You're a technology manager in an organization that has decided that they are going to adopt Agile. Thunk......now what? You've spent years becoming the high performing manager you are today, managing the day-to-day details of your team, holding things together, making decisions big and small....You are the leader, success of your team hinges on your ability to make decisions that impact the way the team works. Your team is successful because of your management efforts....Sound like you?
This Agile thing is telling me that my teams are now going to be 'self-organizing' and be able to make decisions on their own...what the heck am I going to do?
Managers who are asked to move their organization to Agile may often believe like they are providing the path to the doorway out of the company. This resistance can be one of the primary impediments to successful Agile adoption and as an organization Sr. Management needs to be aware of this paradigm and provide support to middle managers that Agile is not about replacing them but truly about getting them into a position where they are focused in the truly valuable parts of their job - Strategic Planning, Employee Development..the bigger picture.
Stephen Covey teaches that successful managers are the ones who are able to remove themselves from the quadrant of activities that are Urgent and Important and focus on the activities that were Important but Not Urgent, meaning remove yourself from day-to-day decision-making over planning and strategy development.
So many of us can get sucked into the day-to-day minutiae of our teams that we end up ignoring the bigger picture areas which should be our focus. Why? Because dealing with Important and Urgent activities is an addictive feeling, you feel like you are making important decisions when in fact your team is probably more than capable of making them without you.
Agile provides your team with leadership opportunities that aren't found in more traditional process control organizations. Step back and let your team grow. I've been amazed how teams, when given the opportunity, can solve process issues and impediments to productivity that I would have never thought of. The collective minds of your organization are capable of great things.
As a manager you need and want to embrace this power and provide support for you team. Let them help you and help the organization deliver on the promise that Agile provides.
How can you help?
- Understand that for your teams to succeed they need to fail, yes I said that.
- Don't attend their ceremonies (standups, retrospectives) Why? The team needs to be able to speak openly and honestly about what is working and not working without you being present.
- Use the working metrics available to you, velocity, burndown. If your team says they are going to do 'x' story points and they do that consistently, what else do you need to know?
- Don't force your opinions on what they 'SHOULD' be doing. Have confidence that you have hired great people and they like you want to succeed.
- Work closely with the Product Owner and Scrum Master to discuss any concerns you have. Understand why things are working a certain way before leveling your judgement.
- Don't act as a Scrum Master or Product Owner of the team. Why? You manage their careers and it's highly unlikely that the team will receive the benefits of iterative continuous improvement if they don't feel confident that they can say when things aren't working well.
- Don't believe that everything is great the way it is, anything can be improved.
Agile will provide transparency with respect to the areas of your organization that isn't working efficiently. As a management team you will need to focus your attention on addressing these impediments as your Agile teams mature. If these hurdles and impediments aren't dealt with you will reach a ceiling on the ROI that Agile can provide. As with your teams, management needs to be honest with themselves about broader organizational issues so that a stronger and more effective organization emerges.
Agile isn't just about delivering software faster, it's much more than that. Understanding that will make the transition your Agile smoother.