AUTONOMY! The last and most important value to get you out of the Agile?Limbo.

To my followers, now it is time to talk about AUTONOMY, how this really can work to make the Agile dream come true, and take you and your teams out of the apathy of the Agile Limbo! For those who do not know what I am talking about. At this point, it is more than clear that you might be there — Check my original article Are you on an Agile Limbo and find out more.

This has been quite a journey until now, right? We first acknowledged our issues, worked to have MOTIVATED teams that know exactly what they OWN to deliver the company VISION. Now they even know they are TRUSTED to fail, in an environment they can SHARE and LEARN from that — If you feel you are not quite there yet, check my original articles on Accountability, Learning and Motivation — This sounds amazing! So what is left? What is left is a value that if well executed can make the dream of Agility come true. Who never heard about autonomous teams? One of the main promises of Agility is not easy to be achieved, and cannot live long if there are gaps in how you worked the other values, but is the epitome of Agility! So no more delays, let’s get into it!

Some of my followers would say. OK, Eduardo, I love your great words, beautiful dreams, so what? How can I give my teams autonomy, if we have a set of standard rules we worked so hard to define? Well… You know it all starts with the questions to ask. So, do you think you have the necessary AUTONOMY to do your job? Not your teams, YOU as an Agile leader have the necessary autonomy to do things your way? Do your leadership TRUST you to give you autonomy? We already discussed TRUST in the article about Accountability, but here it is more than that. Rules and standards are good if they are used for the right purpose. They are good to set boundaries for MINIMUM quality, but can never be used as a way to LIMIT improvement. Convince your leadership that always doing things the same way, you will never be able to improve. After all, Agile is a PDCA cycle, right? If you always do things the same way, and never try something new, how can you improve? I love an approach implemented by Disciplined Agile that substitutes the “C” with an “S” for STUDY. So, tell your leadership you want autonomy to be able to STUDY the best possible solution or approach for the context you live with your teams. A persuasive argument, right? And this comes with a risk, the risk to fail, but as you already worked to implement a LEARNING culture, everyone, including your leadership, is prepared for that now!

With that in place, it is time to cascade that down to your teams. Autonomy is daily exercise. Do not require a set of standards and processes in place, you just need to start, sometimes you just need to “let it go”. Start giving autonomy in the little things for your teams, like letting them decide the best time for a meeting or the best tool to use in their desktop. You will start seeing they will feel empowered. You can always give room for a little autonomy in every situation. Think about ways of doing that. In the next level, invite them to present the best solution they studied (remember about the “S”) for a specific issue. Make that part of the process, let them present you the best in every situation. In software development, this can be always making a prototype for the first week of the sprint, or in other areas, this can be embedding a time-boxed research phase for every iteration. 

Of course, you might find some solutions that do not make sense. Remember your duty as a leader is all about coaching and teaching the team to make better decisions. Never confuse COACHING with MANAGING. In Agility, we are talking about SERVANT leadership. There is a fine line between “I want to make things this way because I WANT”, and “I want you to make things this way BECAUSE of this, this and that”. When you explain valid reasons WHY things need to be done a different way, you get a compromise. You also teach your teams they need to study all aspects of the matter before presenting a solution. This will harden them, make them better, and you see that the more you give autonomy, the more they will be right… You will see people being right more and more you do not even need to be there. You will start giving them more and more challenges and responsibilities. Why? Because you teach them to make better decisions, and now you TRUST their judgment. And when you have teams after teams making the right decisions without you there, this is when Agile delivers one of its best promises — Autonomous teams!

And what about you? Ready to receive and give AUTONOMY to improve your teams, and truly move out of the Agile Limbo. Let me know in the comments below.