Ants don’t need central control to get the work coordinated. They use a simple and effective way to communicate and make individual decisions based upon the information. Ants are hardwired to work like this. Nature provided them all with the same set of rules in their body. Every leg has a natural tattoo describing how we do things here at Ant Hill 7.

rules You Decide How You Communicate: Rules Of Engagement

Image by jlwelsh.

Humans also have “rules” about how we do things “around here”. It is not hardwired however. For us it’s software, an operating system called “Culture” that can be upgraded or switched entirely. It is the culture of a group that determines what we think is important and how we interact with others.

A clear choice between an agile or a plan-driven project approach is a choice in culture. It sets the ground rules for “how we do things around here”.

PINO, as in Prince In Name Only, or SINO, Scrum In Name Only, is worst case. It signals a split culture. The mouth says something different than the mind thinks. The rules of engagement don’t have to be lengthy or detailed to the lowest level. But they have to be shared!

That is why Jessica suggests successful virtual teams first agree on how they will interact and when.

That is why Jurgen implemented Scrum also for its name. It describes “how we do things around here”. And everyone can read the description on the web.

The first steps to solving the project communication problem is recognizing you can decide your rules of engagement (it’s not hardwired, there may be many choices) and everybody should be using the same set of rules.

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