My session at the Unconference on Thursday was about false certainty. I asked people to share their experiences and any ideas they might have to combat adverse effects.

Many things which we are involved with in our work are complex - that is there is no direct cause and effect relationship that can be divined in advance. We need to experiment and respond based on the results.

In my experience many people consider 'agile' as a way to get things done faster and not to do things incrementally or iterate to ensure that the right things are being done. They think that if they plan in more detail and exert more control they will be successful. At the outset of a piece of complex work we know the least and so should not be laying out a plan for the entire enterprise which we never intend to deviate from.

There was a couple of good examples of different approaches. One related to a discovery of the best way to configure refurbished toilets in a building. Different layouts were tested (e.g. separate cubicles with the sink and hand dryer inside) and then the best of all of these was rolled out to the building. The other was an attempt to make changes so small that they were de-risked to such an extent that they were considered business as usual.

One participant talked about the use of appropriate language with each group e.g. the team or a particular group of stakeholders.

Best of all, I had the opportunity to share one of my favorite Paul Downey quotes: Agile: make it up as you go along. Waterfall: make it up before you start, live with the consequences (might not be an exact quote).