Have you ever wondered why some approaches work well in one context and not so well in others? We make important decisions daily with imperfect data and limited situational awareness. To improve our chances for success, we need to understand the context we are working with to take appropriate action. Failing to recognize the nature of the situation results in misinformed decisions with potentially catastrophic consequences.

In this interactive session, participants will discover how to critically evaluate and adapt Agile methods to fit their unique organizational contexts. The session will make the case that Agile is a collection of pragmatic heuristics, not a one-size-fits-all recipe. Heuristics, or rules of thumb, are anything that provides a plausible aid or direction in the solution of a problem. All heuristics work by exploiting the structure of an environment, so heuristics work well in some settings and less well (or not at all) in others. We need to understand why and where methods and practices work - and where they don't - to adopt, tailor, use, and improve them.

The Cynefin Framework will be highlighted as a crucial sense-making framework to help participants comprehend various contexts and select appropriate Agile heuristics that fit. Cynefin is a sense-making framework that helps people understand their context and situation to take appropriate action. This session introduces the framework, which enables a better understanding of systems, how they differ, and how to take appropriate action depending on the context of the situation. As a sense-making framework, it focuses on how people perceive and make sense of situations to make decisions across various contexts.

Participants will apply the Cynefin framework to assess and select heuristics appropriate for the environment rather than defaulting to a single, one-size-fits-all approach. The goal is to foster an environment where Agile adoption is more successful and aligned with the unique demands of each situation, encouraging the development of tailored approaches that balance local needs with the need to standardize some things to scale.