for the additional cost of delivery.

Delivery to our customers does not end with the first increment. Even if we consider our product to be “complete” at a point in time, the definition of completeness will change in the future. We need to sustain an appropriate rate of delivery for our customers. The stream of new features in our product helps us keep up with our competitors, attracting new customers and reducing attrition of existing customers.

Shu-Ha-Ri or Shuhari is the idea that we will change our behaviour as we become more expert. The closest related western concept seems to be that of Apprentice-Journeyman-Master. Shu is to obey, to follow the rules as they are presented to us so that we understand the rules and why the rules exist. Ha is to detach or digress, to understand how to adapt the rules as the context we are working in changes. Ri is to leave or separate, to move outside the rules or create new rules for ourselves.

Systems Thinking calls on us to avoid local optimisation (or even failed optimisation) by analysing the system we are trying to change as a whole. Unless we understand the wider system we may treat correlation as causation giving us entirely unexpected results when we try to change things.

The theory of constraints is simple, yet widely ignored. Every chain has its weakest link - this is the tightest constraint on the strength of the chain. The theory of constraints says we should first understand what constraints exist. Then identify which is the most significant constraint and work to remove or reduce it. Once this constraint is tackled, we can repeat the process.

Douglas McGregor proposed that a leader has the freedom to choose their approach to leading and managing others. Their choice of approach will be dependent upon how they view the people they need to lead and the context in which they lead. If you see your team as lazy and see the culture of the organisation is very much command and control, you are likely to choose a different management style than if you trust your team and the organisational culture supports decision making at the lowest level of authority.