Dear diary, everywhere people talk about nothing but "agility". Any company that doesn't want to move with the times is moving with the times. After all, nobody wants to miss the boat. But what many people ignore is that if you want to catch up, you first have to ask yourself the right question which is:
-Why do I want to be agile?
- What problems do I want to solve with this solution or initiative?
- What are the ultimate goals to be achieved with this solution or approach?
- What is the actual/target state?
Unfortunately, in the beginning of my journey as a Scrum Master, I rarely or only superficially dealt with this question. Only after countless mistakes and retros did, it became clear to me how important and essential it is to answer these questions mention above, right at the beginning of the project, in order to become successful with the use of agile methods. I also learn that Being agile is more important than Doing agile.
Now, I would like to list a couple of reasons why companies or teams want to become Agile.
- Improve Time to Market: Agile methods are meant to shorten product development cycles in order to bring products to market faster. In Scrum, this is done through short sprints that can go from 1-4 weeks. After each sprint, a new iteration is started with the aim of improving the next version or product increment through feedback cycle and retro. It is easier said than done, but this quickly becomes clear in practice. However, a better time to market can only be achieved if all obstacles are removed.
- Team Spirit: to improve productivity, motivation and satisfaction or to reduce employee turnover, many companies or teams turn to agile methods. Unfortunately, team spirit often plays a subordinate role, which is a pity, because a good team spirit is the best basis to become successful with agile methods. This represents one of the 4 values of the agile manifesto: Individuals and Interactions over Processes and Tools. Sadly, a lot of people still focus on the tools instead of paying attention to the right harmony and communication. If the team doesn't function properly. the best tools can do nothing. I like to be convinced of the opposite. If you don't put people at the centre and create an environment in which every employee can realise their full potential, you won't get very far despite agile methods.
- Cooperation in the teams: Even if everyone in the team is happy, it doesn't mean that there is no potential for improvement. Because agility does not solve problems, it only makes them transparent. At the end of the day, the team is responsible for what they do with the problem area they have discovered.
- Interface communication: Many companies or project teams have far too much interface with the outside world. It is therefore important that communication is good so that as little information and knowledge as possible is lost. Work should therefore be done to reduce the number of interfaces.
- Continuous improvement: In many companies there is talk of a continuous improvement process (CIP), but very few of them put it into practice. The reason is that the "we've always done it that way" mentality prevails, which is often the reason why the use of agile methods fails. Agility's core is the constant adaptation or change through feedback loops (retros and review). Agility only works if you have the will to change. Agility is also more than just CIP. The defference between agile and CIP is that in agile companies or teams you are actively looking for new ways of doing things that you have not done before, while in CIP you are trying to optimise the existing processes or procedures.
- Efficiency: For me, efficient means doing things right. In contrast to effectiveness, where it is about doing the right things - a small but subtle difference. This is about eliminating frictional losses as much as possible and thus reducing waiting times.
- Effectiveness: It's amazing to me that efficiency is often valued more highly than effectiveness. If I'm working on something wrong, the highest efficiency won't help me. It doesn't help anyone if I implement a product very efficiently, but in the end nobody wants it. Efficiency and effectiveness are important but you should first make sure you are working on the right thing. How can you work effectively without ever talking to the customer?
- Quality: It doesn't help me to have a short time to market if the quality is not right. Furthermore, quality is difficult to introduce and if it is, it involves high troubleshooting costs. This is why agile methods have a high focus on this issue - The principles of the agile manifesto state: "Constant attention to technical excellence promotes agility. Agile does not mean working fast - This interpretation is wrong. To me it means: Continuous Integration, Pair Programming, Test-Driven Development, etc. - When it comes to modern software development, I use the aforementioned methods to ensure high quality and at the same time build a safety net that prevents future changes from destroying already existing functions.
- Reacting to change: In an increasingly complex world, where the market and customer needs change very quickly, high reaction speed is essential for survival. One thing that cannot be denied is that change is a normal part of our lives.
- Customer proximity: In many companies, it is still unthinkable for a developer to talk to the customer - but how is the developer supposed to implement a good, high-quality product that the customer wants. If they only hear their problems from the third or fourth person?
- Customer satisfaction: I can afford customer dissatisfaction if I am the only provider in an area and the customer therefore has little choice but to use my offer. Therefore, a close customer relationship is one of the elements to improve customer satisfaction. In parallel, mechanisms are also needed to measure this satisfaction and to react to it quickly. The customer is the focus and is actively involved at all times, because no company can survive if it completely loses sight of the customer.
- Psychological security: This exists when everyone in the team can show themselves as they are without fear of negative consequences. Everyone feels respected and accepted. In such an environment, the status quo can be questioned at any time and new ideas can be tried out. Also, in such an environment, teams go beyond themselves and achieve things that seemed impossible before.
I can only emphasise that working with the degree of change, or mission clarification, is one of the most important activities in the work of a Scrum master or Agile coach. The "degree of change" is a tool to enter into discussion with the client or with the team in order to clarify the "why" of an agile approach in the company. Introducing agile methods makes no sense, if you do not know the WHY. The "degree of change" can be used either purely at the level of the team or the management. It is very important to insist that all hierarchical levels above a team are brought on board and in the training during an agile transition. This is the only way to ensure buy-in at all levels.
