One of the most frustrating things I experience is business people making promises to customers and expecting technical professionals to keep those promises. It is a clear violation of the social compact of agile. Sadly, it is also a common occurrence. In these high-pressure moments, it is clear that the people making the promises do not have the technical knowledge necessary to keep those promises. If the situation becomes, egregious people can wind up in jail. I have spent plenty of time working on these intense projects, and I want to try and provide a few tools to keep you from going insane.
William H. Janeway is a founding silicon valley venture capitalist; his book “Doing Capitalism in the Innovation Economy” includes a great piece of wisdom about times of crisis in the investment world. When situations deteriorate in a business, investors want cash and control. The money is necessary in case of more economic hardship, and the control ensures work gets accomplished. It is a harsh truism.
With deadlines looming, executives are under intense pressure. An executive often micromanages a team because it is the only way to look like they are in control. It feels like playing a game of twenty questions with someone on amphetamines, pointing a gun at your head.
Conversations resemble the following.
Executive #1 – “Those two bugs, when are they going to get fixed?”
Product Owner – “We wrote up the bugs five minutes ago when we were testing, so we are going to diagnose the problems and provide logs for the development team.“
Executive #2 – “We promised the client a release date on X.”
Product Owner – “I am aware, but releasing buggy code is going to undermine our relationship with the customer.”
Executive #2 – “We need that by X.”
Executive #1 – “Can you give me an ETA on those defects so I can report them to my boss.”
Product Owner – “Yes, as soon as we trouble-shoot the problem and gather response object from the failed service.”
Executive #1 – “So when?”
Product Owner – “I am not sure. Let us work the problem.”
Executive #2 – “We could lose millions of dollars if we don’t release by X.”
As you can see, conversations like this resemble something out of a Kurt Vonnegut novel. The stress levels increase, and no one benefits from the increased attention other than the executive.
Often you are working with people inside your team and outside to address crises. It requires plenty of emotional intelligence to do this correctly because many of the people around you begin to panic and are frazzled. When confronted with situations like this, it is best to be the calmest person in the room. State the facts and tell people what you are doing to work the problem. Also, share with leadership the others working with you to fix the problem.
Next, let people know they are creating unnecessary stress. If a manager is asking for updates each hour for a bug in testing, point out that their concern, while necessary, is not improving the situation.
Finally, be kind to others and yourself. Deadline pressure is never fun, but everyone is in the same difficult situation. Being mean or showing a lack of kindness will create a feedback loop of reprisals on the team. If the unit is fighting, they are not focusing on the deadline. Kindness and grace are not easy during a deadline, but they are necessary to get the job done.
High pressure and uncomfortable situations happen in software development. As a coach or scrum master, you must show emotional intelligence when others are not.
Until next time.
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