Review of "The agile manager"

Actually the correct and complete book title is The agile manager: New Ways of Managing, by Rob England and Cherry Wu.

Disclaimer: I am not paid or sponsored in any way, the review is my own and I do not know Rob England or Cherry Wu personally, only from LinkedIn posts (in abundance).

First, I will start with the purpose of the book and what it is not about.

The authors clearly state that this is not a book about working agile but about managing agile work. Intellectually I can see the difference, but the book cover both angles, as I see it.

You get a lot of models, and I mean A LOT. Actually that is one drawback, that the authors include so many other frameworks and models along the way, that I get a bit overwhelmed.

CYNEFIN, Scrum, Agile Manifesto, Kanban, PDCA cycle, Lean, Value stream mapping just to name a few prominent examples.

 The book is best when I read about the management methods traditionally (19th/20th century models) and the many good examples of new ways of thinking, managing and working from a manager perspective.

 I also enjoyed the number of good quotes, that are frequently used in the book. For example the one about planning vs being flexible exemplified with a Mike Tyson quote supposedly:

everyone has a fight plan  until they get punched in the mouth

 Sometimes life punch you in the mouth, and then it is good to be able to change your careful drafted plan and execute in another way. So very true. For companies as for individuals.

 The book comes in four parts

1. New ways of thinking
2. New ways of managing
3. New ways of working
4. Getting to New ways

 All four parts are good and comes with a lot of innovative explaining and sound advice for moving forward. I especially enjoyed the last part “Getting to New ways” and had fun taking the check yourself questions in the chapter, which the authors state are based on the Alcoholics Anonymous test!

It comes even with a Twelve Step plan for recovery, if you feel the need to change your ways of managing. My advice: Give this test to a person you like and trust or just your boss.

A curiosity for me is that the company who the authors own is called “Teal Unicorn”, and they very explicit state in the beginning, that the book is NOT for unicorns but for horses. I like that statement, but have a hard time adjusting to the fact that the advice and book comes from a company with a Unicorn in the title and logo.

 As I mentioned, the book is filled with somewhat useful diagrams, models and illustrations. Maybe more than most people would like in one book, but here I will mention a useful example for me.

Explaining the value of trust, they illustrate it with a useful diagram showing a classic procesflow with a decision box at the start:

 Trust?  -->  Yes --> Do It --> Thanks

 Trust? --> No --> Very complicated sets of instructions, gates, decisions and meetings to control and follow-up

 Spot on!

Just a quick warning to the broader audience that you may have seen many of the illustrations elsewhere and quotes as well, if you have read similar litterature. Also, the authors rely heavily on Japanese methods in explaining – like Kanban, Gemba, Shu-Ha-Ri and many more. A little drawback for me but others may enjoy it more.

 To sum up my short review, I was entertained and even enlightened at times. Read it yourself, if you ever find the time.