I’ve never worked on an Agile project where people didn’t say something like, “Well, what we’re doing isn’t really Agile.” We’re always doing some version of Agile that is flexed to the company’s culture and skill sets.
More than once, I’ve been involved with projects that are their company’s first-ever Agile project. It can be exciting, and it can be quite stressful. We talk a lot about educating the client and the teams with whom we are interfacing, and when we talk about that, we usually mean educating them in the Agile process. But I think it’s also important to model an agile attitude.
There are three sources of stress that come up often, in my experience:
- The idea that the first things we build will likely be scaled-back versions of the whole vision
- The idea that learning and correcting course (read: failure) are expected parts of the process
- The idea that you will be pushing the teams around you to innovate on existing business processes.
More to the point–it’s not the idea of these things; it’s when these things actually happen. As ideas, they’re sensible and not particularly difficult to sell. When these things actually begin to happen in your project, they can feel like failure, strife, and wasted time.
There are a handful of things I try to keep in mind so that my personal attitude can help everyone deal with those stressors:
Take care of myself
I try to manage my energy level so I can handle challenges and be a positive presence. I take the breaks I need to bring a fresh mind to problems.
Get the fundamentals right
I practice good meeting hygiene (agenda, goals, good notes, etc.). I seek clarification on communication and decision-making protocols.
Know the big picture
I refer back often to the goals of the project, the core user needs, and the constraints. I check in periodically to make sure everything I’m doing lines up with the project vision.
Aim to fail early
I try to welcome collaboration at a cross functional level, and show my ideas as soon as I can using sketches and prototypes. This is something I feel like I can always get better at–getting input as soon as I can on user needs, feasibility, and constraints.
Ask myself:
- Am I helping the team respond quickly to changes? Am I helping leadership understand my status, dependencies, and options for next steps? Am I able to help leadership understand risks, priorities, and tradeoffs?
- How can I adjust my approach in order to respond to changes in the project? Do I understand my work and that of my teammates well enough to adjust to the needs of the project? If not, how can I educate myself?
Those of us who are pioneering Agile within an organization need to do our best to be knowledgeable, flexible, and kind. “Going Agile” can be uncomfortable, and if you can demonstrate the principles in your own work habits, you can help others through the awkward parts.
