The Agile Mindset
What is the most important thing Companies should do while starting their journey to become Agile?
Many companies have failed on their Agile journey because they did not get the foundation correct. The journey of Agile starts with understanding what Agile is!
We hear many say “ We are using Agile as our delivery methodology”. Well, Agile is not a methodology, it is a mindset.
In my coaching experience, one thing I have consistently impressed upon companies is – It is not about ‘doing’ Agile but ‘being’ Agile. This small subtle difference is very powerful and this cannot be achieved overnight – it is indeed a journey we need to take, as a team. This is the journey about inculcating the Agile Mindset.
So, What is the Agile Mindset?
It is an attitude, a culture everyone in a team embraces – A culture that we implement across the company. It is a complete mind shift from the traditional way we had been delivering products all along.
It is a mindset wherein organizations believe and embrace the below:
Welcome diversity of thoughts
We welcome different perspectives and diversity of thoughts and ideas.
Everyone in the team is equally valued. Through continuous collaboration and communication, we listen to everyone’s thoughts and inputs to engage together for better results.
The reason we have cross functional teams is that we have different skillsets in one team – developers, testers, architects, integration experts among many others – And we are able to listen to their different perspectives based on their expertise, and incorporate best approaches as a team for achieving the product goal.
Convert failures to opportunities
A failure is not necessarily a bad thing to happen, it is indeed a learning opportunity.
We learn from our past failures and improve.
Agile is all about evolving – We evolve as a team, the product evolves, we inspect and adapt through our way. We learn both from our successes and failures and are constantly improving in our journey.
Transparent teams
There should always be continuous collaboration among team members with the trust that their ideas are valued and not criticized.
Trust is essential for any relationship and the same goes at the workplace too.
Always think of it as ‘One Team’, where there is mutual trust and respect – Together we grow as a team. If something goes wrong, the team members should be comfortable calling it out so that they can collectively learn and improve. And if something goes well, the team member should be able to share the success with others so the learning can be used by others too. In a nutshell, it is very important that our teams are transparent, be it success or failure.
Self-managing teams
With an Agile mindset, we engage a group of people who collectively have all skills and expertise to do the work and are willing to share or acquire such skills.
Agile promotes ‘self-managing teams’, which is the heartbeat of agility and scrum.
We create an environment of collective accountability for continuous progress. Teams are not order takers, instead they themselves decide who does what, when and how.
Communication & Collaboration
Our teams continuously communicate, collaborate and share knowledge freely. There is no inhibition and only trust in the teams.
There is always willingness to interact, brainstorm and improve as a team. The more the team engages, the better the success.
If you know something, share it. Knowledge sharing is a great indicator that the team has the Agile mindset.
Happy teams
It is of utmost importance that the teams are happy and having fun at work. They love coming to work everyday and look forward to working as a team.
They are motivated individuals with high energy and enthusiasm, that the fun even continues outside work.
Happy teams are more productive, and are always willing to be transparent with each other and collaborate.
Change is the only constant
It is not easy for many to adapt to a change, and even if adapted, to sustain it is even harder. Many cannot handle evolving conditions well.
It is pivotal to the team’s success that the team members are willing to accept changes and adapt to them quickly.
The ability to adapt quickly to an unpredicted event cannot be more relevant than to the situation we face today. The way companies work has changed. Now, distributed teams and remote teams are the new normal. The way we operate digitally has changed. It is very important not to resist change and put ideas together to adapt quickly, so that we are able to move forward.
Sustainable pace
It is important that the speed at which the work gets done is sustainable so that the pace is not too slow or very fast. If the team finishes the sprint goal too early, then it means the set pace is too slow, and if the team has unfinished items even at the end of the sprint, then it means the set pace is too fast.
The pace set for the Sprint should be right for the team.
Work pace is an important factor for happy teams, as it could either keep them stressed (if teams get overworked) or bored and less challenged (if the pace is too slow).
With the above mind shift, we are able to deliver high business values incrementally, sooner and faster, with high quality and safer delivery without bigger shocks in production either to the customer or to the team. After all, no one enjoys these production shocks!.
The mind shift also ensures that we are able to innovate as we progress and deliver satisfactory products incorporating consistent feedback.
It is very important that through this process, the teams are happy and eventually customers will be happy!