Tonight the new Australian PM referenced the term Agile – twice. He then spoke about being Disruptive – in the sense of positive change. So what are these ideas and what do they have to do with SEO?
This is not a commentary of the events just unfolded, but one that attempts to give definition to terms born from digital that are fast becoming mainstream concepts you will hear a lot about.
What is Agile?
In digital project management Agile means getting the job done with the understanding that solutions evolve through collaboration between self-organising, cross-functional teams. It promotes adaptive planning, evolutionary development, early delivery, continuous improvement, and encourages rapid and flexible response to change.
I posted this blog about an hour after the press conference. I wanted to deliver it quickly so it was out there (early delivery). After it was posted I began to go through and tighten up the words (continuous improvement) to ultimately deliver a better product.
In SEO we do this all the time. We are constantly adapting to new landscapes and creating new information to service our users – whether that be a publishing platform or transactional application.
What is Disruptive?
Disruption essentially upsets the status quo. This can be a good or a bad thing depending upon which side of the fence you are on, but it is in line withe the universal principle – the only constant is change. Disruption drives new thinking and evolution.
A Disruptiveinnovation is an innovation that helps create a new market and value network, and eventually disrupts an existing market and value network (over a few years or decades), displacing an earlier technology.
Uber is an excellent representation of companies being Disruptive. The taxi industry is up in arms about this global “up-start”. Uber has essentially “Disrupted” the status quo with its innovative way of providing transport to the public.
Fail fast
Our immediate reaction to failure is usually negative. But I say we should embrace it. Failure breeds success. Just ask any successful person. Most have failed many times before achieving fame in their chosen field. The key is they didn’t dwell on the failure. They learnt from it, integrated the learning into their understanding and achieved success as a result of it.
Agility allows us to find solutions fast. Disruption shakes the status quo and forces change – hopefully for the better.
Being Agile and Disruptive is a lean and mean way of achieving successful outcomes for the greater good in general. If the new PM executes these concepts correctly we should find a bearing that leads us on a more positive path. Only time will tell.