One of the many unintended benefits, in my view, of applying Agile principles to your business thinking is culling a lot more initiatives before they even start. Common sense tells us this is a good thing, but in reality it’s often not perceived that way.
If you’ve set yourself up in business to develop software then that’s what you do, day in and day out, whether it’s a good idea or not. It is inconceivable to many managers that a Team can go through a period in which they are doing nothing commercially productive.
Warm and fuzzy
Perhaps this is a legacy of waterfall (wishful?) thinking, because when everything took so long to do it wasn’t a problem keeping the idea pipeline full. But as you reap Agile’s efficiency gains you may uncover a shortage of effectiveness and creativity within your company.
It’s usually then that you sense the presence of an age-old enemy: Sentimentality. It sounds sweet and is often said to “creep in,” whereas in my experience it is always a scoundrel that barges its way through the door, hand-in-hand with the CEO or another executive.
“We just have to do this,” the executive declares.
“Why?”
“Because we have to. Trust me on this, I’ve got a nice, warm feeling about it. And besides, what else will the Team do? We can’t have them sitting around doing nothing.”
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My superpower is listening, really listening, and when I filter out the political correctness, what I hear the executive actually saying is: “Listen sonny, this is my pet project. I’m the boss around here and if I say “Do it,” then you’ll just bloody-well do it.
“Oh yes! And when you make a mess out of this it’ll be your fault for implementing my good idea badly. I want to know now if you’re going to do this or not. If not, I’ll find someone else who will, and then what’s the point of having you around?
“Don’t you realize I get an ego (and bonus) boost by running the biggest dev shop in town. When everyone is always kept so busy I have to hire more people. That’s how it works around here.”
It takes guts and daring – leadership – from stakeholders, management, customers, and the Team to put initiatives to the sword, especially when the alternative is apparently doing nothing. Yet, for everyone’s sake, sanity, and back pocket, this is precisely what you must do. If Agile highlights that your company is not effective or creative enough, this is the problem to solve. Not how do I make everyone look busy.
