Processes and Procedures

Words mean things, and words can have many meanings. This meaning can change due to context. For example, consider if a person asks you to go to the boot of their car and retrieve their suitcase.  You can be pretty confident that there are no shoes on the wheels or hubs of the car from which you will retrieve the suitcase, so there must be some other meaning behind it.  If you have experienced some other variants of the English language, you will know it is the trunk of the car.

A good start will be to review some definitions for process and procedure.

Process

A series of actions that produce something or that leads to a particular result[1]

A systematic series of actions directed to some end[2]

Procedure

The sequence of actions or instructions to be followed in solving a problem or accomplishing a task[3]

A particular way of accomplishing something or of acting.  A series of steps followed in a regular and definite order[4]

So Agile Is…..

This brings us to the reason for the post.  We assert that the description of agile is a high level process. We have inputs into the system that can vary greatly – that we can call the product backlog. Through a series of actions we will turn the product backlog into a sprint backlog, we will turn the sprint backlog into product, and demonstrate that product.  We will learn from the work via the retrospective.  This is a high level process that provides structure and our team will think about the situation and determine the best approach to the objective or task with guidance from the scrum master.

Even the drawing looks like a process or even a machine.  We see inputs and outputs feeding other actions.

Even the drawing looks like a process or even a machine.  We see inputs and outputs feeding other actions.   Whatever you call it, it describes a series of steps, though not exhaustive nor prescriptive.