These guiding principles affect how we work together and what we look for in members of our team.

We Will Be Honest and Open.

We will always strive to be honest with each other and our customers.

• It is better to be open and share information unless prevented by confidentiality agreements or common sense security.
• Individual failure isn't punished. We use it as a learning experience.
• Teaching our skills to others is important.
• Butt covering and evasive behaviour is frowned upon and will not be tolerated.

We Will Develop T-Shaped Skills.

We will become experts in at least one key role and gain a minimal functional understanding of as many other roles as possible particularly in related areas.

• We want experts in all roles so will seek out new staff for roles that do not have an expert.
• If a role becomes busy, those of us with minimal experience can work under expert guidance to boost productivity.
• We can use our understanding of related roles to smooth communication and system design when inter-working.

We Will Encourage Self Motivation.

We are a research-focused organisation and will always be looking for new techniques and learning.

• Improving systems and processes is encouraged.
• We need to do experiments and test new techniques to find solutions.
• We must keep learning, if we stand still we die as an organisation.

We Will Be Agile.

The Agile Manifesto principles are highly applicable to us:

• We value working software over comprehensive documentation.
• We value customer collaboration over contract negotiation.
• We value individuals and interactions over processes and tools.
• We value responding to change over following a plan.

We know and understand there is value in Documentation, Negotiation, Processes and Planning but we are sustained by Software, Collaboration, People and being Responsive. We must strive for balance in all things.