Send Talented Jerks Packing with Agile and SAFe

One of the biggest stereotypes in the business world is the talented jerk who leads by pure force of will.  Through bullying behavior, intimidation, and promises of advancement, these individuals create an environment of fear to forward their business goals.  It is often an exploitive process where your enthusiasm and eagerness to please often are transformed into a weapon.  I have spent plenty of time working with these individuals as a professional.  As a coach or scrum master, it is up to you to call out the toxic behavior and strive to do better.  The contemporary office should be less “The Devil Wears Prada” and more humane. 

The Agile manifesto principles and the SAFe Lean-Agile principles explicitly state that domineering jerks are not the way to lead teams.  The Agile manifesto recognizes that organizations should “build projects around motivated individuals, give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.” SAFe says, “Unlock the intrinsic motivation of knowledge workers.”  These statements are an open repudiation of the top-down command and control approach championed in popular culture. 

I have had plenty of misfortune working with awful people.  They were emotionally erratic, and you spent your time in the office waiting for an explosion or a well-directed torrent of abuse.  Power is misused, and when something goes wrong, they are the first to deflect blame.  You are right if it sounds like abuse.  Office workers and blue-collar folks suffer through the experience of potent jerks, which changes them.  Instead of enthusiasm and professional pride in what they do, abused workers slog along doing the bare minimum to collect a paycheck.  

Forbes magazine points out four possible paths to power in organizations:

• Dominant-aggressive Behavior: using fear and intimidation.
• Political Behavior: building alliances with influential people.
• Communal Behavior: helping others
• Competent Behavior: being good at your job 

I think organizations that promote based on helping others and being competent will be more successful than those that concentrate on power and politics.  It is also why both the Agile manifesto and the SAFe lean-agile principles use similar language to describe how organizations and teams should operate.  

I have rallied against talented jerks my entire career.  It is a natural response to being their target for most of my life.  As I have grown older, I have discovered there is not much intellectual difference between the mean girl who treated you like a grub in geometry class and the marketing professional who expects the web developers to write content for the website with multiple revisions.  It is best to sideline and expose these people because they will undermine the organization in the long run. 

We see plenty of cruelty, inequality, and denial in media, business, and politics.  The only way to fight it is to be kind to others, competent at what we do, and provide an environment where those traits are discouraged.  I am not perfect at this, but I strive to get better each day and be an example for others. 

I joined the agile reformation because I felt there was a better way to work.  Today, I feel just as strongly, and the first step is to create an atmosphere of kindness, cooperation, and competence at the office.  Next, it is exposing talented jerks.  Finally, breaking the cycle of abuse we all experience in a typical business environment.  I will take that any day over a Prada suit.  

Happy Easter and until next time.

Be the Glue That Holds Agile and SAFe Together.

Like many professional people, I spend plenty of time retraining for my job.  Technology is one of those activities where you have to relearn your career every eighteen months, or you will become unemployable.  It is a tricky tightrope to walk.  My firm sponsored a training session, and it was for the Scaled Agile Framework for the Enterprise, or SAFe for short.  It is the most popular format for scaling agile at a large organization.  Still, numerous critics see it as a disingenuous approach to helping an organization become more agile.  I have written about these disputes before on this blog.  Today, I want to discuss something which does not change between SAFe and traditional agile, and that is the necessity for servant leadership to make either successful.  

Simon Sinek released a great TED talk about leadership.  He talks about how leaders can inspire trust among the people they serve.  Anyone can be in charge, but a true leader is someone who inspires confidence among the people who get the work done.  Leadership is not a title bestowed by others, but something earned.  A boss will give orders, while a leader will outline a vision and intention to let teams figure out what needs to get done.  It is a very different vision of leading others, but I believe it is truly effective. 

Agile has twelve principles that guide how a team should develop solutions; SAFe has ten.  If you create a Venn Diagram of these two sets of information, they have significant overlap.  Both principles stress working in small chunks, so it is easy to change direction.  Next, both require rapid inspection cycles to determine whether we deliver the work with the most value—finally, both believe in self-management and individual initiative among technology professionals.  

I am a big proponent of the notion that software is eating the world.  If a business is going to be successful, it must conduct itself like a software business.  Instead of a command and control approach to doing things, it requires collaboration and compromise.  Finally, it demands a different kind of leadership where you serve others instead of promoting your selfish agendas.  Sinek says that officers in the Marine Corps eat last because any Marine officer must look out for the well-being of the people they lead.  Often, they do not get to eat, and when they do, the food is cold, but it creates a level of trust with fellow marines, allowing them to function in the most desperate of situations. 

People like having plenty of authority, but being a servant leader, requires you to assume responsibility for yourself and the people you lead.  SAFe and Agile need leaders who put the goals of the team and the project ahead of their selfish agendas.  It is looking out for others and focusing on outcomes rather than busywork.   

Servant leadership is always a work in progress and will constantly challenge you throughout your life.  Some days will feel like an abject failure, and others will become a moment of triumph, but to be successful, you need to show up each day and do the best you can.  Teams worldwide use SAFe or Agile to do better work, but the glue that holds both together is servant leadership. 

Until next time. 

  

Don't Make Hybrid Work a Pointless Exercise.

 

The world turns quickly.  What was the hot business trend a month ago quickly becomes obsolete.   Staying ahead of this changing landscape is a fool's errand, but the business community wants to replicate anything that might give it a competitive edge.  Behavior like this looks silly from an outsider's perspective, like something out of a passage of Gulliver's Travels.  It has considerable seriousness for people chasing profits and promotions.  This week, I noticed two articles that look like a trend but are an illustration of the values in the agile manifesto, which business leaders ignore at their peril.  

With the threat of COVID-19 subsiding, business leaders are arguing for a return to the office.  The demand that people physically be in the office has triggered a revolt among the junior bankers of Goldman Sacks.  The compromise of hybrid working is also backfiring because the workers who return to the office are isolated and have video conferences with those choosing to stay home.   We are looking at the worst of all worlds when getting back to work.  I suspect the reason why is that business leaders are ignoring the agile value of individuals and interactions over processes and tools. 

I can understand why business owners or executives want people back in the office.  Real estate rents are expensive, so each unoccupied desk or empty conference room looks like money drifting into the wind.  The other reason is that executives and entrepreneurs are builders by nature, and the office is a personal construction project.  I remember what keep me going during my failed entrepreneurial venture was the fantasy of opening my own office in a loft.  I only needed to close ten clients to start paying rent.  Today, I understand that I would never have that cool office of my dreams without venture capital and a better sales and marketing plan.  An empty office to a business leader means that they are failing.  

The COVID-19 pandemic made working from home a realistic alternative for many clerical workers.  The video conferencing software could connect remote offices and remote workers.  The business did not stop; instead, it shifted to coffee tales, bedrooms, and small working spaces.  Accounts receivable processed invoices, human resources did what it did, and the information technology department kept it all working from the comfort of home. 

Commuting time is wasted time, money, and gas.  Running household errands was now impossible, and spending time with children or the family pet was out of the question.  Finally, working in an office to attend conference calls and zoom meetings alone is self-defeating.  There was bound to be pushback when business leaders demanded employees return to the office.  Recruiters took notice and offered to poach employees from organizations that were not offering alternatives to the office.  It is one of the factors which keep the great resignation churning.  

As an owner, executive, or entrepreneur, take a look at the agile manifesto.  The first part says, "Individuals and Interactions over Processes and Tools." To run a modern-day business, listen to the people who work for you.  Find out what works for the team and then implement it.  The solution may not be what you want, but it will be what the people who deliver value to your business need to be successful.

Many offices have standing days for in-person meetings, Wednesdays or Thursdays.  If you must have everyone in the office, reach a consensus among the people you serve to have one or two days where everyone must be in the office.  Great days for something like this are client demonstrations or kickoffs for large projects.

Ordering people back into the office because you are in charge is not working; it creates ill will among staff and hurts the organization.  Listen to your workers and implement it.  Everyone wants to get back to work, but it has to work for the people delivering value; otherwise, hybrid work is a pointless exercise.

Until next time.