A
whil ago I saw the TED talk from Simon Sinek about how great leaders inspire action. In the talk
he introduces the golden circle, explaining the different perspectives WHY, WHAT, HOW - and how we should always communicate starting with WHY. Getting introduced to his golden circle got me thinking;
Maybe some of the challenges we see in agile transformations could be prevented
if we used that mindset?
We are so good at defining processes, describing
swim lanes, creating templates etc. We train people in the method - the
mechanics, but very often I think we forget to explain why. Do you know why
your company is in the middle of an agile transformation? Has anyone explained
to you why that journey was started, what value it will bring? have you read,
and do you understand the 12 principles behind the agile manifesto?
If we don't understand the WHY, how can we then
be good at the how and the what? A couple of examples;
I see companies that doesn't prioritize the
continuous or at least the early focus on quality within their projects – on
building quality in. Why do I want them to focus more on that?
Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer
through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
This is the first of the agile principles. How
can you create early and continuous delivery of valuable software if you don't
have the focus on ensuring that you are building the right thing... and
building it right? How can you have that focus if you don’t’ focus on getting
your foundation right? The user stories and accept criteria? How can you have a
continuous focus on this if testing is something you do as a "finishing
touch" done by the business?
Or another aspect; how can you have focus on
value if the product owners chooses to define the user stories and acceptance
criteria deciding the what and how, rather then explaining the value needed?
The user story is a placeholder for a conversation – a conversation between PO
and team, and the acceptance criteria is the input to the confirmation of
whether we have created what the PO need. It is not a specification of what to
create in detail, it is not the design.
Working software is the primary measure of progress.
Another of the agile principles. How do you know
if your software is working? you do that by executing the software - by testing
it. Whether this is manual or automatic is another discussion, but you cannot
say that your user story or feature is "done" if you haven't tried
using it, focusing on both whether it works or not and whether it fulfils the
needs of the users. Unit test, system test, acceptance test is still relevant
in agile, just not as a phase but as a continuous activity across the
lifecycle.
Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them
the environment and support they need and trust them to get the job done.
A major part of motivation is to understand the
difference you are making, the value you bring to the team. This is relevant,
no matter whether you are developer, tester, scrum master, product owner or
something else – we need to understand the value we bring to the table, why we
are there.
Sometimes we are challenged in creating that
environment and support. Sometimes we just give the “title” of Scrum Master to
the project manager and say “now you are no longer a product manager, you are a
scrum master”. And the will then continue their merry way doing more or less
what they used to do, just with another hat on. They will still manage, not
being servant leaders for their team – supporting them in their agile journey.
The stand up will be a daily reporting activity to the project manager rather
than something we do to and for the team to ensure that we are on the right
track and get the support needed.
And examples could be given for all 12
principles I’m afraid – but I hope you get the point from these three.
I wish we could start all transformation
journeys with a discussion based on the golden circle, getting an understanding
of:
- Why do we want to do this?
- Why have we chosen approach X?
- Why can this support our business?
- How does this support our vision and strategy for the organization?
- How do we communicate the answer to the WHYs to the organization?
- How do we ensure that our employees see the value and see their part in the transformation
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