In the past 20 years, agile methods have spread, from the Scrum model in software development to Design Thinking, from Lean Start-ups to logistics management. These methods have a common foundation in that they focus on the client and are now coming up against three major limits.
Sylvain Bureau, professor at ESCP, cofounder of the Art Thinking Collective and the Jean-Baptiste Say Institute at ESCP, takes a look at these methods and the need to stop this hyper-focus on clients. He also suggests a new agile method that is no longer interested in customers: Art Thinking.
Professor ESCP Business School,
and Founder Art Thinking method
Where do agile methods come from?
Agile methods rely on principles derived from a manifesto signed in 2001 by 17 software development specialists who wanted to replace the often rigid traditional project management methods. Their main objective was a faster product/market balance. The methods share a common foundation – a hyper-focus on clients – and three guiding principles: they are (1) adaptive, (2) iterative and (3) interactive.
The problem with agile methods
Problems with agile methods arise from the obsession with customer satisfaction and the demand for a quick return on investment. In the quest for optimisation and profit, the room needed for creators to design breakthroughs disappears. To satisfy demand, these approaches are based on existing systems that may be defective or may have become obsolete.
As Sylvain Bureau points out, “the biggest innovations (from the Walkman to the first mobile phone) did not come from customer-focused agile methods”.
Art Thinking: a non-customer focused alternative?
The question then is, does an alternative exist that combines the benefits of agile methods while also encouraging breakthroughs?
Since 2008, Sylvain Bureau’s research and work led to rethinking agile methods through the lens of the artistic avant-garde who invented new criteria for judging their art. He, along with several colleagues, formalised this new method, called Art Thinking.
According to Sylvain Bureau, his method “can create the improbable – with certainty”. The method is structured around three moments – make, critique and display – and a catalogue of six practices: donate, deviate, destroy, drift, dialogue and display. “Art Thinking helps to better steer in uncertainty.“
The impacts of Art Thinking and the Improbable seminars
The first Improbable was created in 2011 with artist Pierre Tectin. Since then, the seminar has been taught around one hundred times to students, entrepreneurs and managers.
It was taught at ESCP in the initial courses and Executive Education (Executive MBA, Executive Ph.D., custom intracompany training courses). These seminars are organised with the support of established museums like the Centre Pompidou.
As Sylvain Bureau says “The Improbable seminars are an incredible accelerator of experiments that save a considerable amount of time. They have three major impacts on (1) skills, (2) mental models and (3) engagement. After the seminar, the participants are able to steer projects where the finish line is not always clear, in uncertain environments and with few resources”.
In practical terms, Art Thinking has three goals. The first is to help manage climate change by changing the cultural climate. The second is an issue of learning: Art Thinking allows us to use the power of Artistic Intelligence as a complement to Artificial Intelligence.
Finally, the third is the elaboration of new strategic visions with works that open the field of what is possible to change business models that are obsolete.
In practical terms, Art Thinking has three goals. The first is to help manage climate change by changing the cultural climate. The second is an issue of learning: Art Thinking allows us to use the power of Artistic Intelligence as a complement to Artificial Intelligence.
Finally, the third is the elaboration of new strategic visions with works that open the field of what is possible to change business models that are obsolete.
Download The ESCP Executive Education White Paper
Agile Methods:How can we stop Hyper-focusing on clients, and why?
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