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.