The orca agile manifesto

Issue 153: How these apex predators practice great software development rituals

Jul 23

Today is a special day; the beginning of Shark Week—Holy Week for lovers of sea animals. As a kid who grew up binge-watching every show on The History Channel and Discovery, Shark Week was one of my favorites. Despite that, the buzz these days is about orcas, also known as the killer whale. They say bad guys wear black, and these large dolphins aesthetic are often branded as anti-heroes—the Michael Morbius, Punisher, and Oakland Raiders of the ocean. See this article, “Killer Whales Are Not Our Friends.”

This past June, there have been reports and sightings of Orcas disabling ships in the Straight of Gibraltar. One theory is the ship rudders resemble fins of dolphins and they're playing with them. Another theory is these highly intelligent creatures are frustrated by the presence of boats in their territory and attacking the ships to establish dominance. I’m not going to politicize orcas. It's been reported that the orcas are teaching other pods how to use these strategies to disable boats.

I’ll leave it to you to decide if they’re terrorists or freedom fighters. What we’ll discuss today is orcas as they pertain to software development. Yes, I’m completely serious. Orcas are team players, patient, highly communicative, and strategic, which is why I believe they're the gold standard of agile software development teams.

Culture and structure

Orcas are highly social animals and live in pods of about 40 individuals, with the largest pod recorded being 80 (definitely an infrastructure team). They have strong social bonds and communicate for hunting, socializing, and caring for their young. They have various communication methods including clicks for echolocation (standup), whistles (incidents), and pulsed calls (meetings and rituals).

Software teams have groups that communicate with groups and groups of groups to stay connected. Perhaps for us, building software is the hunt, but that's only one aspect of it. Teams require social connection to understand each other and grow newer team members.

Teamwork

Orcas are one of the most sophisticated hunters. It's incredible reading all the various tactics they use around the world to achieve their goal—extremely outcome-oriented.

User Story: As an orca, I'd like to maximize the hunting sessions of animals so I can feed my pod.

Depending on the pod and region, orcas have different team tactics they use, especially for hunting. Here are three examples that blew my mind in research:

Carousel feeding: Orcas off the Norwegian coast have been observed using a technique called "carousel feeding" to catch herring. They create a large bait ball by using their echolocation to scare the fish into a tight group. Then, they slap the ball with their tails, stunning the fish, which makes them easier to gulp down by the mouthful.

Blowhole block: Orcas in the Antarctic have been observed using a technique called "blowhole block" to catch seals. They will swim up to a seal on an ice floe and block its blowhole with their head, preventing the seal from breathing. The seal will eventually drown, and the orcas will then eat it.

Beaching: This one is absolutely bananas. Orcas in Patagonia have been observed beaching themselves to catch sea lions. They will swim up to a beach and then use their tails to propel themselves onto the shore. Once they are on the beach, they will chase down the sea lions and eat them.

Orcas in Patagonia intentionally beaching themselves to prey on seals.

Whether you’re a pod of orcas or a pod of designers, engineers, and product managers, great teamwork requires strategy, communication, and excellent technique. Great companies build software based on the optimal path for their company and customers. The purpose of agile development is to adapt it to these environments and factors. For example, the beaching technique is often attributed to the orca pod in Patagonia.

Developing best practices

Orcas have been known to teach their young how to hunt, and these hunting skills are passed down from generation to generation. Orca pods are also known to share their hunting techniques and knowledge with other pods. This is done through a process called cultural transmission. Cultural transmission is the process by which information is passed from one generation to the next. In the case of orcas, cultural transmission is thought to be facilitated by their complex social structure and their use of vocalizations.

It’s the number one reason I remain working in tech; the human version of cultural transmission. I wish I could do it like an orca, but I’ll have to settle on sharing learnings, best practices, and mentorship. The tech equivalent of culture transmission is demos and best practices between teams and companies.

Flexibility, patience, and persistence

Agile software development is about planning and iterating on that plan based on new developments. Orcas are constantly adapting and changing their hunting tactics to adapt to the environment, and we should as the landscape of software drastically changes. They are flexible and open to different perspectives in problem-solving. Patience is also key to agility. The tasks are small, but the journey is long. It's important to develop flexibility and improvement. And finally, patience and persistence are important to build great software and launch it. Orcas are patient and strategic hunters. They would not rush everything to production and then deal with bug-ridden software. They would use carousel feeding with bugs and leverage their work to make things easier.

Agile is about teamwork and relationships

Agile software development is not the enemy. Many designers perceive it as being forced into incremental improvements, estimating at the mercy of engineering, but that's far from the truth. They are either uneducated about agile or unfortunately worked on teams who don't know how to practice it properly. Agility is personified by orcas, and we have much to learn from them.