Mina Boström Nakićenović"

mina.bostrom-nakicenovic@fisglobal.com

A Darwinian Perspective on Agile Architecture

About me

eyes color

gender XXblood group 00

Offsprings

Children

Symbiosis !

!

Front Arena

Environment

Phenotype

Brain type

Genotype

Product - Organism

Customization - Variations

Natural selection

Software Systems - Species

Customers (customer’s choice)

Looking through Darwin’s eyes

Struggle for existence - Business market

Reproduction - Releases

Overproduction

Genotype - Genetic make-up (DNA)

Phenotype - Actual observed properties (morphology, development, behavior)

Genotype Software Architecture (Design)

Phenotype User Experience

Mutation

Alterations of genetic material

Mutation may yield even better, more adaptive, phenotypes

Drift:

Small genetic change that accumulates over time

Shift!An abrupt, major change in the virus (H1N1)

Persevere

Pivot

VirusesChanging their RNA

(Very responsive to change!)

Gene flow - migration

is any movement of individuals, i.e. genetic material they carry, from one population to another.

Use open-source software and existent frameworks when you can, instead of building everything by yourself

It leads to Genetic Diversity, or the amount of different genes within a population, Important for the long-term survival of a species

The change in gene frequency from one generation to the next.Drift may eliminate some genes due to chance alone (rare genes).

Eliminating never used features (waste)

Genetic Drift

When organisms become isolated, variations and mutations that occur in one group are not found in the other group.

Continuous Integration/ DevOps

Isolation

SpeciationThe process by which populations become different species

Reproductive Isolation

Geographic Isolation Distributed teams /offshoring

Best market fit

Natural selection

Survival of the organisms that are best adapted to the environment.

There are always variations within a

species.

Some advantageous variations allow members of the

species to survive better than others.

Pivot or PersevereEvolution by Natural Selection

The presence or absence of gene fundamentally changes

the course of evolution.

building MVP!build-measure-learn loop

Natural selection acts only taking advantage of slight successive variations.

Giraffe’s Long Neck Theory

Giraffe’s Neck Theory

It should create a value from the first release!

second releasefirst release third release

Measurement of the created Value

Darwin’s fitness

Central idea!!It describes individual reproductive success.

value!ROI

time

Lamarck

Darwin

Software Evolution vs Evolution of the Species

Evolution of the species lasts billions of years

Software evolution

short time-to-market

!

Evolution

vs

Creation?

Experimentation instead of Specification

Evolution instead of Implementation

Adaptation instead of Modification

Manifesto for Adaptable Software Development

The discovery of requirements through experimentation

The constant evolution of the system’s functionality to meet the dynamically varying customer needs.

Hayim Makabeehttps://effectivesoftwaredesign.com

Extension instead of GrowthSoftware development should allow the easy extension of the

system’s functionality through modular features.

Software development should allow the existing code base to be easily adapted to satisfy any change in requirements.

Instead of relying on predictions, take advantage of variations.

• create variation

• select what succeeds

• repeat

”Adapt” by Tim Hardford

From Predictability to Experimentation

breakstay the same evolve

Antifragile systems

Nassim Taleb

Evolution works because of its anti fragility - it likes stressors, randomness, uncertainty and disorder

While individual organisms are fragile, the gene pool takes advantage of shocks to enhance its fitness

Digital Darwinism

Digital Darwinism is the phenomenon when technology and

society evolve faster than an organization can adapt.

This sets the stage for a new era of leadership, and business models !“adapt or die”

Business Agilityability to quickly change organizational processes

Digital Transformation

The goal is to create a culture of empowerment, agility, innovation,

and engagement.

If you do not adapt, you will fall to Digital Darwinism.

”Rather than react to change or be disrupted by it, you should invest in digital transformation to adapt and outperform peers.” Brian Solis

Digitalization

Phase 1

Phase 2

Teal Organisationsas living organisms, should function more like complex adaptive systems than machines.

Who has the ”Alpha male” role?

Alpha Male

• is a man of value not a man of success• helps others to accomplish their dreams • leads by example • a good story-teller

http://chadhowsefitness.com/2012/11/25-characteristics-of-an-alpha-male

• he is not worried about tomorrow, he’s too busy working for today

• he’s made mistakes, but he’s able to talk about them and find humor in them

Agile Leader

http://blog.crisp.se/2015/11/10/henrikkniberg/what-is-an-agile-leader

• he cares how he mades other feel

• She is passionate about getting people aligned towards the common goal

• She holds people accountable for their behaviour more than their results

• She ensures that, when things fail, they fail early

• She gets people inspired and railed around a higher purpose

• She rewords people for learning rather than punishing them for failing.

by Henrik Kniberg @

I am adaptable to change so please give feedback!!mina.bostrom-nakicenovic@fisglobal.com