The life of a scrum master or agile coach contains plenty of ups and downs. Some days, you have manic energy, and people recognize you are attempting to change the organization for the better. Other days, you are depressed, feeling the structural problems of the organization crush the enthusiasm out of your body. The business world brings out the bipolar characteristics of each person. I am prone to those emotions as much as the next person. Today on the blog, I wanted to go over the emotional labor we need to be a successful agile professional.
I am a big fan of Western Philosophy and have devoted numerous blog posts on how different philosophical schools of thought parallel the agile reformation. I have talked about existentialism, stoicism, the pragmatic nature of agile, and how Heraclitus and his ideas about change affect how we should look at agile. What has always fascinated me about philosophy is the branch known as ethics. It is the study of how to live a good or positive life. Over the last few years in business, I have relied on philosophy to understand what motivates other people and ethics on how to conduct myself when under stress.
It is a delicate balancing act when you care deeply about something and the daily stress of achieving that something piles up. The existentialists often talk about how emotions are intentional. We cannot control the outside world, but we can control our emotional reactions to the outside world. The stoics also appeal because they teach nothing is ever as good as it gets, and nothing is as awful as it seems. Both schools of thought offer a healthy dose of wisdom when things time tough in the office.
Lately, I have been reading the works of Albert Camus. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people have read his most famous novel, "The Plague," which describes the outbreak of pneumonic plague in Algeria. In the book, we follow the story of an Algerian doctor as he attempts to treat the sick during the attack. We also see how others react to the suffering and death as the plague follows its natural course. It is a grim book, but it has moments of hope and decency when people step up to help others. Camus had no illusions about people in times of crisis, but in the end, he supports the idea that our essential humanity comes through when we help others. The Plague is one of the reasons Camus earned the Nobel prize in literature.
I am a big fan of Camus's essays, particularly "The Myth of Sisyphus," where he compares the human condition to the Greek myth of Sisyphus. The gods punished the Greek king Sisyphus to spend eternity in the underworld, pushing an immense boulder up a hill. When the boulder reached the top, it rolls down to the bottom, and Sisyphus begins the process again. I look at "The Myth of Sisyphus" as a metaphor for project management. It is both a metaphor for futility and human existence. Humans toil for futile goals and face numerous setbacks to keep going. Often it is a struggle and toil with a brief moment of success before returning to effort and work. Camus sees this struggle as heroic and says famously at the end of the essay, "one imagines Sisyphus happy."
In my darker moments, I understand the sense of futility that Sisyphus experiences. What gets me through is that each day I have a goal to push the metaphorical boulder up the hill. Each day, I have a chance to make a difference. It is the slow and steady work that is part of the life of many professional people— the grinding of work and the friction of helping others to collaborate toward a common goal. I use the story of Sisyphus to explain why I do what I do. It also helps me manage my emotions better because I can say that I moved that boulder up the hill a few more inches on my worst days. I get to stand at the top of the mountain when I get the boulder to the top. Finally, I get a few moments of rest when I walk back down to start the process over again. It is the source of happiness in my life and why I keep doing it even during the worst moments.
Until next time.
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