We want Agile same same but different
"Yeah, we have Dailies. Every second day." Sounds familiar? Welcome to today's episode of 'We use Jaira, we are so Agile'. F*** your Jira! Focus on continuous collaboration and improvement!
Let me tell you something about my blog. Whenever I write an article you can assume that something (or someone) annoyed me. So what ignited my desire to rant this time? The answer is Scrum of Scrums. No, I don’t mean the event. I mean someone stating Scrum of Scrums as their role. But what does a ‘Scrum of Scrums’ do? Honestly, I don’t know. No one knows. And maybe that’s the genius of it. No one dares to doubt it. I mean we’re doing Agile, we have to adapt to change and have an open mindset.
Btw, may I introduce myself? I define myself as Scrum Owner now.
Buzzword Agile
Do you know why many people don’t want to hear about Agile anymore? Because everyone does Agile - or rather tries to do Agile. And when everyone tries to do Agile, there will be inevitable many people doing fake Agile. It’s like those pseudo-coaches on social media. The promoters typically claim you can make big money with little or no experience. They say their “experts” will teach you a “proven method” for building a successful business. Low effort resulting in an excellent outcome? Yeah for sure. It’s the same with people thinking Agile will solve all their problems.
This is how we do it
Now don’t get me wrong. I’m an Agile fangirl and convinced that it can solve not all but many problems - and now comes the important part - PROVIDED THAT you’re doing it right. But what is the right way? Agile is such an abstract concept and there’s no one-stop-shop Agile solution.
As a first step, you should shift your perspective from “I want Agile to solve problem X” to “I want to achieve X, maybe Agile could be the right approach”. So focus on your expected outcome. A Kanban board won’t make your teams collaborate and be more efficient. But a psychologically safe environment without blaming culture will.
I wanna do you vs. I wanna be you
I have to admit, the comparison between ‘I wanna do you’ and ‘I wanna be you’ is a bit drastic. But so is the difference between doing Agile and being Agile, in my opinion. First of all, the goal should be to be Agile and not do Agile. Doing Agile means you have implemented Agile processes into your organization in some way. Being Agile is going the extra mile and applying an Agile mindset to all areas of your business. Keep in mind that Agility provides one thing above all, a culture with values and principles that can change a company from the ground up if you get involved in it. Clearly, you can just pick the methodology you want, but without living up to the values and principles you will never exploit the full potential of Agile.
Same story in bodybuilding. Using a fitness device will probably make you fit, but won’t make you a bodybuilder. You first need the correct mindset, which comes from commitment. Then you need to think about what you want to achieve and create a goal-oriented plan. Now start step by step, have checkpoints in between, and adjust if necessary.
It’s the same with Agile. There’s a reason a methodology is well-defined. You can’t follow a recipe by leaving some things out, replacing others, and expecting to have Jamie Oliver’s famous Bolognese.
Tell me again, why are we doing Agile?
You have nothing to be ashamed of if you simply wanna go with good old waterfall. I prefer people sticking to waterfall over people wanting Agile for the wrong reasons. What are those reasons you may ask:
Everyone is doing it
You see Agile as a holy grail
And this is a big no-no for me. Especially if you consider that becoming truly fully Agile might take years. As I said, it is not just about tools and meetings. You have to transform your culture and way of thinking, and adapt to the new mindset.
Now that sounded scary. But it’s like before making an important decision. You have to have a clear answer to the following questions:
Why do you want to do this?
Are you willing to put effort into it?
I’ve been thinking for an hour now about how to end this article and what my conclusion is and I think I just want to say: Don’t DO Agile, BE Agile.
Now that is very vague and lacks substance. You cannot just be Agile, you first have to start doing it logically. It is totally fine to start implementing step by step instead of transforming your whole business. As long as you’re willing to adapt also the values and principles and not only the tools and methodologies on the long run.