Give Agile a shot and give it some “time”!

It was almost 6PM; the event was scheduled to begin at this time. But, I assumed all the event organizers were not in yet, maybe they were running a little bit late from their work. We attendees were still gathered around the hallway and getting to know each other, sharing thoughts as we dive in to the hors d'oeuvre that they had set up for us. Swedish meatballs, egg-rolls, shrimp cocktail etc. Yum!

So, as we waited, I was walking over and introducing myself to some of the other attendees and exchanging information and moving on. Then I bumped into the topic of my interest, “Agile” and when it’s Agile of course I must pause and listen and see how I can help. It was a small group of five individuals; each of them worked in different work places. I introduced myself and started listening to what they had to say about Agile Transformation in their organizations. As we were talking, I found that some teams like it, some teams dislike it, and some are very confused!

I asked and tried to understand the point of view. Then I shared some of my experience with Agile Transformation and how I helped different teams to transform to the point that teams thought it was helpful. As that followed, the group of individuals seemed more interested and started asking questions, “how do you implement Agile if the top-level executives are not willing to change their mindsets”, “how do you handle teammates when they won’t participate” etc. etc. I was in the zone, so I thought, “why not?” So, I went into more specifics...

For the individuals who were still in the beginning stages of Agile transformation, I told them, “let me tell you, the early days of Agile is difficult, unclear, exhausting, time consuming, and everyone on the team will ask, ‘why are we doing this?’ but after a few sprint cycles (after 1-2 months) you will start seeing the benefit of the seeds that you have planted.

After about 3-6 months’ time-frame you will see a significant improvement. If you do it right, give your 100%, it will blow your mind. It doesn’t matter where in the chain-of-command you fall, whether from an entry level person to a C-level person, all can benefit from Agile!!”

It’s very important to understand that Agile transformation is all about changing habits, and it needs enormous amounts of patience and some time. Changing a habit can take anywhere between 21-60 days for a human being, and if that key part is understood and accepted by the team members, Scrum Masters, Agile Coach, and other stakeholders, you will absolutely succeed. The group of five people seemed more hopeful, and more open, to try different approaches to make their Agile Transformation a successful one; that made me happy!

As we finished discussing Agile, the event organizers arrived.