Our local agile ALN group has an annual tradition of doing lightning talks on the last meeting (November) of the year. The group coordinator kindly asked me if I wanted to participate and, since I was in town, I enthusiastically agreed.
But then the hard part began. I would have 5-minutes to talk about anything I wanted to. But only 5-minutes.
I struggled to figure out what to focus on until the day of the meeting. The pressure was building. And yes, I had a gazillion ideas that I could share, but nothing had risen to the top. Around 2 pm something came to me.
Agile Metrics
I’ve been inundated with conversations around agile metrics of late and, quite frankly, it’s worn me out. And the discussion always appears to be the same, talking about:
Velocity vs. Throughput
Output vs. Outcomes vs. Impacts
The one metric that Matters
Metric quadrants
Balanced metrics
Metrics tension; opposite metrics
Healthy metrics
The list goes on and on…
There are all kinds of measures mentioned around agile teams and their behavior. I thought I’d explore a few that aren’t often talked about. And instead of referring to them as measures, I’d like to instead call them indicators.
So, here are my indicators of Agile Done Well…
1. People want to join your organization – one of the true measures of the health of any organization’s culture is whether employees recommend it to their friends, family, and colleagues. Are people freely doing that?
2. Opportunistic Swarming – across the culture people pair and swarm on the work. There’s not a lot of “lone rangers” in the culture. And the flip-side of this is that there IS space for introverts to work alone.
3. Joyfulness – you can feel it the minute you enter the space. There’s a sense of joy and playfulness in the culture. Dare I say it – fun. And it is resilient joy, remaining even when there are challenges and the going gets tough.
4. Getting Shit Done – I hate to say it, but there’s too much “being agile” in the agile community and too little “getting shit done”. Too much talking/yacking and not enough delivery. AND delivering the right stuff.
5. Telling Truth to Power – is the culture one where anyone, and I mean anyone, can have a crucial conversation with the most senior leader? Can they safely tell truth to power and will power receive it as healthy and useful feedback? In fact, do leaders encourage/inspire this sort of feedback?
6. Practicing Self-care – often organizations suck the very life out of you and expect 110% of your energy, time, and effort. But cultures are changing to support more of a balanced approach and one where individual self-care is encouraged. And they mean it!
7. Self-coaching – here everyone is a coach, a mentor, a teacher, etc. The culture is about helping one another and being helped. About growing together. About learning together. About us and we over I and me. A key aspect or question in this culture for everyone is – am I coachable?
8. Diversity Everywhere – not just in hiring, but you see diversity everywhere. In technology, in decision-making, across the employees, everywhere! And it’s broad diversity, considerate of things beyond gender and racial diversity. And it’s natural diversity. That is, the culture naturally embraces diverse experiences, ideas, and people.
9. Kindness – another way of viewing this is being nice. Now, niceness can be excessively applied. So, I’m not talking about that. But I am talking about a culture that is kind, humble, thankful, grateful, appreciative of one another. And exhibits with widespread, random acts of kindness.
Wrapping Up
I know, I know, these indicators are going to be HARD to measure. You’re right. But get over it.
But can you imagine working in a culture that supported, exhibited, and encouraged all nine of these indications? What would that FEEL like as an organizational culture? Would it support agile values and principles?
So, think about it and think about supporting these practices within your own journey. As it starts with you…
Stay agile my friends,
Bob.