Charting a Course Into the Unknown - A Fictional Tale of Going Agile

“As you all know, the direction at the top for all divisions, including ours, is to use the Agile methodology. The specified goal by the end of this quarter is to select one project to pilot. That project for us is Skyline.”

Jane said more, but I was stunned. Not the first time a VP surprised me, but I couldn’t tell you if she next discussed American foreign policy or said the ABCs backward. Where on Earth did this come from? How long did she know? Why didn’t she tell me? Didn’t I have a voice?

I caught her after the meeting for more information.

“Jane, can we talk about what you said?”

“Yes?”

It was a question…technically. But her tone of voice and facial expression said “And why are you bothering me about it?”

“It’s just that Agile is a big change for the Skyline project. We’re pretty far down the road to change things now. Trying to hit the date is already in doubt. I already need to find more resources. And now this??”

“Bob, first, I don’t want to hear that the date is “in question.” I want to hear confidence and about how you’re going to do it. You, of all people, should be supportive of this. I’m surprised you’re raising concerns about it. Frankly, I expected you to have championed it from the beginning.”

What? Am I in the Twilight Zone? Where is this coming from?

“Can I ask why you say that?” I was feeling uncomfortable with her icy cold death-ray stare and expressionless face. There’s a reason she was known as “the velvet brick.”

“Bob, given your experience with Agile…”

I reactively cut her off, “I have no experience with Agile.”

“But didn’t you discuss it in your interview with Sam? Didn’t you yourself raise it to me within weeks of starting here?”?

This wasn’t seeking clarification. This was a lawyer with the defendant in the witness stand.

“Yes, but that was only the general idea of an approach, as a possible option. I’d only heard about it at my last gig because other teams there were doing it. It might have been fine if we looked into it at the beginning when there was time and…”

“Look, Bob. I appreciate your concerns, but this isn’t one of the corporate directions that we have a choice in. I’m with you. I wish we had options.”

I jumped at my last chance - “But what about the Encore project?”

If Pissed Off could wear a suit and pull hair in a bun, it was right there here in front of me. Glaring.

“Bob, what I need from you right now is a “can do” attitude, not a “can’t do.” For this level, that’s a requirement. It’s always a requirement. I need constructive, positive “ways we can do it,” not “problems with it” and looking for issues, raising concerns and creating uncertainty for your teams.”

Then she turned and walked out.

Ouch. Ouch is an understatement. The longer I stood there, the more I felt it.?

She questioned my job, and my leadership, yet I WAS trying to do my job. At least how I understood it. I was confused, and hurt, honestly.

I quickly sifted through my thoughts. First, I’d have to adjust for this change. Maybe I’m making a bigger deal out of Agile than I need to. From what I heard at my previous client, it’s just a different way the teams do their work. As long as it’s just a dev cycle tweak, maybe it’s just a minor bump in the road. Maybe. I’m saying “maybe” a lot. Not good.

For the next two weeks, would try to learn what I could. There were lots of articles, blog posts, and videos but they were either unclear or had this Pollyanna feel of “Just do X, Y and Z” and “Poof!” - amazing results. There was Scrum and Kanban and SAFe and dozens of other approaches. How many ways could there be to bake a cake?!? With traditional project management, it was clear - there was a project management standard, with a certifying body and training and books to support it.?

Scrum seemed the most popular, but when I looked into the official standard and approach, there were numerous “certifying” bodies. One claimed to be the biggest, but it was easy to see why - it was some guy you paid $29 to and he would certify you.?

Any of the others required training, two days minimum. I didn’t have time for that, or for any of the 1,000 Scrum books on Amazon (thank you, Self Publishing). After a pretty fruitless two weeks, I called a friend at the previous job to get her input.

Next: Chapter 2 - Connecting with the Guide