Unconscious bias in Agile: recognising and overcoming Its impact on teams

Have you ever wondered how unconscious bias silently shapes team dynamics and decisions in Agile environments?

As a Scrum Master with a technology background, I’ve observed how continuous bias subtly influences team interactions and decision-making. Often, these biases operate beneath the surface, guiding perceptions and choices without anyone even realising it.

For example, groupthink can lead to everyone agreeing just to avoid conflict, while confirmation bias makes us focus only on information that aligns with what we already believe. These unconscious tendencies, while human, can result in poor decisions, miscommunication, or missing critical aspects of a project.

One of the clearest examples of this is when teams feel the pressure to deliver results quickly. The focus shifts to meeting deadlines and output goals sometimes at the expense of thorough planning or involving the right people. Important details can get skipped, and stakeholders might be left out, impacting the success of the project.

But here’s the thing: this isn’t Agile.

Agile is about collaboration, transparency, and delivering value with input from all team members. Rushing decisions or excluding key perspectives doesn’t align with these principles. It often leads to shortcuts, poor communication, and outcomes that fall short of expectations.

have a look:

Understanding unconscious bias | The Royal Society

Cognitive biases in software development - Ian Hughes

The Agile Mindset with Gil Broza

So, how can we address this?

Encourage Open Dialogue: We need to create an environment where everyone feels comfortable sharing their thoughts. When rushing to deliver, it’s easy to ignore team members or dismiss opinions that differ from the majority. Open dialogue makes sure everyone’s input is considered, especially when time is tight.

Practice Awareness: Regular reflection is key. During retrospectives, the team should review their decisions and see if biases played a role. Did we prioritise one person’s opinion over another? Did we ignore important parts of the delivery plan just to meet deadlines? This reflection helps the team learn from mistakes and adjust.

Data-Driven Decisions: When teams rush, biases like overconfidence or anchoring can cloud judgment. Relying on hard data; like metrics such as Burnup/Burndown Charts, Work-in-Progress (WIP) and other metrics provides clarity on progress, allowing teams to focus on sustainable delivery rather than rushed outputs. helps make decisions based on facts, not just opinions. This ensures we’re not rushing into decisions that might later cause problems.

Training and Education: Biases are often unconscious, so educating the team about them can help. By learning about common biases like availability bias (where we rely too much on information that’s easy to recall) or status quo bias (where we stick to what we know), the team can make more thoughtful and informed decisions.

Note: "If you have expertise in psychology or have faced similar challenges in Agile teams, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Let’s exchange ideas!"

When we let biases control decisions like rushing to deliver or not involving the right people, it goes against Agile principles. This leads to poor outcomes and missed opportunities. Being aware of these biases and actively working to reduce them will lead to better collaboration, clearer communication, and, ultimately, more successful project delivery.

"Agile is about being adaptive and mindful, not rushing to meet deadlines at the expense of quality." unknown