Being Agile: It’s A Matter Of Perspective

#SridharPeddisetty #Agile #BeingAgile #Scrum #Motivational #ProjectManagement #Management #AgileBestPractices #Inspirational  

A young couple moves into a new neighborhood. The next morning while they are eating breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbor hanging the wash outside. "That laundry is not very clean", she said. "She doesn't know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap.” Her husband looked on, but remained silent. Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, The young woman would make the same comments. About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband: "Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this.” The husband nonchalantly said, "I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows."

Its been more than 15 years since Agile Manifesto is formulated but still there are strong voices heard for and against adoption of Agile. Its interesting to hear the arguments of why ‘Agile’ does not work and these arguments are not very different from when traditional SDLC & project management practices were employed. If you analyze Standish Group 2015 Chaos Report, its interesting to align some of the common concerns about Agile with what is shared in the report. 

Some of common concerns about Agile include

#1. Agile just works for smaller projects: 

Larger the goals, larger the chances of its failure irrespective of how you execute your strategy. As I had shared in my previous post Being Agile: Identifying Right Opportunities To Act, one of the Agile principles is "If You Have to Fail, Fail Fast”. Whether we take the approach of Waterfall, Spiral, RUP or Agile SDLC methodology, success is more certain when we break our larger goal(s) into smaller milestones and frequently measure our execution results with the plan. According to the report, 18% large scale projects are successful when adapting to Agile compared with Waterfall’s 3% success so notion of Agile not working for large projects is not necessarily a fact. 

#2. Agile does not work in some native cultures: 

There are few articles stating Agile does not work in places like Asia or Germany. Its the most generalized statement without acknowledging that we are more global than ever before and emotional maturity in an Organization is changing faster than ever before. Having lived and worked in countries including India, Japan, USA and Argentina, I have experienced various cultures and my learnings have been that its not as much about the culture of the native country as its about the culture of the Organization. In an earlier post Be Too Agile To Be Governed By Fear Of Change, I shared that Agile is all about adapting to change; it was built on the foundational principle that business drivers will change and the culture of Organization must be ready to adapt for it to be successful.

#3. Agile is getting more done in less: 

Agile is more about being focused on delivering value and ability to respond to changes. While practicing the principles of Agile, it does feel that we are improving productivity but thats a result of applying the right principles. Motivation of adopting to Agile with the expectation that more can be expected to get delivered from the same team, is not the right thought process. In my earlier post An Agilist Needs More Than Training To Succeed, I shared that implementing Agile in any Organization requires more than just knowing the terms or ceremonies.

#4. Agile works only with co-located teams: 

Its not as much about whether team is co-located or not but its more about how much the project team is involved in decision-making and information-gathering process. A remote team can be as successful provided the team is actively involved enough with more robust communication channel established. Communication channel is key, which would include transparent user feedback, requirements review, R &D effort, prototyping and other consensus-building tools. In one of my previous post Everyone's Perspective Is Key In Retrospectives, I shared that people with a different perspective can come up with some incredible ideas and its about the right feedback channels in place whether with resect to co-located or remote teams. 

#5. Agile works only with strong performers in the team: 

No team member comes to work to do a bad job and its usually the culture of an Organization or project team that usually fails performers. So it does not matter whether you are employing Agile or not, performance of project team is dependent on collective success more than individual heroics. Agile encourages cross functional teams to bring down silos and when the silos are rid of, collective performance improves as there is better sense of common goal(s). In my previous post 5 Tips on Strategizing Your Key Project Resources, I shared 5 tips on how to strategize your key project resources. 

Summary

IMHO its not about which SDLC methodology or Project Management practices you follow for successfully delivering quality services but its about the principles you embrace to achieve goals. ‘Being Agile’ is not about some practices or set of rules, its about how disciplined principles are applied to achieve strategic objectives. 

“There are no facts, only interpretations.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche

Share your thoughts in the comments section on the common concerns you have encountered while practicing Agile. 

Previous posts you might be interested in

• Are You Providing 'Right' Status To Stakeholders?
• 7 Questions To Ask Before Establishing A PMO
• You Already Have ‘NO', Go For ‘YES'

Be Too Agile To Be Governed By Fear Of Change

#SridharPeddisetty #Agile #Scrum #Strategy #Change #Management #ChangeManagement #AgileBestPractices 

Your success in life isn't based on your ability to simply change. It is based on your ability to change faster than your competition, customers, and business.

-Mark Sanborn

One of the Agile principle states “Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage”. Apparently the name "Agile" was chosen because its founders viewed "adaptiveness and response to change" as the most essential concept of the methodology. Agile based SDLC methodology of building potentially shippable products incrementally in short periods of time is one of the most tangible changes and benefits, which an Agile process provides. Change is the only constant factor in a SDLC and we should plan enough to be receptive to change. Agile creates an opportunity for increased customer satisfaction and return on investment by handling change effectively with more robust feedback loops, which accommodates changing requirements to generate higher-value products.

Below are the 5 tips on managing change successfully 

In my earlier post Change Management Is Not Everyone's Cup Of Tea, I had shared how presently all Organizations are growing through a disruptive phase whether its technology transformation, changing customer demographics, challenging economic times, etc. In this disruptive phase, It is an Organization's ability to learn and translate that learning into action rapidly, which gives it the ultimate competitive advantage. 

Summary

Agile is all about adapting to change; it was built on the foundational principle that business drivers will change and the project teams must be ready to adapt. 

Previous posts you might be interested in

• Minimum Marketable Features: An Agile Essential
• Looking At An Impediment From A Value Perspective
• 5 Tips Delivering Quality Services To Your Client

Every (Failed) Project Has ‘Success' Story To Tell

#SridharPeddisetty #LessonsLearned #Management #Project #BestPractices #Agile #ProjectManagement 

A 24 year old boy seeing out from the train’s window shouted…
“Dad, look the trees are going behind!”
Dad smiled and a young couple sitting nearby, looked at the 24 year old’s childish behavior with pity,
suddenly he again exclaimed…
“Dad, look the clouds are running with us!”
The couple couldn’t resist and said to the old man…
“Why don’t you take your son to a good doctor?”
The old man smiled and said…
“I did and we are just coming from the hospital, my son was blind from birth, he just got his eyes today.

We should not judge too soon before knowing all facts as at times the truth might surprise you. Every single person on the planet is unique and has a story to share. Similarly, every project is unique and has a ‘success’ story to tell even if it failed to meet its objectives in the eyes of stakeholders. By definition, project is a temporary unique endeavor having start-end timelines with a defined scope & resources with planned set of interrelated tasks executed to accomplish goal(s). 

There are many means to measure the success and failure of a project but there is no strict line dividing between the two. For instance, a ‘successful' project could have exceeded the planned budget or went over scheduled delivery date or could even not have provided all the planned functionalities upon completion. Whereas a ‘failed’ project could have a release with all planned features but missed the critical market launch or could not align with the direction of new leadership team. Brian K Willard in his Project Success and Failures article has shared examples, which strengthens the point that success or failure of a project are subjective. 

In my earlier post, Why Sharing Lessons Learned Is Key For Matured PMO, I discussed why sharing 'lessons learned' across teams is one of the key aspects of a matured PMO in an Organization. A well organized exercise to document 'Lessons learned’ would include identifying the ‘success’ factors of a project and understand how to repurpose it for future or existing projects. Success factors that could be salvaged from a ‘failed’ project could be

• An improvement to internal process(s) 
• An improvement in technical skill(s) of the resource(s) 
• An improvement to service(s) for the end customer 
• An improvement to save cost in utilizing key resource(s)

The exploitation of knowledge and experience gained from completed projects is very critical for a matured organization and application of the same for continuous improvements.  

Summary

To summarize, do not judge a ‘failed' project too soon without getting specific facts for learning lessons. It's important to identify and share the ‘success’ value of a project even if it failed to meet its main strategic goals.

Remember not to throw the baby out with the bathwater!

Previous posts you might be interested in:

• Why Sharing Lessons Learned Is Key For Matured PMO
• Top 20 Tips for Project Managers
• Are You Providing 'Right' Status To Stakeholders?

Trust Your Team But Make Sure To Verify

#SridharPeddisetty, #Leadership, #Management, #Agile, #ScrumMaster, #AgileMethodologies, #AgileProjectManager #ProjectManager. 

One afternoon a wealthy manager was driving in his limousine when he saw two men along the roadside eating grass. Disturbed by the sight, he ordered his driver to stop and he got out to investigate. He asked one man "Why are you eating grass?" "We don't have any money for food," the poor man replied. "We have to eat grass." "Well, then, you can come with me to my house and I'll feed you" the manager said. "But sir, I have a wife and five children with me. They are over there, under that tree". "Bring them along," the manager replied. Turning to the other poor man he stated, "You come with us also." The second man, in a pitiful voice then said, "But sir, I also have a wife and seven children with me!" "Bring them all, as well," the manager answered. They all entered the car, which was no easy task, even for a car as large as the limousine was. Once underway, one of the poor fellows turned to mr. Manager and said, "Sir, you are too kind. Thank you for taking all of us with you." The manager replied, "Glad to do it. You'll really love my place; the grass is almost 1 meter high!"

Claus Langfred, a professor of organizational behavior at Washington University in St. Louis did a survey to measure levels of trust, self-monitoring, and autonomy among 71 self-managing teams of MBA students. In his survey, he found out these team members trusted each other and tended not to monitor one another much. As a result, they had relatively low awareness of each other’s activities, which affected performance and possibly hampering processes and coordination. 

In an Agile world where we encourage the teams to be self performing, role of a manager is more like a servant leader role. Its an important trait for the Scrum Master or Agile Project Manager to trust the self performing team to execute and deliver on business value but verifying the same with stage gates is essential. Each stage gate could include exit criteria, which the manager can standardize for the team to follow. Each stage within SDLC could also benefit from using SIPOC (Suppliers, Inputs, Processes, Outputs and Customers) model for mapping the deliverables with strategic goals while focusing on continuous improvement. 
Trusting your self performing team is important but its essential to verify that team is performing to its optimal level as a unit and not showing just individual brilliances, which can be counter productive for the end results. 

Stephen Covey has brilliantly put that "Trust is the glue of life. It's the most essential ingredient in effective communication. Its the foundational principle that holds all relationships"   

How do you trust your team but verify? 

Trust Your Team But Make Sure To Verify was originally published in LinkedIn

Why Active Listening is Key for Successful Delivery of Agile Based Projects

A man realized that he could not hear very well and that he had to buy a hearing aid, but did not want to spend too much money on it. So he went to the store and asked the clerk...

"How much do hearing aids cost?" The clerk responded "It depends, they run from two dollars to two thousand." "Let me see the two dollar model" the man said.

The clerk hung a string around the man's neck.

"Just put this button in your ear and stick this string in your pocket." "How does it work?" asked the customer. "It doesn't work, but when people see it on you they'll speak louder."

Actually our communication problems are not due to people speaking softly but mostly due to the fact that many of us are not good listeners. The biggest communication problem is that we do not listen to understand but we listen to reply. Presently you see more organizations acknowledging the importance that people want to be listened to, hence one company's motto: "We listen better” and another stating, "We hear you".

Agile development is more of an iteratively incremental approach in which requirements and solutions evolve through communication and collaboration between self-organizing and cross-functional teams. Agile promotes ‘building the right thing’ through customer involvement, adaptive planning, evolutionary development, early delivery, continuous improvement and encourages rapid & flexible response to change in delivering high quality product or service.

Now since Agile encourages team to be cross-functional, most challenging aspect of a cross-functional team is the functional or technical silos, which often results in team deliverables ‘thrown over the wall’ between Architects, BAs, SAs, Designers, Developers and Testers. The problem here is not due to lack of coordination, but more due to lack of collaboration in which teams are not syncing on overall shared objectives. So for a cross-functional team to work as a collaborative unit, ‘Active Listening’ is the key in which each team is ‘listening to understand and not listening to reply’. Practicing the basics of ‘Active Listening’ includes:

• Focusing your complete attention to the speaker.
• Asking open-ended questions to gather elaborative information.
• Documenting gathered information in tool or a document.
• Getting the summarized information reviewed.

For any project, Risks, Assumptions, Issues and Dependencies (RAID) are very critical for its successful execution. Instead of making a lot of assumptions, ‘Active Listening’ helps us clear up many of the gaps when we detach emotions and instead pay focused attention to the speaker. Please share your thoughts on ‘Active Listening’ and how you think it's key for any project, but more for an Agile based project.

Why Active Listening is Key for Successful Delivery of Agile Based Projects was originally posted under Prokarma blog on Feb 12th 2015.

Top 20 Tips for Project Managers

Project managers are responsible for the successful initiation, planning, execution, monitoring, controlling and closure of projects. According to the Project Management Institute (PMI), a project is temporary in that it has a defined timeframe, and therefore defined scope and resources. Also, a project is unique in that it is not a routine operation, but a specific set of operations designed to accomplish a singular goal. Project teams often includes people who don’t usually work together – sometimes from different organizations and across multiple geographies.

Project management is the application of knowledge, skills and techniques to execute projects effectively and efficiently. The following 20 tips (not necessarily in any particular order) are good references while managing a project.

1. Take good care of your project team and your team will take care of client, which in turn will take care of business
2. The project is all about delivery and keeping stakeholders (internal/external) informed
3. At any given point of time a project manager should know what tasks need to be done, who should do it and have an ETA
4. Always be on top of the RAID (Risks, Assumptions, Issues, & Dependencies) log as RAID is a critical factor for a successful project outcome
5. No plan is perfect so always have Plan B. Circumstances change frequently so always consider the alternatives
6. Projects are 90% planning and 10% implementation
7. Plan, Execute, Review and Adjust
8. Be adaptable and flexible while thinking outside the box
9. A good communicator is a good listener. By listening you may learn something new while speaking repeats what you already know
10. Always remember the 80/20 rule (Pareto Principle), which means by executing 20% of the work you can get 80% of the benefit
11. Break the whole plan into milestones and scope them accordingly including the development of checklists for each milestone to verify quality as project work incrementally iterates
12. Understand the dynamics of 'Definition of Ready' and 'Definition of Done'
13. Design a robust feedback loop to learn lessons along the way and strive to continuously improve
14. Negotiate achievable commitments by separating people from problems
15. You cannot manage and improve what you cannot measure
16. 6 P's of Project Management: Proper Planning Prevents Poor Project Performance (If i had 4 hours to cut down a tree, i would take 3 hours to sharpen the axe)
17. Get the right people involved including the experts you need and proactively seek guidance 
18. Trust but always verify. Direct communication is a key for forging trustworthy relationships
19. Plans are nothing; planning is everything. Planning is a continuous process including progressive elaboration or rolling wave planning
20. The difference between a good project manager and a great project manager are the leadership skills they possess

What are your top tips for a project manager? Please leave a comment to share your tips.


Top 20 Tips for Project Managers was originally posted under Prokarma blog on Dec 10th 2014