Agile Mindset - 7 Steps for a Waterfall BA to make it in Agile

Today is my first day as an Agile BA in a scrum team. So far I had been a Waterfall BA and after a short stint in the Agile team I asked to be transferred. 

I know why I want to be here - I love the collaboration, the fast paced environment, the variety, the oneness of the team to deliver outstanding value every day. I know I don’t know the first thing about Agile yet - of course I am familiar with the manifesto – and I understand high level the ways of working, but a lot of it is theory. I know that there is a difference in working - but more than that - I know that there is a difference in mindset. 

I don’t know what that looks like yet - but my vision of what this could be drives me forward. 

It’s a number of months later - I have worked in the Scrum team and was asked, so what is the difference? If a waterfall BA would join the team, how would you help them understand the way of working in Agile as a BA. 

Why was I asked that question you wonder?….

It appeared I had settled in and seemed to be an doing great at this Agile thing. 

My answer did not surprise me as my focus in life is very people orientated already. During my time in the team I realised what this agile thing was. It had everything to do with human behaviour and mindset. Agile is a mindset - not a process. The process is there in order for you to get that mindset piece. The manifesto embodies that in People over Process. 

Whether you are new to Agile, been in it for a while and wondered how to make it work even better, here are the keys to succeeding in Agile.

1. Embrace Uncertainty

Agile is a fast paced environment. Some people love that, some don’t. And even when you do love it, it is still a challenge. Whilst agile has process and rigor and planning, for a person new to this, especially coming from waterfall land, this is an adjustment. 

I was assigned projects I knew nothing about and quickly had to get up to speed.

Outcomes were not necessarily clear at the early stages. The size and complexity of the project were unclear, the time it would take and the cost along with it. More often than not, I was assigned a number of projects in short succession, whilst working on one. 

In short - I jumped on the ship and I had no idea where it was going, but hell, I was going along for the ride regardless. Handling that level of uncertainty of not knowing what was coming next, what it meant and how it was going to look like is key to succeeding in agile. It requires resilience and a can do attitude. I decided to be part of the journey and remain accountable for my part. 

2. Let go of control

Seen from a human behaviour perspective, our need for certainty towards an outcome is immense - it’s like oxygen - we need to know. 

Letting go of control means, we don’t have to know all the steps needed to take along the road towards our goal.

We just have to know the first one!

In waterfall the focus is on making sure all ducks are aligned before we take the next step, meaning we have stage gates, feasibility to delivery phases etc. The mindset is very much based in certainty, in signed off deliverables, in knowing what comes next - it’s ALL about control. 

In real life, this almost never works (and if we admit it neither does it a lot in waterfall projects).

Clarity of the outcome comes with taking the first step, and then another one, and another one.

Ducks don’t line up and then walk, they line up AS they walk.

Certainty is achieved by trusting yourself enough to take the first step and then you can truly let go of control.

3. Behavioural Flexibility

Let’s face it, agile is a demanding environment for people. It all about human behaviour - communication, collaboration, responding to change, interactions and individuals - yes you - the people are what makes up 90% of Agile.

With people come different mindsets, ways of behaving, diverging values and beliefs. In short, whenever humans get together, we will get conflict, difference of opinion and like minded people hanging out, excluding others. It’s like primary school all over again. But this time, it’s not about lunch money or who has the latest version of Adidas shoes.

It’s about delivering value to the customer, to the organisation and in the process of it, it’s costing loads and loads of money to the stakeholders. 

How many shelved solutions and unfavourable outcomes have been reached, not because of lack of interaction, but because of lack of behavioural flexibility? 

Perhaps we were unable to adapt to another person’s style, and hence dismissed their opinion, or we decided to hang out with the ones we liked, so sameness, staleness and agreement to the same outcomes stunted our ability to see what needed to be done. 

To embrace this, a key skill to develop is Behavioural Flexibility. This means, you need to develop yourself so that you can be the person that the situation requires.

This means, adapting the way you communicate in physical and non-physical ways, learning how to match and mirror a person, building rapport and adapting your own behaviour to connect and collaborate with another human being. Sounds strange huh??

In order to adapt your own behaviour, you need to first develop and an awareness of how it is you behave. Awareness is 95% of all change, with awareness comes choice and the ability to adapt. 

The reason Agile is so challenging is because most people only have a vague idea of who they really are, how they do things, what they value and what drives them. Ultimately Agile is the personal development tool per se, it demands self-awareness to achieve success. 

Self-awareness is achieved by committing yourself to a journey of personal growth – whether that be reading books, going to a training, getting coached or getting a behavioural assessment such as Extended DISC done and acting on the recommendations.

4. Be humble

Humility is a true virtue. In most standard corporate environments the need postulate oneself to ensure the place in the hierarchy is rife. It kills collaboration and drives people apart. 

What is humility and why does it work so well in Agile? 

Humility is about allowing yourself to be vulnerable, to acknowledge mistakes, openness to others opinions and ideas. It does not mean to be passive or non-assertive and it is not modesty. True humility requires strength to “quiet the ego” in order to learn, to observe, to appreciate and to connect with others. 

In short, when working out a solution, when writing a story, letting go of the ego, of having to know it all, allowing others to contribute, their idea and knowledge to come forward is what makes all the difference toward the outcome. Acknowledge when you made a mistake in front of others - this is a sign of strength, not weakness. Learn from it and move on. 

Humility and vulnerability are the ultimate virtues of strength. 

5. Appreciate others 

As mentioned before connection and collaboration with others different to ourselves (so kinda everyone) and "quieting the ego" which has an annoying tendency of wanting to be right all the time, are important skills to have when delivering outstanding outcomes. 

When I mean skills, I mean these are factual and actual skills that anyone can acquire. They are not reserved for people who practice yoga 5hrs per day, followed by a 3hr meditation. They are for anyone who is brave enough to take the steps into the unknown and doesn’t wait for the ducks to line up.

Appreciation of others is the doorway to connection and collaboration with others . We live in a world where we are starved of appreciation, of being acknowledged for who we are and what we contribute. Showing someone true appreciation, not just a token, lights them up in a way that is not often seen. They somehow become taller. Funny that!

6. Collaborate like no one is watching

Collaboration is a requirement in Agile. It's part of the manifesto! Then why is it so hard to achieve consistently? 

Developing agile stories is not a solitary exercise. Most waterfall BA's are used to the quiet analysis, it's them writing the requirements, clarifying with the stakeholders before handing it over to the developers and testers. There is an element of control and personal mastery in this. It is "I as the BA who writes the stories - my title and past experience only qualifies ME to write the requirements". 

In Agile - this is different. User stories are written in collaboration, most of time the together in a room or bundled around a desk. Everyone provides input, the developers, testers and product owners. As a traditional waterfall BA this can be quite challenging,. The title, expert status and corresponding ownership is shifting from the BA to the group. This can bring about an identity crisis. Who am I if I am not the BA in this team? What is it that I am contributing now? Are my skills even needed? Where do I fit?

I believe this is one of the key challenges in Agile. In a mature environment titles cease to exist as a definition of what you do, the focus is on WHO is best qualified to perform the role. As a BA we need to redefine our identity to - I am a person who works in an agile team - and our vehicle/role title is Business Analyst. 

Most traditional organisations and HR departments love titles, the entire system is built on it. The mindset change is to understand that your title does not define what you do entirely and it’s not there to stop you from performing other tasks.

It is who you are that defines what you do. If you are a BA with great BA skills, then this is what you are great at, but it's NOT who you are. Your identity and your vehicle (job/title/how you earn your crust) are 2 separate things.

If your title is BA and you are great at testing, then this is what you do, again, it's not who you are. You are the best person for the job at that point in time, someone is welcome to your job, if they have left theirs in a better position that when they started and they have proven they can do your job. 

A model such as this provides the person with ultimate accountability towards their career development and what they can contribute to the team. The old adage "It's not my job" does not live in Agile. The attitude of "The best qualified person shall do job and if there is no-one, then it's my opportunity to step up, regardless of my title" thrives in Agile. 

7. Remain above the line 

Despite all best intentions everyone has a bad day once in a while. On that day, we blame the system, our work colleagues, our significant other etc. for our pissed offed-ness. We justify our failures with statements such as "It's not my fault" and we deny responsibility with "It's not my job". Sometimes life sucks and we slip to what is called "Below the Line" behaviour. Justification, denial and blame is what defines below the line behaviour. 

Despite best intentions people and situations will piss us off. Stakeholders change their mind about a story mid-sprint, the developer finds a previously hidden technical debt that is going to push the project out financially and in time, a key requirement is missed, the UI is not ready, despite constant reminders and sprint planning starts in an hour. 

How do we handle this in a resourceful and outcome focused way?

By thinking and acting "Above the Line".

Above the line we are accountable, we take responsibility and ownership. Sounds like a lot of trouble huh?? There is no denying (yep -that's a pun) - above the line behaviour takes effort. It's the grown up way of behaving, it's the one that is outcome focused, demands a solution and has the attitude "If it is to be - it's up to me." It's the behaviour of leadership, of getting shit done, of embracing challenges. It's the above the line person people turn to in times of crisis. 

It's how we choose to react to that on a consistent basis defines our happiness and effectiveness at work. Above the line behaviour is one of those that contributes to it. 

Conclusion

I want to acknowledge you for sticking with me through this article to the end, it shows your commitment to personal growth and thirst for knowledge to be better every day. You have allowed yourself to be open to new thoughts and willing to take on different points of view, but it is so much more than that, deep down you have realised your need for growth, to improve the quality of your relationships with others and more importantly – with yourself. That is truly commendable. 

Christiane is a Mentor, Coach and Visual Facilitator. Always a keen student of human behaviour and fueled by a thirst for knowledge about leadership, she decided to join The Coaching Institutes’ Professional Master Coach Program in order to gain the skills and knowledge to build a centre for leadershi. Her current focus is on building great teams and she works with leaders and individuals on developing the mindset for Agile. You can follow her on Twitter under @christianecoac8