Earlier this year I took part in two different learning experiences. The first was some pretty standard classroom training that introduced Agile Methodology to employees at Vancity. The second was not standard because I traveled to Bologna in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy to learn about the co-operative movement with 20 Vancity employees and community partners. As I apply ideas from these experiences to my work I am learning how agile methodology and the co-operative model complement each other. Co-ops might very well be structured to adopt Blockchain technology more quickly, so let’s explore co-operatives might also be well positioned to adopt an Agile approach to innovation and development.

Agile Co-operatives

Here’s a definition of Agile according to HBR’s Darrell K. Rigby, Jeff Sutherland and Andy Noble:

Agile teams are best suited to innovation… They are small and multidisciplinary. Confronted with a large, complex problem, they break it into modules, develop solutions to each component through rapid prototyping and tight feedback loops, and integrate the solutions into a coherent whole. They place more value on adapting to change than on sticking to a plan, and they hold themselves accountable for outcomes (such as growth, profitability, and customer loyalty), not outputs (such as lines of code or number of new products).

Here’s a definition of co-operatives according to the British Columbia Co-operative Association (BCCA):

A co-operative (“co-op”) is a business owned and controlled by the people who use its services.

Co-ops are different from profit-driven, investor-owned businesses. Co-ops are founded on the idea that people—no matter what their economic class or educational levels are—know what’s best for them. Through cooperation, people work together to meet their common interests. Co-ops empower individuals, and encourage healthier and stronger communities by pooling resources and sharing risks.

With the rise of platform co-operatives – healthy, local alternative to “death star platforms” like Uber and Airbnb – I thought it fitting to organize this article through the lens of the seven co-operative principles. Because applying Agile methodology to digital projects could very well be the way these platforms are built in the months and years ahead.

Voluntary and open membership

Working on an Agile team – or self-organizing into an Agile team – can feel uncomfortable for folks who are used to being assigned to projects, teams or other kinds of work. At Valve Games, employees are expected to self-organize into teams based on their interest in the work and the skill set that they bring to the table. With both Agile and co-ops, movements will form when there is a gap in service or experience for the community.

Democratic member control

Agile uses self-governing teams to create value for stakeholders. And teams often form as a grassroots effort to design and build a product or service. While experience and expertise influence how decisions are made, teams arrive at outcomes democratically in service of the work – more or less, there is one member, one vote.

Member economic participation

When Agile teams are thriving, trust should be a byproduct of their existence: when different streams of interdependent work are happening simultaneously, people need to trust that their teammates will finish what they’ve committed to. Professor Stefano Zamani, a leading academic in the Co-operative Movement, highlighted trust as an output generated by co-operatives because, as with Agile, there is emphasis on individuals over processes and tools.

Autonomy and independence

Based on a shared understanding of what the Product Owner (the person who represents the business/community need), an Agile team focuses on completing pieces of work on an agreed upon timeline and isn’t mired in a lot of the hierarchical decision-making processes of bigger or traditional organizations.

Education, training and information

After every sprint – a period of time when a certain amount of work gets done – Agile teams reflect on  the experience, share what went well and what didn’t, and provide feedback to members of the team. For the modern co-operative, this principle is less defined by the right amount of courses or newsletters, but more by a culture of access to information, the tools to share knowledge easily, and just-in-time learning experiences to meet specific needs. The Agile Mindset

Cooperation among co-operatives

As the lead for several enterprise learning experiences at Vancity, I am often approached by co-operatives and members of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values (GABV) for advice and information. More often than not I share pretty much everything in our resource library with the intention of creating more capacity in the sector – imagining the world as a place of “co-opetition” where we can win together instead of a winner-take-all zero-sum game is one of my favourite thing about co-ops. Granted, Agile teams, while autonomous, small and focused on particular pieces of work, align their work and by sharing information transparently and frequently. Ultimately, when we co-operate we all win together.

Concern for community

Okay, this one might be a stretch. While concern might not be totally demonstrated in this video about sunglasses, the theory that focusing deeply on what customers, members and/or communities need – as opposed to what shareholders want (financial returns!) – what gets produced is enhanced by how well it serves their unique needs.

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This article was originally published on August 1, 2018 and it holds up super-well!