Greetings Teamusians,
We have been discussing the current theme of development for a week now and we are getting questions about its relationship to culture (since we are all about all things related to culture here at Teamusing). We had originally thought the connection between our theme and culture was quite obvious, but it appears it is so only to us. Hence, we thought we would lay out as plain as we are able in the prose below. We do hope this clarifies our cultural perspective on the matter.
First off, we will address the area of agile product development. This is the work that makes all the applications and websites and other technology that we all use each day to conduct thousands of tasks, to stay virtually connected to others, to learn about and understand the world around us, or to experience just about anything digital.
This type of development permeates every aspect of our personal and professional lives. Even the most mundane of tasks, like looking up directions, leverages the code that someone wrote during the process of agile development. It is inescapable, unless you are a luddite that lives in the forest foraging for berries.
So, “How does it affect or get affected by culture?” you ask. The answer is really quite simple, really. Our culture is both defined by and in turn defines the nature of what is developed by all the product people of the world. After all, what is culture but a set of values that define a group of people? If a customer base values speed then the products catering to that group will be made to go faster. Hence the cultural value of speed is inherently woven into the fabric of the technology. The same is true for any number of character traits that become product features and characteristics.
Alright, let’s move on the wonderful world of real estate redevelopment. Some have asked why we chose this lens to examine our theme and its cultural impact more closely. The answer here is simple as well. The world is running out of new places to build — especially in urban city centres where all the residential land has already been spoken for and the only option for aspiring homeowners is to reuse, reimagine or rebuild based on an existing structure.
The reuse of existing items, spaces, and even ideas, is a concept that has been around for eternity, but it had a upsurge in the 80s when humanity started to realize that we create way too much stuff and we’d better start reducing, reusing and recycling or we’ll kill our planet before the next generations hit retirement. This cultural influence to see the repurposing of old things as valuable rather than cheap or second-rate has been part of interior design and other real estate development practices for some time. Again, culture impacts the process which in turn impact the culture in a beautiful cyclical pattern.
And finally, we turn our attention to the marvellous world of corporate leadership development. Here I think the cultural connection is perhaps most obvious, but to be sure, we shall endeavour to clarify our perspective. The role of corporate leaders in shaping our society’s culture is both deep and profound, for it is the output of their command and influence that is used by the customer, regardless of what type of product or service is being consumed for either personal or professional reasons.
Hence, leaders who instil a culture of simplicity, use of clean design, creativity, or any other countless options of values and mores are infusing them into both their corporate culture and that of the societies in which their customers are engaged. The very fabric of culture is woven by the actions and ideas of our most successful organizations.
So as we embark on our journey to be steeped in culture, our first stop is the investigation of the three lenses of modern day development. We hope you will join us in our engaging discussion on this matter at our monthly event.
Looking forward to “seeing” you there.
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