Agile methodology requires a different mindset than traditional waterfall methodology of delivering projects. Mixing the two makes Agile become FrAgile and may ruin any attempt at transforming the culture of delivering faster results while delivering value to customers!
Many who are used to delivering projects in traditional waterfall model go through Agile training, some online certification and jump into their journey into implementing agile into their daily work armed with terminologies and concepts. While they are trained on the process, they haven’t really had the time to change their mindset and outlook towards the fundamentals of being “Agile”.
The basic fundamentals of Agile mindset include the following:
Trust
Value delivery to client
Team Empowerment
Fail fast – learn fast
In a waterfall model, the ownership is taken away from the team and dropped into the laps of a project manager/ manager and this lies at the heart of the problem. This makes the manager very keen to constantly reviewing and monitoring every action of the team. Imagine if the responsibility of a game’s outcome was placed completely on a coach and the players didn’t have to take any ownership. The coach would be micro-managing the team every step of the way to ensure job safety and blame avoidance. Focus is on “Not Losing” and not on “Winning”! Team looks up to the manager to provide day to day directions and also may absolve of any responsibility of their commitment. During failed project reviews one often hears statements such as “I did what the manager told me to do!” or “Ask the manager!” or “Manager didn’t lead us properly” and so on. These are classical blame game scenarios but it is too late for the project and customer who were depending on the project’s successful outcome.
Now imagine another scenario, where the players are equally responsible (or even more) for the outcome as much as the manager. Everyone knows they have to help realise the outcome and the manager is just there to help or guide them just like a coach would do. The players have to play the game and contribute every step of the way as they are in control of the situation and outcome. Then you will see a lot more trust, dependency, team empowerment come through. Team will try different ways and figure out very quickly ways that work and the ways that don’t work. Manager truly plays the role of mentor, guide, coach, support, dispute resolver, team representative than someone who is interested in micro-managing the team to avoid being fired or blamed.
However, this requires a fundamental shift in how we perceive the roles and responsibilities of managers. Managers are given oxymoron goals such as “Fail fast but don’t become a failure”, “Be a coach but be ready to jump in as a player when needed” (how many times have you seen a coach jump in to become a player during a game?!), “trust the team but make sure nothing goes wrong”, “I don’t pay you to watch the team, I want you to play”. No wonder our managers are becoming schizophrenic trying to juggle the demands of a agile model of leadership in an waterfall environment. Very soon managers start enforcing a culture that has a combination of waterfall process with agile ceremonies! You will see them creating Kanban boards while they are also creating a detailed task plan for the team. You will see them conduct daily stand ups and also weekly status meetings! Instead of just looking at burn down charts they will start providing detailed updates on task progress as per a project plan. Instead of doing Sprint reviews, you will see them running 2 hour session with 40 slides in a PowerPoint presentation on what went wrong! Such outcomes can be compared to a situation of over loading a car while the tyres are also punctured!
Here are 3 ways you can stop an Anti-agile culture being formed in your organisation or team:
Build a team that delivers and hold the entire team accountable not just the manager
Hire a manager who works well as a coach, mentor, guide and not just a task master
Avoid waterfall events and demand Agile ceremonies
It takes several attempts to get Agile delivery right, so be patient with a few road bumps and hold on to that vision of building Agile teams! Agile teams form the culture of an Agile organisation so nurture them until they blossom and spread across your organisation.
If you liked the article, please like and share it. How has been your journey of becoming Agile? What challenges did you face along the journey? What did you learn from the process? Drop in your thoughts in the comments section. Cheers!
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