Value of soft skills in Agile

Introduction

It’s an old story that to stay in the game, businesses have to keep up with changing. The tech boom revolutionised many industries and added enormous value. As things continue to change, ways to advance are evolving as well.

The traditional method for managing projects is called the Waterfall method. This is a linear progression, with steps executed in a consecutive fashion. Though lots of businesses rely on it, it has its drawbacks. To counter them in software development, in 2002 Agile manifesto was produced. Since then this framework has successfully dominated the IT landscape. Parts of this method are also influencing other industries like marketing or new product development. Software projects based on Agile are 3x more likely to succeed and 2x less likely to fail compared to Waterfall.

This is because Agile works with basic principles that are better suited to software development. It allows for delivery in small chunks of work, as well as constant feedback. As the name implies, Agile can easily accommodate changes in requirements, assumptions and understanding of the problems. It does so through iterative product development, which adapts to the business environment or market shifts. In other words, this “on the go” approach depends on context, as compared to traditional methods which are optimised for predictable outcomes.

Soft skills in Agile Manifesto

Although all elements of Agile contribute to its success, they are not all made equal. Collaborative human interaction is essential; without it, projects wouldn’t even get off the ground. There are two principles in the manifesto that heavily rely on soft skills:

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools.
• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation.

If we examine the undefined nature of convoluted software projects, contact and cooperation between people is what makes this approach work. It’s hard to design a plan for something that is still unfolding and can’t be completely specified. Lots of communication is required to work on projects like that. Thus, ensuring a good interpersonal fit enables a much better flow of decisions and actions. Optimising the process for real-world results is all about abundant communication and encouraging individual talent.

Feedback from clients is crucial. This is especially true in software development, where companies are buying solutions to unique problems. Often they have no idea how to solve them. It’s usually up to the technical team to find the best method to reach a resolution. Moreover, the process is a dialog. Engineers may know how to solve problems, but often lack business-specific knowledge. Without the customer helping to steering development, engineers might not focus on the most relevant issues and quickly burn through resources. Know-how relies on clear communication.

What are the most important soft skills?

A questionnaire was sent to 190 software developers, in which they were asked to rate 32 soft skills. It indicated that most important soft skills are mainly relevant at the managerial level. These people tend to have the greatest impact on projects. Researchers found out that the most highly desirable communication skills are:

• Verbal, written communication.
• Storytelling and public speaking.
• Socialisation skills.
• Assertive skills.
• Mentoring.
• Change management.

Intellectual skills:

• Planning, time management.
• Research.
• Active learning.
• Active listening.
• Team work.

Most important soft skills are mainly relevant at the managerial level

These results align strongly with the Agile manifesto in terms of information flow. Working software is driven by communication and actions driven by project managers. Due to the need for high interpersonal bandwidth, cultivating good relationships at this level is a must. Being a good speaker and clearly expressing yourself are key for this.

Listening is also important. One of the main functions of a manager is to gather customer and developer feedback. They also need to handle social situations and communicate assertively and effectively. The constant back and forth between clients and developers allows the software to be developed in stages. This results in high-end products that in part are discovered along the way.

What does soft skills bring to the table?

The importance of soft skills goes beyond the projects themselves. These skills also create a healthier environment for employees. We spend a huge chunk of our life working, and our environment affects us, hopefully for the better. In a practical sense, a positive culture in software companies helps to attract the best talent and reduces staff turnover. Individuals bond and learn to work together efficiently. In Toughlex we like to say that happy people do good work. And from our anecdotal experience we hold this statement true.

Soft skills also contribute in creating strong relationships between clients and stakeholders. Probably the biggest issue in the software development industry is low initial predictability of complex project, which results in low trust. But it gets extremely expensive to plan it ahead in Waterfall model. There are too many unknowns and a good chance that a lot will change along the way.

The complexity of most modern software projects means they are mostly planned with guesstimates. As the term suggests, these may not be very accurate. This is where the Waterfall approach fails and Agile shines. It‘s is a leap of faith in a way but good communicators effectively build trusting relationships. Thus enabling resources to be used more efficiently.

Not everyone in team needs soft skills

Most engineers do better working with computers than people. They tend to be great at hard skills and poor at soft skills. But as the research shows, that’s not necessarily an issue. It’s not obvious that having every team member with high-level soft skills will ensure Agile is used in a proficient way. Instead of assuring that each individual possesses such skills, researchers argue that it is more important to focus on these skills at a team level.

This is why executive functions depend a lot on soft skills, leading to positions such as Product owner (PO) or Scrum master (SM). The main difference between these roles is that one works with stakeholders and the other with Agile teams to support product development. The product and production sides each have representatives that communicate and supervise to reach the best possible outcomes. Soft skills are extremely important in this exchange, as constant mediation between stakeholders and programmers helps to determine the best course of action – bringing the most value.

Product owner and Scrum master in detail

PO - accountable for maximising the value of the product development. They don’t necessarily know the details of the final product, but they know why it’s being built and what problems it’s going to solve. One of their main functions is grooming the product backlog which is created by communicating stakeholders about their needs. The backlog tends to grow over time. This is where soft skills with an analytical mind are crucial. The PO decides and communicates what’s worth building and what isn’t, prioritising maximum value. Features that pass muster are organised and presented to developers.

SM - focuses completely on the production process. They are not directly responsible for project outcomes and do not lead the project like PO. Instead, they lead the engineers building the product. Their role is to support the software team like a true servant-leader. Their main functions are to monitor the sprint's progress and to remove roadblocks impeding development, keeping the team focused and protecting it from outside distractions. The majority of the SM’s activities involve communicating with people. This makes soft skills extremely valuable for them.

Do software managers need a technical background?

As per the Scrum guidebook, there isn’t a rule stating there must be technical and non-technical Scrum Masters covering different bases. The same thing is true for Product Owners, who are even further away from the development process. As far as technicalities go, their job is to understand enough to follow the conversation and gather the details needed.

There are situations where having a technical background would be an advantage. This is especially true for teams that are not very experienced. However, this does pose some risks for the organisation. Members might get used to asking for answers instead of learning how to solve issues themselves. Another potential risk is the manager might interfere with the development process, encroaching on the Technical Lead role.

Having a good grasp of technical topics does help managers ask better questions. It also helps them understand capabilities and limitations of the software without going through a feedback process from a technical team. However, while this kind of knowledge is nice for managers to have, it’s not essential. Soft skills are the bread and butter of managing software development.

Summary

Agile has proven its utility and stood the test of time as one of the most widely-used methodology for software development. It’s based on principles that promote adaptability and human collaboration. Soft skills play an extremely important role in Agile. At a managerial level there must be:

• Good verbal and written communication.
• Socialisation.
• Assertiveness.
• Mentoring.
• Teamwork.
• Change management.
• Active listening and learning.

From our experience, the inclusion of soft skills is non-negotiable. Toughlex is extremely focused on facilitating internal communication. As cliché as it sounds, any kind of good relationship is based on talking and listening. In return, we get a lot of feedback. We use that feedback to create a better environment for everyone.

From our experience, the inclusion of soft skills is non-negotiable

One of our strategies is to gather developers with soft-skill competency. Although this is a “nice-to-have'' feature, it does set us apart. Our engineers are communicating directly with customers. Engaging them in the software development process and resulting in radical transparency with quicker delivery times.

In general, coders work mainly with things – but teams still greatly rely on soft skills to function well, especially at the managerial level. Roles like Product Owner and Scrum Master help with necessary communication, letting software developers do what they do best - work with computer systems instead of people.