Find the Right People to Begin Your Agile Journey

I spent time away from work to be with family on the Alabama coast, and I am glad to be back.  Taking time away from projects is a healthy way to recharge and discover new perspectives mentally.  Unfortunately, it creates a backlog of work that you need to sift through when you return to the office.  While I was sorting through my e-mail to achieve the elusive inbox zero, it occurred to me agile is becoming more mainstream.   

When I joined the reformation, 2009, it was composed of misfits and developers who saw the old way of doing things as needing significant change.  Today, I talk with executives who ‘want’ agile.  The secret of agile being a better way to manage complicated projects like software development is now public knowledge.  As this information spreads, business leadership struggles to find people who can make it happen within their organizations.  Today, I will discuss the struggle to find good and great agile professionals. 

Speaking from my own experience, I had the zeal of a newly converted person and still look back at my embrace of agile as my “road to Damascus” moment. Early converts to agile and scrum were enthusiastic. We gained experience working as scrum masters, product owners, and developers.  Now, we are looking for the next steps in our career training and leading others to be agile.  

For business leaders new to agile, people in my cohort of agile practitioners are a large pool of labor, but the front-line scrum masters and product owners are scarce. The challenge is how do you find people to fill those roles. Often they have to train people internally or hire outsiders at a premium.  The challenge is how do you find good people to fill those roles.  

The first thing you must do is take an unflinching look at the organization’s culture.  Is conformity valued over results or delivery?  If it is, it will be hard finding internal scrum masters or software developers.  Agile professionals are iconoclastic and have an entrepreneurial streak.  Suppose the organization is crushing these traits out of the workforce. In that case, they will not spontaneously come to life because you rename a project manager or business analyst a scrum master after a two-day training course.  

Like people who resolve to lose weight or quit drinking, an organization needs to take small and concrete steps to transform.  The agile wannabe leaders must find scrum masters from outside the firm willing to buck the organizational status quo to get things done.  It also means abandoning micromanagement, rewarding people willing to question established ways of doing things, and creating psychological safety so people can try new things and make mistakes.  These are not easy things to do and could take years to complete successfully.  

Where leaders have an advantage is recruiting product owners.  There are plenty of people inside your organization with business knowledge and tenure.  They are the people who know all the secrets in the organization, and they make perfect material for craft product owners. Before you send them off to training, make sure they are empowered to set priorities and say 'no' to others in the organization.  Finally, make sure the new product owners are doing the job full-time. Product Ownership requires undivided attention to write stories, communicate with customers, and measure value delivered to the organization.  If you expect them to handle accounts receivable while acting as a product owner for the new accounting system, you deserve failure.  Pair these people up with an experienced scrum master or coach, and you have a recipe for success.  

Finally, look for people who are stoic and realistic.  The contemporary business world produces toxic people; either they are so optimistic it is alienating or so hostile they act like cancer on their work. Find people who are willing to look at a negative situation and say, “Wow, this is broken, might as well get started and fix it.”  If you find people like this and place them in positions of responsibility, your ability to become agile has a reasonable chance of success.  In the words of agile coach Michael de la Maza, “There are no solutions, just countermeasures.” Find people willing to implement those countermeasures.  

Finding good talent will be a significant challenge as we attempt to rebuild the global economy in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Agile is not something you can buy off the shelf and magically implement at your organization.  It will require organizational change, people willing to take risks, and finally, a commitment to being uncomfortable and hold oneself accountable.   

Agile is not easy, and your first step on your journey is acknowledging that you need the right people to help you make the trip successfully. 

Until next time. 

The known-known of Donald Rumsfeld and agility

I took some time away from the blog to be with family and friends during the American Independence celebration.  Unlike George Packer's stereotyping of the professionals like myself, I am intensely patriotic, which made it pleasant to watch fireworks and listen to a marching band.  I encourage people to take time off.  It allowed people to set work aside and concentrate on the family and friends we neglect during the workweek.  While I was away, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld died.  His passing made me want to reflect on his leadership style and what that means for the people left behind.  

I'm not particularly eager to write about politics on this blog.  There are better voices about the subject on both the liberal and conservative end of the spectrum.  I also feel that if I am going to contribute to the conversation of making life better for others, I feel that concentrating on project management, agile, and business culture are areas where I can provide meaningful insight. I used Rumsfeld and his quotation about ambiguity and uncertainty to discuss what scrum masters should be looking for when they join an organization.  You can read the original post here.  

Now that Rumsfield is gone, it is time to take a serious look at his leadership style.  Secretary Rumsfeld is a formidable person; he graduated from an Ivy League institution, completed a Navy ROTC scholarship, and was a member of the house of representatives for three terms.  You do not accomplish those things unless you are intelligent and rugged.  I will also point out Rumsfeld is a fellow Eagle Scout.  

One thing that stuck out for me when I review his biography, he was a naval aviator and did not see any combat while he was flying.  He understood the reality of being a naval officer but never had shots fired at him by a communist in a Mig.  He also never commanded sailors at sea.  In most areas of his life, he had tremendous authority with little responsibility for the outcomes.  It is a crucial hallmark of his life in public service and private business.  It transformed him into an individual with tremendous arrogance and a shallow understanding of things unrelated to his advancement.

It drove Rumsfeld to fits of anger when asked about his motivations or influences.  Someone could not question him because he assumed he was always right.  Soon, Rumsfeld was surrounded by people who could not say no because their careers depended on making the boss happy.  It created a bubble where regular inspection and adaptation to changing circumstances became impossible.  Numerous generals risked their careers to point out flaws or nuance to Rumsfeld's decisions.  One general, Eric Shinseki, was relieved of duty when he pointed out the occupation of Iraq would take more soldiers than the ones involved in the actual invasion.  

The most prominent example of Rumsfeld's leadership style is the Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship or LCS.  The U.S. Navy requires large crews of specialists to operate their combat ships.  Professions diverse as plumbers, mechanics, and fuel technicians keep the Navy afloat. Vessels have specialization with some sweeping for mines. Others are missile cruisers designed to shoot down enemy aircraft, and aircraft carriers are floating airports that could project American power anywhere in the world.  It is expensive in both people and money to operate a giant navy.  The LCS would work with a fraction of the crew, hi-tech computer systems, and a modular hull which allows the ship to be reconfigured in port depending on its mission.  It was the brainchild of Rumsfeld.

It became apparent the LCS was a bad idea.  Crew members would shift from cooking meals to operating weapons.  The goal was to allow the U.S. to have a bigger military punch with fewer sailors and ships.  The reality of the situation was a mess.  Since none of the sailors assigned to an LCS had engineering experience, no one checked the engines for oil levels or seawater contamination.  The modular system never worked in practice, and LCS ships spent more time in port than at sea.  Finally, the vessels broke down when on duty and were towed to port because no one on the boat could do repairs at sea.  The Navy learned plenty of lessons about the LCS; they were reluctant to act on those lessons because it was Rumsfeld's idea, and even though he was gone from the department of defense, his shadow loomed large over the project.  Currently, the U.S. Navy is planning to retire the LCS Freedom-class, considering the program a failure.  

Based on his biography and papers, Rumsfeld comes off as a traditional leader who never wanted to hear bad news and expected his ideas to be implemented magically by the people he was supposed to serve.  People who were not obedient to Rumsfeld and his ego would be swept aside as he moved forward with stubborn persistence.  It is the mindset of a naval aviator who never had someone try and shoot him down.  The entitlement and arrogance are clear to see.  

Toward the end of his life, Rumsfeld published his "rules" for successful leadership.  If you followed his process, you would achieve greatness.  The funny thing about technology and reality is it humbles your greatest ambitions.  I doubt he ever learned that lesson, and it is up to coaches and scrum masters to remind leadership not to follow Rumsfeld's example.  

Until next time.