Cash, Control and the Agile Coach

The business world is a rough and amoral place. The only judgment is the invisible hand of the marketplace. It explains why corporate work feels so dysfunctional. When the only means of value is the amount of profit you generate for shareholders, things like quality of work, personal integrity, and generating value for customers look like afterthoughts. Plenty of mediocre people exist in the business world, so it is understandable why this lack of vision exists. Increasing interest rates and low unemployment figures pull business leaders in opposite directions. As an agile coach or scrum master, we need to discuss what that tug of these forces means for your agile practice. 

William H. Janeway wrote one of the most important books I have read about business. An economist and venture capitalist, Janeway, says that cash and control become critical to a company when time gets tough. Together they help ensure the success of a business and investment. 

Any business person understands the importance of cash. The use of cash provides employee wages, purchases supplies, and offers collateral for loans if they are necessary. During times of crisis, the reflex to cut back on spending is natural because the easiest way to get out of a hole is to stop digging and take stock of the situation. Businesses are cutting back on travel, moving holiday parties to potlucks in the breakroom, and canceling projects for nice-to-have improvements. No matter how pound foolish, each penny saved looks suitable to investors and the CFO. 

Control increases during difficult times. When things are good, the business runs on a form of auto-pilot. Projects continue without question, and managers hire more staff to accommodate the growing to-do list at the company. When a crisis hits, leaders ask uncomfortable questions, and everything is subject to review. It explains the wave of layoffs which hit the tech industry as CEOs and investors realized that they over-hired during the COVID-19 pandemic and could no longer print money thanks to low-interest rates. They discarded anything that was not driving value to the business, like a used piece of facial tissue.

As a coach or scrum master, it is your responsibility to show leadership you are providing cash and control to the organization. For instance, sprint reviews and demonstrations give business leaders a sense of control. In each iteration, you are showing progress on work, and the team can pivot if the market conditions change to meet those changing conditions. The units are still getting the job done, but now the product owner and business feel they have some control over the process. 

Next, if a team understands how much money they are burning to get work done, they can decide what will save cash for the business. For instance, conversations can focus more on dollars and cents than on who has power. When a designer demands that a textbox get moved two pixels right, you can have a conversation that it will take two weeks and require a developer, quality assurance person, and push to production after hours. The change has a dollar cost, so someone from the business can decide whether the designers' demands will provide value to the company. People are less likely to ask for frivolous changes if they know it will cost them money. 

Providing cash and control to business leaders is essential when times are tough. It also shows that you are just as invested in the business as the decision-makers. Investing in the company increases trust and will pay huge dividends when the situation improves. 

Until next time.