Today Dan North presented his “Three Ages” core pattern (or as I would say, business model) at the QCon 2013. I like how it succinctly categorizes the phase of, say, the adoption a methodology in an organization.
1. Explore (maximize discovery)
2. Stabilize (minimize variance)
3. Commoditize (maximize efficiency)
The class applied the model and some interesting statements ensued:
Business is often in explore, however, they require IT to be in stabilize.
Dan recounted the story of an IT ops guy who is constantly driving for commoditization. I would love to have this guy in my team!
In a project I know of, the teams are trying to reach stability. Business however, try to force the maximization of efficiency of IT. That destabilizes the teams into exploration.
There is no shortcut to the three steps. Follow the steps in the given order and create a culture of continuous improvement.