Agile Lipstick...
Have you ever noticed how many people working in the agile domain are unhappy with their work situation?
Developers cursing agile asking why are we doing this, Testers not knowing exactly where they fit in, Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches who feeling jaded or burnt out and Product Owners who own the product by name only.
Project Management Offices (PMOs) still measuring time and budget, teams picking and choosing which practices they implement, more often than not resulting in just another form of micromanagement.
Many Organisations are just applying Agile Lipstick i.e. making superficial or cosmetic changes in a futile attempt to disguise the true nature of the challenges their Organisation face.
Here are some signs that you're really just applying Agile Lipstick;
- Too many badly run meetings. Organisations that truly embrace faster value delivery, realise that in order to do so, the number of meetings held has to be drastically reduced.
- Silos still exist between teams bases on roles and teams i.e. business and IT roles and application, infrastructure and security teams.
- Poor performance and bad behaviour is tolerated. Sending poor performers on a Scrum training course, changing their KPIs or making them part of a ‘Working Group’ won’t work. Get to the root cause of their issues by using empathy and active listening.
- Spending more time talking to internal stakeholders than customers means you're not making data-driven decisions based on what users actually want.
- No time for innovation. An emergent process is one that requires time, a mindset that constantly asks the question, ‘Could I/we do this differently?’ and a culture that supports courageous action.
There are many other signs that you're just applying Agile Lipstick, the above are just a few to get you thinking about whether you're really just putting 'lipstick on a pig'.
Author, Technical Leader & Manager @ Tech Companies | Software Development Methodologies
3 年Keith Jenneke : "Have you ever noticed how many people working in the agile domain are unhappy with their work situation?" I am one of them ... Working with WAgile and not at all happy about it. Thank you Sir for posting this.
Executive coach & management consultant. Co-Founder at Open At Scale Inc. Book author and occasional keynote speaker
3 年The lipstick is routinely mandated by well-meaning yet misinformed executives who have not been served by the industry-leading "Agile institutions" namely the Scrum Alliance, Agile Alliance, ICAgile, and the "Business Agility Institute." Did I mention Scaled Agile Inc? Every single one of these "industry leading institutions" is refusing to issue any kind of public position on the issue of pushing, imposing and mandating lipstick-level Agile on teams, managers, and the entire organization without asking the people closest to the work how to best improve that work. In other words, they are happy with the pandemic of PUSH. With the focus on transactions. These 'institutions" are taking the Agile community over a cliff by saying nothing about this problem. Come and see for yourself ! https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/danielmezick_im-calling-upon-the-agile-alliance-the-activity-6857519738365468672-3bHx “…Imposing an agile process from the outside strips the team of the self-determination which is at the heart of agile thinking.” -Martin Fowler ? ? ? “… imposing agile methods introduces a conflict with the values and principles that underlie agile methods.” -Martin Fowler ? ? ? “…I’d rather have a team work in a non-agile manner they chose themselves than have my favorite agile practices imposed upon them.” -Martin Fowler ? ? ? “…You know as well as I do that if the team really doesn’t want to use a methodology, IT WON’T WORK. (emphasis added.) Let them make their own assessment.” -Jeff Sutherland and co-authors, POWER OF SCRUM book, page 31 (page 37 in earlier versions) ? ? ? “…[A leader’s] responsibility is to make clear to the team that THEY should be in control of their own work processes, and show them how to do that.” -POWER OF SCRUM book, page 31 (page 37 in earlier versions) ? ? ? “…So I hope I’ve made clear that imposing agile methods is a very red flag. ”-Martin Fowler, Agile Manifesto signatory. Written 2006, the “Agile Imposition” blog post, Martin Fowler ? ? ? These are protective warnings from Agile Manifesto signatories. These warning continue to be largely ignored by the Agile coaching community as a whole. ? ? For good measure, and to add strong support for the story I am telling, here are some?additional?quotes from genuine thought leaders in community-building, organizational development and management science: ? ? “Transformation occurs through choice, not mandate. Invitation is the call to create an alternative future. What is the invitation we can make to support people to participate and own the relationships, tasks, and process that lead to success?” -Peter Block: COMMUNITY: THE STRUCTURE OF BELONGING (Arguably one of the most brilliant thinkers of our time on organizations and organizational development.) ? ? ? ? Transformations can’t be accomplished without others helping voluntarily, & people don’t help unless you engage them first. -Geoffrey Moore, ZONE TO WIN. (Arguably one of the greatest management minds of our time.)
Software Developer at Intrum Global Technologies
5 年Haha ... That pig is hilarious