Chris Stone recently shared a post on LinkedIn that was titled, 10 bitter pills to swallow about agile for leaders. It was short and easily missed, so I want to share it again because his “10 Bitter Pills” resonated greatly with me.
10 Bitter Pills to Swallow About Agile for Leaders
1. Customers don't care if you're agile, waterfall or otherwise.
They care about their experience & that your product helps them. Focus on the quality and frequency of your interactions with customers.
2. It won't solve all of your problems.
Agile isn't a panacea. It'll just expose your problems quicker. The core of Agility is that it builds in feedback loops. It's up to you to learn from them and adjust from there.
3. Telling people, they have psychological safety isn't enough.
You need to demonstrate that people are ok to fail through action, not just words. Celebrate failure, be intentional about creating a safe environment.
4. An agile transformation is never complete.
A transformation suggests you'll emerge from your cocoon at the end of your (insert x years timeline) as a beautiful agile butterfly and that'll be that, job done.
Agility is more evolutionary than transformation. A continuous evolution of ways of working based on changes within your context.
5. Twice the work in half the time has done more harm than good.
It's a great sales pitch that I'm sure execs love to buy, but it harms those doing the work in the trenches by setting unrealistic expectations. Not everything has to be a 'sprint', that's just a path to burnout for your teams.
6. Learning & innovation requires capacity.
If all you focus on is creating new features for your products without enabling the time and space for people to learn and innovate, people will find another job that enables them to learn and innovate elsewhere.
7. It's the system at fault, not the people.
If things aren't going to plan, people 'aren't delivering enough' or 'quality isn't as it should be', it's the system at fault not the people. Retrospect at scale regularly, learn what's getting in the way of your people and then get out of their way.
8. Treat people like resources & they will behave that way.
Resources are inanimate, fungible, disposal commodities. So many companies profess that their people are their most important asset but then treat them like machines. Humans are more than just avatars on a screen, we are beating hearts behind our devices.
It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you focus solely on productivity, people will behave like resources. Nobody wants to feel like a JIRA ticket machine.
9. If you want change, YOU have to change.
You have to be willing to role model the change you want to see yourself. Be vulnerable and make the change first. Admit that you don't have all the answers but that you'll discover them together.
10. Estimates are not deadlines.
An estimate provided is based on the knowledge, context and priorities at that time.
We are often working with unknowns, complexity, dependencies a plenty. Build a minimum viable governance that enables you to learn and communicate expectations accordingly, don't hold people to arbitrary deadlines.
My Take on the 10 Pills
While beautifully written, succinct, and on-point, I’d like to add some flavor to Chris’ list. I’ve also added some of my post(s) that either support or add more flavor to his—
1) Yes!
2) Duh!
3) And realizing how important Psychological Safety is in your culture-shaping efforts as a leader. I don’t think we give it proper importance or respect.
https://rgalen.com/agile-training-news/2019/4/4/checking-for-safety
4) I love initial conversations with clients when they have a schedule and end date for their agile transformational plans. It’s one of the first things I get to challenge in their understanding.
https://rgalen.com/agile-training-news/2017/5/7/leaders-are-you-ready-for-agile
5) I have chills running down my spine when I hear someone, anyone, referencing Twice the Work in Half the Time. It’s one of those books that I hope is well-intentioned but that has done far too much damage wrongly influencing agile leaders.
6) Yes, it does!
https://rgalen.com/agile-training-news/2013/10/1/google-20-timesadly-its-gone
https://rgalen.com/agile-training-news/2016/11/10/innovation-management-vs-team-responsibility
7) Well…yes, and no. While the people are operating in the system, I think there is some responsibility at the people level. And not all people have a place in agile ecosystems, and sometimes they are at fault. Remember, if you don’t align with an agile transformation, you may want to opt out to somewhere where you do.
https://rgalen.com/agile-training-news/2015/8/9/creating-self-directed-teams-a-question-of-space
https://rgalen.com/agile-training-news/2020/8/16/with-great-power
8) People are NOT resources! The sooner we can eradicate that language and view in leaders, the better.
https://rgalen.com/agile-training-news/2014/3/24/agile-leaders-watch-your-language
9) Wait for it, wait for it, Amen! This is why I’m so bullish on the leaders go first mentality. Being a role model for the change, not just in your words, but in your mindset and behaviors.
https://rgalen.com/agile-training-news/2022/10/16/when-the-leaderleads
https://rgalen.com/agile-training-news/2016/1/1/lets-focus-on-inside-out-agile-transformation
10. Yes! This!
Wrapping Up
Chris Stone is one of those voices that you should be watching in the agile community.
To make that point even more precise, here’s another Chris Stone post about 5 of his preferred Metrics. Love, love, love his list!
Stay agile my friends,
Bob.