The Agile Way to improve your team productivity without exhausting your resources.

We are now living in an extremely interesting era. Due to technological development - our communication, delivery, and life are becoming faster and faster. This trend sure has a lot of benefits, but it is now super easy to fall behind if no means are taken. For this reason, companies are trying hard to reinvent their project management and become more agile. 

To understand how Agile works, we would need to outline a traditional project management approach.

Traditional vs Agile.

You have probably heard that the most widespread PM model is called waterfall. The reason for that is that processes are placed in a direct sequence, making the workflow run from one process to another gradually.

It works properly only in case all the processes and outcomes are predictable. If you are sure that a particular process will grant you particular results, it is easy for you to plan them on a timeline. Unfortunately, it is not the case when you work in a constantly-changing industry.

Working with a waterfall model, companies take a lot of time to develop a plan, which will be the main aspect of the project. Nowadays, the world is changing too rapidly, so it is unnecessary to exhaust your team with excessive planning. Especially considering this plan will become irrelevant before you implement it.

When it comes to Agile, it is not about planning everything upfront. Instead of predicting all the processes in terms of time and cost, Agile has a strong focus on clients' and stakeholders feedback. Because of this approach, if it needs the team returns to previous stages of lifecycle several times, or proceed to the next step if the customer/stakeholder is satisfied.

Considering potential changes, a project manager cannot plan everything upfront. But it does not mean that team is working without plan at all. Agile frameworks (like Scrum) involve adaptive planning.

Basically, Agile approach encourages you to think/plan/simulate your products/applications/services while keeping abreast. You use your plan as a kingpin, which enables you to be focused on adapting your product to real client's needs.

To be Agile, you have to start every project from the heart, fundamental part of your product. You let users interact with the product as soon as possible and let stakeholders/clients see their reaction (either delight or disappointment). This approach allows you to make your products valuable for clients, even if it isn't done "according to the plan".

Needless to say, differences in these approaches affect every working process and final outcomes, as a result. Let's take a look at some of them:

Getting things done.

One more problem with the waterfall project management is that team exists in an informational bubble. All the decisions are made according to the plan, that is based on executives' predictions. 

As decision-makers fell the urge to adapt, the project team has to change their focus instantly. In the waterfall model, there is no time for going back to previous stages, so the team is struck by an enormous pressure of deadlines.

These conditions prevent developers from seeing the real impact they make, as they might never see a finished product after all. It is hard to imagine something more devastating then stressing from endless work.

Although when it comes to Agile approach, adaptive planning allows the team to implement changes almost instantaneously. Moreover, the changes are based on real client's feedback, making the task understandable and viable for future users.

As a result, the final product may have less features, but they will be valuable for stakeholders, well-optimized and user-friendly for customers. It is a great relief for a developer to see that users enjoy their experience. That is why Agile companies are able to provide more clients with much better product without exhausting their resources.

It is about Results, not Activities.

No one would like to have a slacking team, doing nothing. It is obvious. However, you should remember that productivity is not about being busy all the time, it is about achieving results.

First thighs first, the ultimate goal of your project management is receiving results, having sustainable workflow is just a mean for that. Secondly, it is much easier to measure your productivity if you pay attention to the real outcomes, not the workloads you have.

In his "Getting results in Agile way", J.D. Meier suggests measuring daily, and weekly outcomes. By stating clear weekly goals, you are able to divide them on daily processes. Tracking these will enable you to see the real situation and to determine if there is any progress.

If implemented in a right way, it can enable you to "slow down to speed up".

Take one day per week to share some feedback.

In the same book, author has outlined 10 core values of the Agile approach. They are all really informative and apt, but I would like to outline only the "Growth mindset over Fixed mindset part". To become genuinely agile, everyone in your team has to be ready to reinvent themselves constantly.

A  fixed mindset means that you think something was born that way and won’t change. By adopting a  growth mindset, you help avoid learned helplessness. You also pay more attention to your situation and feedback. - J.D. Meier

One of the best practices to cultivate your growth mindset is daily meetings. Learn how to organize the Daily Meeting in the most efficient way. Using this practice allows you both understand your current situation and make tasks more meaningful for the team.

Communication is a crucial aspect for your agility. A good project manager has to be aware of all the troubles your team is facing (as a whole and individually) in order to maintain consistent workflow and have better outcomes.

Arrogant Manager is a bottleneck.

You have to understand that the team's productivity is the team's credit! It is not only about well-managed process, even in the waterfall strategy. If you have everything well-planned on a paper, the ultimate factor is your team. 

That is why having an authoritative, who will set all the deadlines and choose tasks FORthe team, but not WITH the team - is the biggest mistake you can make. You can motivate your employees with money, but it would never be as effective as making their tasks meaningful for them. 

Give them some time to enjoy finishing particular process, let them see the actual benefit of their job. Make them able to choose their tasks and set deadlines, after all. Letting your team state their own priorities will save you a lot on team-building activities, motivational speeches, and daily meetings.

To sum it up.

If you really want an agile team, be sure to:

1. Abandon strict planning. It will not work anyway, the world is changing too rapidly for you to predict everything (even having the best oracle out there). Try adaptive planning instead. Hire Agile coach to help you get ready for constant-changing workflow.

2. Let your team complete the task. It is better to have less features that would be actually beneficial for user. You can only achieve that by accepting users' feedback and taking enough time to implement changes properly. Do not get the team to hide problems, bugs, and drag them from week to week. You will be focused on completing the work to the end.

3. Focus on Outcomes, not Activities. Just admit that you would rather have an effective team than a busy one. Measure results, not the time invested and you will be surprised how this slowing down makes you go faster.

4. Communication is the key. Invest some time to hear your team's feedback. It is very likely that you will receive a lot of insights through asking 3 simple questions.

5. Your human resource is the greatest value. Let your team to set their priorities and deadlines by themselves. It will allow you to make their work meaningful, thus more effective.

Be sure to contact me on LinkedIn if you need a piece of advice. There also are some interesting Project Management and Time Management articles as well ;)