- 13 December 2020
- Posted by: Erkan Sarıkaya
- Category: AGILE
Thanks to SpaceX, the conversation below no longer makes any sense.
- – This might take a while…
- – It’s not like you’re launching a rocket into space. We asked for something simple.
Does launching a rocket into space now take less time than the projects we run?
1 Sprint, 1 rocket launch every 2 weeks. 🙂 No joke, it’s real.
On December 9, SpaceX completed yet another successful test by launching the SN8 Starship spacecraft, one of the latest prototypes that will carry humans to Mars.
SpaceX, which launched space rockets 23 times in 2020 alone, is expected to carry out 2-3 more launches before the year is over. SN9 was already waiting in the wings.
Work on SN10, SN11… all the way to SN16 is proceeding in parallel…
1 Sprint, 1 rocket launch every 2 weeks.
Agile teams, how are things on your side? 🙂
Yes, I know: “If we had that kind of money and resources, we’d do it too”, right? 🙂
For years I’ve been using SpaceX and Elon Musk as a case study in my “Agile Mindset” and “Agile Leadership” training sessions. We discuss it together.
I think we have a great role model right in front of us for understanding agility and leadership.
“Pessimists are usually right, but it’s the optimists who change the world.”
Thomas Friedman
from the book “THE WORLD IS FLAT”
I think everyone has also gotten the “Start with Why” message that Simon Sinek has been talking about and popularizing for years.
If you haven’t watched it yet — especially our leaders — you can watch his TED talk below, where he explains the “Golden Circle”. (18 min)
In short, the message is this:
“People don’t buy ‘WHAT’ you do; they buy ‘WHY’ you do it.”
Simon Sinek
Below you’ll find SpaceX’s vision, Elon Musk’s inspiring answers to the “Why” question, and the real, concrete progress:
The motto: “Test, Fly, Fail, Fix”
Test –> Fly –> Fail –> Fix, Improve –> Test again.
- Trial and error
- Continuous delivery
- Sharing failures with the whole world, transparency
- Resource efficiency
- Reducing waste
- Rapid turnaround
- Cost reduction
- Automation and Optimization
What do these remind you of?
#leanthinking #leanstartup #agile #agilemindset #kanban #scrum #xp #devops #failfast
And what about the following?
- Run a test flight with a 30% success target
- Keep changing the plans
- Blow up the rocket
- … And the result: SUCCESS…
- Because “we got all the data we needed!”
- The next one is ready, bring it on.
Perhaps the greatest success lies in LEARNING, as in Elon Musk’s message below:
OUTCOME > OUTPUT
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Author: Erkan Sarıkaya — Enterprise Agile Coach and founder of GONEX. He writes on enterprise agile transformation, Scrum and agile leadership coaching. Learn more on our About Us page, or read his other posts.