How to React to a Road Accident – My Lessons Learnt

The Nightmare

It was 11 AM and I was driving the car on Salem Chennai Highway. I was probably driving at 60 – 70 KMPH and everything sounded alright. I was close to a section where a service road from the side met the national highway.

Out of the blue, a two-wheeler rider without a helmet entered the highway from the service road and proceeded across to the opposite side without any indication or road conscience that he was crossing a highway. The rider was less than 20 feet away from my car and it was imminent that I was going to hit him.

The Accident

With an intent to avoid collision, I applied the brakes as hard as I could and turned the wheel away. The vehicle made a 180 degree turn and the tires dragged on the sides. As I watched in disbelief, the car hit the road fence and tilted over into a 10’ feet valley. After two rollovers on the slope, it rested upside down. There was a momentary silence.

As I hung from my seat belt, I tried to look at the other three people in the car. They responded saying they were ok. In minutes, several people gathered around, and rescued us by breaking the windows.

The Agile Response

As soon as I came out, I checked if the two-wheeler rider was ok. He escaped the front hit and hit our car on the side door instead. Except for some vehicle damage, he came through unscathed. Our car suffered massive damage and it was a miracle that none was hurt. I was wondering if I should be happy that none was hurt or sorry because this was a scary accident. I felt dreadfully upset. However, I needed to navigate the aftermath now.

I did some thinking about what I should do. Surprisingly, something that I have been doing for a while naturally kicked in. I have been an agile coach and the attributes of agile coaches came to the rescue. Here is the summary of how my coaching attributes played out.

1.     Agile Response - One at a Time

Agile Avatar - First response from me was to take a deep breath and decide what should be the first thing I should do. First, I ensured that all of us are safe and away from any further hazard. At this point, the people around started throwing multiple suggestions. Though I listened, I was focused on what is that one thing I should do at the earliest. My instinct told me that I should inform the concerned authorities. So, I had someone inform the nearest police station.

Original Avatar - Original avatar of me would have pushed me into a panic mode, lingering on what happened (history) and complex web of consequences (future). That complex thinking would have paralyzed me from moving forward with an action for the present.

Connection with Agile – ‘One at a Time’ is known as Prioritized Backlog. Start by writing the list (backlog) of different things that need to be done to accomplish a goal. Prioritize the items in the Backlog based on the importance. Now you got the Prioritized Backlog (list). Now you can start with the most important items right away.

2.     Agile Response - Ask for Help

Agile Avatar - I reached out to those who could offer advice and directions. I called up some of the advocates I know, some friends with some knowledge on this, and my insurance company for their advice about how to handle next steps. I would have probably made around 20 calls and got remarkable help from a few.

Original Avatar – I would have been tempted to find out the solutions myself. But, this time, I didn’t try to act smart, but reached out to those who could offer advice and directions. 

Connection with Agile – It is a welcome practice in Agile to say ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I am guessing’ and instead ‘Ask for Help.’ ‘Ask for Help’ is interwoven in multiple agile practices. Examples include Common agile events (meetings) between team members for sync-up where anyone can ask for help, Pair Programming between team members, etc.

3.     Agile Response – Avoiding incomplete ‘Almost Done’ work

As for an accident, the process is to report to the police, the police creates an acknowledgement document, conducts an investigation, and then provides a certificate.

Agile Avatar - After the investigation, police said they would mail the Certificate via registered post. Sub-Inspector Mr.  I need not wait. However, for me, the definition of completion of this issue was to get the accident certificate in my hand. If I had left at that point, it would have created (technically) a debt in the work. The work is not ‘really complete’ until I get the certificate in hand.

So I waited. When I got the copy I noticed several errors, including important things such as incorrect vehicle registration number, misspellings, etc. So, I reviewed, corrected, and ensured that the certificate was ‘really complete.’ As I correctly guessed, if I had opted for physical mail, I might have got the certificate with mistakes (read Bugs) and would have required larger effort later (revisit, communication, re-work) to get them corrected.

Non-Agile Avatar – I would have been more than happy to leave the police station as soon as possible thinking that it was ‘almost done’ thereby accruing an unnecessary risk of incomplete work.

Connection with Agile – ‘Almost Done’ is a confusing statement. It does not tell what is still pending. Agile Teams use a checklist of items all of which much be completed to certify that work is ‘really complete.’ This checklist is known as Definition of Done. Instead of saying ‘Almost Done,’ Agile Teams say which of the checklist items are still pending.

4.     Agile Response - Discipline

We would have travelled the same road like hundreds of times. Though we never got into any accident till date, we kept sticking to the discipline of wearing the seat belt, including this time. Reinforcing our friend and agile manifesto co-author Arie Van Bennekum’s firm belief about discipline, this discipline saved us.

Connection with Agile – Agile Teams need to repeat some events such as 15 minute meeting every day to check the work status and mitigate risks. Doing these events repeatedly may sometimes be boring and it requires profound discipline. But great Agile Teams realize this simple and powerful technique that increases mutual transparency, and stick to the discipline.

5.     Agile Response – Analyzing the past and finding improvements

Agile Avatar - After the day, I ran through what happened and what could have been better. I realized that there were quite a few mistakes.

Non-Agile Avatar – I would be relieved that the nightmare was over. No more thinking about how I behaved.

Connection with Agile – Analyzing the past and finding improvements is called ‘Retrospective.’ Great Agile way of working objectively after every iteration.

5.1. Retrospective - Acting before Acceptance

When I was waiting for the police certificate, I observed that there was an inordinate delay in everything they were doing. Just for getting them type a five liner, I had to wait for hours. When I noticed this, I pushed the writer by repeatedly reminding her. She burst into anger and yelled back. Later I realized that I was pushing my case the writer before she understood the details of the case and my intent and I understood their work pressure.

We advise our coaches that they should refrain from pushing the team before the team is ready to accept them. I missed that lesson myself.

5.2. Retrospective – Being ‘Dangerously Agile’ caused this

Being agile is often equated to ‘getting it done faster.’ But ‘getting it done at any cost’ is not agile. It is called ‘Dangerously Agile.’ ‘Dangerously agile' may make one faster. But it brings down the of the system as a whole.

The two-wheeler rider who entered the highway without any observation or thought was simply following the pattern of ‘Dangerously Agile.’ He just wanted to be faster at any cost. But, in doing so, he impacted the whole system – the accident slowed down all vehicles on the road, added workload for the police and the hospital, and disrupted the peace of my loved ones who had to rush from afar to help us.

5.3. Retrospective – Less Transparency

People who cared about us kept calling me to know the latest status. I could have created a temporary mobile chat group and keep them updated by continuously posting pictures and messages. Sensing less transparency, some of my friends travelled from afar to check the real scenario.

Transparency through Visual Radiation Technique: Visual Radiation is an Agile technique of displaying the work information in a human-friendly way at a single location so that all the stakeholders have ONE shared understanding of latest status.

5.4. Retrospective - No Continuous Sync-up

There were many stakeholders in the incident – insurance company, roadside assistance vendor, automobile garage, trailer services, police personnel, etc. And at one point I lost track of all the different threads.

When things settled down after a few days, I dialed the insurance company for an update on my claim. To my surprise they informed that there was no claim request whatsoever related to my vehicle. Apparently, though they had received my initial reporting call, and dispatched the roadside assistance, they still expected me to go online and register a claim. I had simply assumed that reporting the incident, and requesting them to initiate a claim was good enough. I should have instead continuously synced up with each of the stakeholders  the overall definition of done was met.

Continuous Sync-up through Agile Inspection and Adaptation Culture: Inspection and Adaptation reflect the ‘Basic’ Agile culture of Agile Teams. What it means is- Agile Team members frequently get together at least every day to review the progress of their work (inspection) and take necessary steps to address issues (adaptation).

6.     Agile Response – Looking closer to see the opportunities

Agile Avatar - In situations, when others see problems, we Agilists see the learning and apply it for the emerging opportunities.

Non-Agile Avatar - I would have limited my thinking about the grief thereby missing the learning and the opportunities.

Connection with Agile - Treating everything as a test and learning the insights from the test is known as validated learning. At the end of every short iteration, Agile Teams demonstrate the outcome of their work. Business sponsors learn new insights from this demonstration and leverage them for next product build.

6.1. Validated Learning - Focus on Energy Boosters. They make this world hopeful and beautiful

I met two sets of people – energy drainers and energy boosters.

Energy drainers – Trailers who tried to make exorbitant money, and few police personnel who were unnecessarily rude. They create negativity and limit individual and societal productivity. We should learn to shield ourselves from energy drainers affecting us.

Energy boosters – Focusing on energy boosters unlock positivity and productivity. Mr. Gokul, who waited at the site for 2 hours to take us back home, Mr. Abu and Mr. Mujeeb for sheltering my family, Mr. Selvavinayagam, Sub-Inspector, for treating me as a good citizen. If not for the accident, I wouldn’t have made some great energy boosters as friends for life time. The incident created opportunities to refresh relationships with many who I haven’t connected for ages.

6.2. Validated Learning - Change the culture of meetings to reduce anxiety and unlock bottom-up intelligence.

This is on a lighter note. Just after the accident when I came out of the crashed car, I was dreadfully upset. Later, when I recollected about those upsetting moments, a strange comparison came to my mind.

In my earlier professional life, I had to undergo executive review meetings. The typical anxiety levels that I underwent before and during those meetings were way higher than the anxiety level I experienced on the accident day. Then you can do the math about the collective mental agony that meeting participants undergo. This validated my learning that corporate meeting culture in general is not helpful to unlock employee productivity and bottom up intelligence.

Lately, as part of agile culture in our company, we have started a different culture about these meetings. A phrase that communicates about these meetings is ‘Default 20; No Fault Reviews.’

This means two things. One, the meetings are time boxed under 20 minutes and PowerPoint free unless a complex representation needs to be shown. This reduces the burden of over preparation and maximizes the focus of the meeting. Second, the reviewer does not bring an attitude of being a boss finding fault. In fact, they allow someone else facilitate the meeting. Bosses come as a team member to these meetings so they can work with the as a ‘shaper’ and incrementally shape up the outcome. Hope many other companies take steps to change the culture of their review meetings.

6.3. Validated Learning - Public Institutions should apply Agile to effect real change

I witnessed several opportunities in the public space to improve. Lack of of purpose and pride, inefficiencies in regular operations, no or low focus on strategic improvements – to name a few.

We already leveraged agile in this space and have some successful proof points. For example,

-        Improving the safety of visitors to West Bengal Digha Beach - More about it

-      Facilitating the problem solving session for the Tamilnadu police intelligence wing

-       Counselling Gujarat police and urban development departments on potential training interventions

A specific opportunity for Tamilnadu police is to try the concept of coaches among their workforce. I am aware of several initiatives that Tamilnadu police took. However, in my opinion, they are mostly open ended talking and advising sessions. They are not so effective in bringing fundamental cultural changes such as customer purpose and pride in the profession, regular operational improvements, and incremental strategic improvements.

Agile Coaches work on the ground with employees and transform the culture and the performance. Identifying best officers in police stations and building them as coaches would dramatically transform the performance as well as the brand image.

Here is an another example how Dr. Atul Gawande applied the same concept Primary Health Care centers in a State in India.

Summary - What are the lessons?                 

1.  For long drives, go for safer travelling options as first choice – Flight / Trains. In general, ‘Dangerously Agile’ behavior is widespread among the drivers on the road. Even if you are driving safely by observing the rules, you can’t expect the disciplined behavior from others it is not a culture yet.

2.  If unavoidable, do not go for self-driving. Hire a contract driver. Because there are more risks for drivers than passengers.

  Risk 1 - After an accident, the crowd that gathers around may get into any emotional action against the driver without analyzing facts. This is also the reason to clear out the vehicle as soon as possible after the evidence from the scene.

   Risk 2 - I heard weird de-facto standards such as ‘whatever the facts be, it is always the big vehicle that is at fault.’ You may be subjected to unfair treatment if the law officers give in to such mob sentiments.

3.  Whenever we get into issues, ask for help from people with ‘standard knowledge.’ Many may offer their suggestions and you should know that most of them are based on ‘guessing knowledge.’ In my case, it took a while before I realized that I should find out the right people for guiding me, like an advocate with prior experience in handling accidents.

4.  Sometimes life throws ugly surprises such as these accidents. Once it has happened, it is better to accept it and believe that there must be reason about why some things happen. Train ourselves to face them calmly and wait it out. Until we get better, accept the offer from your friends who offer to be along. Being in a during distress is multi-beneficial.

5.  Agile principles work outside the software development. Learn and practice.

More than anything else, this incident demonstrated that our life is time boxed. Every day we are getting closer to the final day. Now life has deferred that final day and provided another opportunity. This is the second iteration of my life. Blessed to be here with another chance to become a bit better.

Thank you Dear God!